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The Tasmanian languages were the languages indigenous to the island of
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
, used by
Aboriginal Tasmanians The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...
. The languages were last used for daily communication in the 1830s, although the
terminal speaker Within the linguistic study of endangered languages, sociolinguists distinguish between different speaker types based on the type of competence they have acquired of the endangered language. Often when a community is gradually shifting away from ...
,
Fanny Cochrane Smith Fanny Cochrane Smith (December 1834 – 24 February 1905) was an Aboriginal Tasmanian, born in December 1834. She is considered to be the last fluent speaker of the Flinders Island lingua franca, a Tasmanian language, and her wax cylinder reco ...
, survived until 1905.


History of research

Tasmanian languages are attested by three dozen word lists, the most extensive being those of Joseph Milligan and
George Augustus Robinson George Augustus Robinson (22 March 1791 – 18 October 1866) was a British-born colonial official and self-trained preacher in colonial Australia. In 1824, Robinson travelled to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land, where he attempted to negotiate ...
. All these show a poor grasp of the sounds of Tasmanian, which appear to have been fairly typical of Australian languages in this parameter. Plomley (1976) presents all the lexical data available to him in 1976. Crowley and Dixon (1981) summarise what little is known of Tasmanian phonology and grammar. Bowern (2012) organises 35 different word lists and attempts to classify them into language families.
Fanny Cochrane Smith Fanny Cochrane Smith (December 1834 – 24 February 1905) was an Aboriginal Tasmanian, born in December 1834. She is considered to be the last fluent speaker of the Flinders Island lingua franca, a Tasmanian language, and her wax cylinder reco ...
recorded a series of
wax cylinder Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give low ...
recordings of Aboriginal songs, the only existing audio recording of a Tasmanian language, though they are of extremely poor quality. In 1972, her granddaughters still remembered some words and a song. Robert M. W. Dixon, who interviewed them as part of his research with
Terry Crowley Terrence Michael Crowley (born February 16, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder and utility player from through , most notably as a member of the Baltimore Oriol ...
, concluded that "there is virtually no data on the grammar and no
running text An article or piece is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating news, research results, academic analysis, or debate. News articles A news article discusses current or recent news of e ...
so that it is impossible to say very much of linguistic interest about the Tasmanian languages". However, from the scant sources that are available, Tasmanian people are seeking to recover their lost languages and traditions. The largest language revival project to date is the
Palawa kani Palawa kani is a constructed language created by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre as a composite Tasmanian languages, Tasmanian language, based on reconstructed vocabulary from the limited accounts of the various languages once spoken by the eas ...
project.Bernard Comrie, Stephen Matthews, and Maria Polinsky. The Atlas of Languages. New York: Facts on File. Page 116.


External classification

Little is known of the languages and no relationship to other languages is demonstrable. It appears that there were several language families on Tasmania, which would be in keeping with the long period of human habitation on the island. In the 1970s
Joseph Greenberg Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on ...
proposed an Indo-Pacific superfamily which includes Tasmanian along with
Andamanese The Andamanese are the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, part of India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal in Southeast Asia. The Andamanese peoples are among the various groups ...
and Papuan (but not
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...
). However, this superfamily proposal is rejected by the vast majority of historical
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
s.


Languages and language families

Based on short wordlists, it appears that there were anywhere from five to sixteen languages on Tasmania, related to one another in perhaps four
language families A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hi ...
.Claire Bowern, September 2012, "The riddle of Tasmanian languages", ''Proc. R. Soc. B'', 279, 4590–4595, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.1842 There are historical records as well that indicate the languages were not mutually intelligible and that a ''lingua franca'' was necessary for communication after resettlement on Flinders' Island. J.B. Walker, who visited the island in 1832 and 1834, reported: Reports from the subsequent settlement at Oyster Cove were similar: Schmidt (1952) distinguished five languages in the word lists: *Eastern Tasmanian languages **North-East **East: East Central (Oyster Bay), South-East *Western Tasmanian languages **North Coast **West Coast The Eastern languages seem to share a common vocabulary, and use the nominal particle ''na''. The Western languages use ''leā'' instead of ''na''.


