Case study — School programs and Kaurna language reclamation in Adelaide Plains, South Australia
Informed by Rob Amery and Kaurna Warra Pintyandi for Global Lessons: Indigenous languages and multilingualism in school programs
Kaurna is the language of the Adelaide Plains in South Australia. Kaurna was not acquired or used extensively for many decades until the late 1980s, when a small group of committed Kaurna language activists and learners, working with an equally committed linguist, began to revive the language from historical sources.
The long-standing partnership between Kaurna people and linguists has been key to the success of the language movement.
School-based language programs, beginning at Kaurna Plains School in 1992, served as a powerhouse for Kaurna revival and provided a crucial role for Kaurna language. The programs also provided a training ground and motivation for language activists and learners, as language learners, teachers and resource developers. Teachers in schools became the pool of experts to expand to other sectors and to train other adults to take up these roles. Teacher training and curriculum development continue to be areas of concern for Kaurna language planning.
The number of Kaurna language programs in schools grew steadily during the 1990s. By 1997, Kaurna programs had been established at all levels of education, including early childhood, primary, junior secondary, senior secondary, adult, TAFE and tertiary level programs.
Over the years there has been a varying level of support from the Education Department for the teaching of Kaurna in schools. Recent years have seen a marked decline in the number of Kaurna programs being offered, the number of students and students’ Kaurna language proficiency, even though much more research has taken place and good quality resources are now available.
There are numerous links between adult programs and early childhood, primary, secondary, TAFE and tertiary sectors, as teachers delivering programs in one sector are themselves students in other programs. Those involved in the delivery of Kaurna programs typically work across a range of activities.Some Kaurna people have a keen interest in the language and a desire to revive it but are not interested in participating in a formal language program. They would prefer to keep it within their own families and organisations. Some would prefer to use the resources developed to learn the language in the privacy of their own homes, possibly feeling more confident in this environment.
Programs aimed at adults are absolutely crucial in the revival of Kaurna because teachers of Kaurna have to learn the language themselves. Adult programs have been delivered by different education providers. Since 1994, Inbarendi College has offered Kaurna within the senior secondary SACE (South Australian Certificate of Education), while at Tauondi College it was an integral part of the TAFE accredited Cultural Instructors and Tourism course.
Initial adult language learning and language planning activities focused on songwriting and useful expressions. Songs are a wonderful memory aid. It is much easier to sing a song in a new language than to try to speak it. Early workshops also aimed at developing linguistic understandings, such as the grammar and word building patterns, through deconstructing Kaurna sentences recorded by the German missionaries (Teichelmann & Schürmann, 1840) together with their English translations. New Kaurna sentences were constructed by analogy with the historical sentences. Numerous worksheets and exercises were developed.
In recent times, with the exception of the Adelaide University course, Kaurna linguistics has become less of a priority. Increasingly, Kaurna language activists and learners have directed their attention to developing competence in speaking and using the language.
The ‘Kaurna Language & Language Ecology’ course within Linguistics at the University of Adelaide was first offered in 1997 and is still running under the title “Reclaiming languages: a Kaurna case study”. It attracts many more non-Aboriginal students than students with Kaurna heritage. However, non-Aboriginal students are left in no doubt about the attachment Kaurna people have to the language and the authority they exercise over it. Students, largely non-Kaurna, valued the input from Kaurna people, many pinpointing this as the highlight of the course. This feedback is important for understanding the broader contribution the Kaurna language course may make to raising awareness and its prestige in the community.
Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi (KWP), the language reclamation and revival committee based at the University of Adelaide, asserts that while they have been moderately successful in involving Kaurna people in the language courses, there is room for much more input and involvement. The success not only of the Kaurna programs but of the revival of Kaurna itself hinges on this.
A further outcome of reclamation efforts has been the emergence of ‘Welcome to Country’ speeches in Kaurna. This public performance has contributed enormously to the profile of Kaurna, triggering interest from Adelaide schools to deliver Kaurna curriculum. And as requests for ‘Welcome to Country’ increase so too does community interest in learning language to meet the need.
Though still in the early stages of a revival, the Kaurna language is more visible, on signage in the city and regions, on the internet, and is more widely spoken today than twenty years ago. The profile of the Kaurna language has been lifted from that of an ‘extinct’ language, of which almost nothing was known, to a credible, worthwhile and valued language. Several extended families are taking Kaurna seriously and are attempting to learn it for communication within their family. Over the last few decades, the language has been taught in up to ten South Australian schools, across Kaurna country, predominantly metropolitan Adelaide. Demand from schools for Kaurna language teachers far outstrips supply.
The main priority for the Kaurna language movement at this point in time is the recruitment and training of Kaurna people so that they might be empowered in culturally-affirming careers to teach their own language in schools. Recognised career paths and on-going professional development and support in partnership with the Department for Education and Child Development (DECD) are key to Aboriginal people see teaching Aboriginal languages as a well-remunerated and satisfying career.
Key lessons from the Kaurna case study:
· Small teams can begin a movement.
· Songs are an excellent place to start in language revival.
· Emblematic use of the language in the public domain raises awareness and raises the profile of the language.
· Long-standing partnerships provide a backbone for the success of language movements
· Language revival is a gradual process with a number of stages, as languages are revived, adults learn and teach the language to higher levels of expertise and proficiency, and the purposes for and profile of the language begin to expand.
· Don’t wait until all the pieces are in place. So long as the support of key Elders is there, make a start and just get on with it.
· As Kaurna Elder Kauwanu Lewis O’Brien often says, it is the journey that is important (more so that the destination).
· Recognised career paths and on-going professional development are key to Aboriginal people see teaching Aboriginal languages as a well-remunerated and satisfying career.
Dedication
This discussion is dedicated two to exceptional language warriors, Dr Alitya Wallara Rigney and Stephen Gadlabarti Goldsmith. While their passing has left a vast void in our lives and work, their passion and enthusiasm will continue to burn brightly in our tangka ‘liver’ (the metaphorical heart) giving us strength to continue the revival of Kaurna that is so important to us all.References
Amery, R. 2016. Warraparna Kaurna! Reclaiming an Australian language. Adelaide, University of Adelaide Press. https://www.adelaide.edu.au/press/titles/kaurna/kaurna-ebook.pdf
Amery, R., & Buckskin, V. (2012). Handing on the teaching of Kaurna language to Kaurna youth. Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2012(2), 31–41.
Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi (n.d.). Kaurna Language Learning Series, YouTube Channel Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi [Video File]. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChOOYOnJuEeydJK0QjN_Fpw
McDonald, D. (2015). Buckskin documentary and ATOM teachers notes. http://buckskinfilm.com
NITV (2014). Back From the Brink. NITV News [Video File]. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZCyfJzHa54
