LING 2039 - Reclaiming Languages: a Kaurna case study

The course explores issues around the reclaiming of languages by reference to the case of Kaurna, the South Australian indigenous language spoken in what is now known as the Adelaide region. The course gives a fascinating insight into the ways in which Kaurna sources are being used to forge a new Kaurna identity and develop an associated language which is being used to address contemporary needs. This course will allow you to: learn some Kaurna language; develop an understanding of the structure of the Kaurna language; understand the context (or ecology) in which the Kaurna language existed at the time of colonisation in the 1830s and 1840s; and appreciate the circumstances under which the Kaurna language is being revived. Parallels and contrasts will be drawn between efforts to re-introduce Kaurna and similar efforts in neighbouring languages, elsewhere in Australia and overseas.