Dixon & Crowley (1981)

Dixon and Crowley (1981) reviewed the data. They evaluate 13 local varieties, and find 6 to 8 languages, with no conclusion on two additional varieties (those of the west coast) due to lack of data. Listed here (clockwise from the northwest) with their
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...
(AIATSIS) codes, they are: *North-western (T3) and Robbins Island (T11*) orthern NW region on the map displayed in the box above at right*:North-western and Robbins Island are probably dialects of a single language; Circular Head may be a dialect as well. *:Although Circular Head (T12*) E strip of NW region on mapshares only half its vocabulary with Northwestern & Robbins Island, it cannot be ruled out as a dialect of the NW language due to the poor state of the data. *Northern (T1) region on map*:Probably a separate language, though it shares 50% of vocabulary with Piper River and cannot be ruled out as a dialect of the NE language. *Port Sorell (T13*) coast of N Midlands region on map*:It is "unlikely" there is a close genetic connection with any other Tasmanian language. *Piper River (T14*), Cape Portland (T9*), and Ben Lomond (T7) E and Ben Lomond regions on map*:These appear to form an interrelated group. Either the first two or all three could be dialects of a single language. May form a language with Northern, which is separated geographically by Port Sorell. *North Midlands (T4) entral N Midlands region on map*:"Must" be a distinct language. *Oyster Bay (T2), Big River (T8*), and Little Swanport (T15*) yster Bay and Big River on map*:Oyster Bay and Big River share 85% of vocabulary and are very likely to be dialects. Little Swanport could be a dialect as well. *South-eastern (T5) E region on map*:Appears to be a distinct language from Oyster Bay / Big River. The two western varieties are South-western (T10*) and Macquarie Harbour (T6) outhern and northern ends of SW region on map


Bowern (2012)

One of the difficulties in interpreting Tasmanian data is the fact that some of the 35 word lists mix data from various locations, and even for the rest, in some cases the location is not recorded. Bowern (2012) used a clustering algorithm to identify language admixture, and further techniques to conclude that the 26 unmixed lists with more than 100 words record twelve Tasmanian varieties (at p < 0.15) that may be assumed to be distinct languages. Due to the poor attestation, these varieties have no names apart from the names of the wordlists they are recorded in. They fall into five clusters; Bayesian phylogenetic methods demonstrate that two of these are clearly related, but that the others cannot be related to each other (that is, they are separate language families) based on existing evidence. Given the length of human habitation on Tasmania, it should not be expected for the languages to be demonstrably related to each other. The families, and the number of attested languages, are: * Western Tasmanian (2–3) 3, T6, T10, T11, T12 Northwestern and Southwestern * Northern Tasmanian (2) 1, T13 Northern coast *
Northeastern Tasmanian Northeastern Tasmanian is an aboriginal language family of Tasmania in the reconstruction of Claire Bowern Claire Louise Bowern () is a linguist who works with Australian Indigenous languages. She is currently a professor of linguistics at Y ...
(3) 4, T7, T9, T14 Northeastern, Ben Lomond, and North Midlands *
Eastern Tasmanian Eastern Tasmanian is an aboriginal language family of Tasmania in the reconstruction of Claire Bowern.Claire Bowern, September 2012, "The riddle of Tasmanian languages", ''Proc. R. Soc. B'', 279, 4590–4595, Languages Bayesian phylogenet ...
(5) **Oyster Bay (2) 2, T8, T15 Oyster Bay and Big River valley **Bruny (Southeastern Tasmanian) (3) 5 Bruny Island Bowern identifies several of the wordlists of unknown providence: The Norman list is northeastern, for example, while the Lhotsky and Blackhouse lists attest to an additional language in the northeastern family; the Fisher list is western, as are the Plomley lists, though with admixture. Two of the lists reported to be from Oyster Bay contain substantial northeastern admixture, which Bowern believes to be responsible for classifications linking the languages of the east coast. Only 24 words, out of 3,412, are found in all five branches, and most of these are words for recently introduced items, such as guns and cattle, or cultural or mythological terms which could easily be borrowed. Thus there is no good evidence for a Tasmanian language family. There is, however, slight evidence that the northern and western families may be distantly related (the western varieties are especially poorly attested). The only words found in all regions that are not obvious candidates for borrowing and which do not have serious problems with attestation are *pene- 'laugh', *taway 'go', *liya 'water', *wii 'wood', and perhaps *tina 'belly'. However, there are other local words for 'laugh', 'water', and 'belly', and the reflexes of *taway are so similar as to be suspicious. *Wii is therefore the most promising; it is found as ''wiya, wina, wikina'' (''-na'' is a common ending) and ''wii'', glossed as wood, tree, brush, or timber. Although there is no evidence that the Tasmanian languages were related to the languages of mainland Australia (and if they were, they would presumably be related to languages which had been lost to the wave of Pama–Nyungan expansion), the fact that there is no established Tasmanian family should be kept in mind when attempting to establish such connections.Bowern (2012), supplement


Lingua franca

It is unknown if the Tasmanian ''
lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
'' was a
koine Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
, creole,
pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
, or
mixed language A mixed language is a language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. It differs from a creole language, creole or pidgin, pidgin language in that ...
. However, its vocabulary was evidently predominantly that of the eastern and the northeastern languages because of the dominance of those peoples on the settlements.NJB Plomley, 1976b. ''Friendly mission: the Tasmanian journals of George Augustus Robinson 1829–34''. Kingsgrove. pp. xiv–xv.


