palawa kani
English
Proper noun
palawa kani
- (linguistics) A constructed language created as a composite of the now-extinct Tasmanian Indigenous languages.
- 2013 September 15, Maggie Walter, Chris Andersen, Indigenous Statistics: A Quantitative Research Methodology[2], Left Coast Press, →ISBN, page 110:
- Capitalization of proper nouns is not a feature of the Tasmanian language palawa kani.
- 2014 August 13, Adi Robertson, “Can you own a language?”, in The Verge[3], archived from the original on 5 April 2025:
- When Wikimedia legal counsel Michelle Paulson wrote that the palawa kani Wikipedia page would help strengthen and spread the language, Reynolds was angered by what she saw as the foundation’s refusal to accept another worldview that didn't see this as a benefit.
- 2016, Melanie Ball, Top walks in Australia, Hardie Grant Explore, →ISBN, page 451:
- Kunanyi means ‘mountain’ in palawa kani, a constructed composite of original Tasmanian Aboriginal languages.
- 2018 July 18, Kristyn Harman, “Explainer: how Tasmania’s Aboriginal people reclaimed a language, palawa kani”, in The Conversation, :
- Since the 1990s, Tasmanian Aboriginal people including Theresa Sainty, Jenny Longey and June Sculthorpe have worked to restore language to their community. palawa kani[sic] has been built from words and songs passed down Aboriginal families as well as phrases and words recorded in colonial documents. It is a composite language that has been embraced by some, but not all, Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
Usage notes
The prescribed spelling by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre and the Aboriginal Education Services of Tasmania is always uncapitalized, including at the beginning of sentences.[1] The spellings Palawa Kani and Palawa kani are thus proscribed.