Bass Strait Pidgin

The unattested
Bass Strait Pidgin Bass Strait Pidgin was an unattested English-based pidgin language spoken in the Bass Strait islands of Australia. It likely developed in the early 1800s as a result of contact between European sealers and Aboriginal women abducted from Tasm ...
of Flinders Island consisted primarily of English vocabulary, but is reported to have had a mixture of words from Tasmanian languages, introduced by the women that the sealers of the island had abducted from Tasmania.


Palawa kani

Palawa kani Palawa kani is a constructed language created by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre as a composite Tasmanian languages, Tasmanian language, based on reconstructed vocabulary from the limited accounts of the various languages once spoken by the eas ...
is an in-progress constructed language, built from a composite of surviving words from various Tasmanian Aboriginal languages.


Phonology

The phonology is uncertain, due to the poor nature of the transcriptions. Schmidt (1952) reconstructed the following for East-central and South-east Tasmanian, as well as parts from Blake; Dixon (1981): There may have also been a lamino-dental nasal [], as well as a glottal stop. Vowels included five short //, and five long vowels //, and nasal vowels such as "" in French pronunciations. Stress appears to have been on the penultimate syllable. Tasmanian languages differ from most of those on the mainland in having words that begin with ''l'' or ''r'', as well as with consonant clusters such as ''br'' and ''gr''. However, many of the languages of
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
, across the Bass Strait, also allow initial ''l'', and the language of
Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers ...
nearest Tasmania, Gunai, also had words beginning with trilled ''r'' and the clusters ''br'' and ''gr.''


Grammar

East-central Tasmanian is used for illustration, unless otherwise indicated. ;Nouns There is no evidence of plurality or gender. The nominal particle may have marked the end of a noun phrase. Possession was indicated by the possessor (noun) dropping the nominal particle: :''wurrawa lowa-na'' 'the wife of the deceased' ;Postpositions
Postposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
s, or perhaps case endings, include ''le/li'' 'behind', ''ra'' 'without', ''to/ta'' (change in direction): There is also an adverbial suffix ''-re'' in ''lene-re'' 'backwards'. :''lunamea ta'' 'to my house', ''nee-to''
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'to you' ;Adjectives Adjectives follow the noun, and some end in ''-ne'' (''pāwine'' 'small') or ''-ak'' (''mawbak'' 'black', ''tunak'' 'cold'). ;Pronouns Only singular personal pronouns are known: ''mī-na'' 'I', ''nī-na'' 'you', ''nara'' 's/he'. (In Northeast Tas, these are ''mi-na, ni-na, nara''.) These form possessive suffixes: ''loa-mi'' 'my woman'. Pronouns might be incorporated in the verb: ''tiena-mia-pe'' 'give me!'. Demonstrative pronouns are ''wa/we'' 'this' and ''ni/ne'' 'that': ''Riena narra wa'' 'this is my hand'. ;Numerals ''marra(wa)'' 'one', ''pʲa(wa)'' 'two'. ;Verbs The negative particle is ''noia'' :''noia meahteang meena neeto linah'' :'I won't give you any water' :(not give I to-you water) In Southeast Tas., suffixes ''-gara/-gera'' and ''-gana/-gena'' appear on verbs. Their meaning is unknown: :''nunug(e)ra'' 'to wash', ''tiagarra'' 'to keep', ''nugara'' 'to drink' :''longana'' 'to sleep', ''poenghana'' 'to laugh', ''winganah'' 'to touch'


Vocabulary

Some basic words:"Tasmanian". In George Campbell, 1991. ''Compendium of the World's Languages'', vol. II. :''nanga'' 'father' :''poa'' 'mother' (Northeast) :''pögöli-na'' 'sun' :''wīta'' 'moon' :''romtö-na'' 'star' :''pö ön'e-na'' 'bird' :''wī-na'' 'tree' :''poime-na'' 'mountain' :''waltomo-na'' 'river' (Northeast) :''nani'' 'stone' The difficulty in analyzing the records is apparent in the conflicting recorded forms for the words for "two" ("Fr" means a French transcription): Given the possibility that suffixes are responsible for some of the differences, there are still clearly several distinct words, though it is difficult to say how many or what their forms were.


References


Bibliography

*Schmidt, Wilhelm (1952). ''Die Tasmanischen Sprachen: Quellen, Gruppierungen, Grammatik, Wörterbücher (The Tasmanian languages: Sources, Groupings, Grammar, Dictionaries),'' Spectrum Publishers, Utrecht-Anvers * * *


External links


An overview of the Tasmanian languages
(for sale) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tasmanian Languages Families rejected by Glottolog Languages extinct in the 1900s Unclassified languages Unsolved problems in linguistics