Language Death in Tasmania

655 Words2 Pages

Fanny Cochrane Smith (1834 – 1905) is claimed to be the last indigenous Tasmanian Aborigine and it is claimed that with her death in 1905, the last speaker of a Tasmanian indigenous language died. “In 1899 and 1903 she recorded songs on wax cylinders: held in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, these are the only recordings ever made of Tasmanian Aboriginal song and speech.” (Clark, 1988) However, there used to be a great amount of languages being spoken on the Tasmanian island. In ‘Tasmanian Aboriginal Language: Old and New Identities’, Crowley explains that there were approximately eight, and possibly more, different languages being spoken by different native groups in Tasmania before the Europeans first arrived. (54) The central question in this essay will be: what does still remain of the Tasmanian languages? This essay will look at the ‘colonial impact’ of the European settlers on Tasmanian languages, the development of the languages under influence by the European settlers and the remains of the languages.
In the beginning of the 19th century a rapidly growing group of Europeans settled in Tasmania. The European settlers relied heavily on Aboriginal sustenance supplies such as kangaroo, used for their meat. As a result, the European settlers became the dominant group, and thereby English the dominant language. “By 1835, after three decades of conflict, the Aboriginal population had declined from about 4,000 to a couple of hundred. Severely reduced birth-rates, poor health as a result of loss of hunting grounds and introduced diseases, and murder were the main reasons for the sharp reduction in numbers. The total number of Europeans killed by Aborigines during the same period of conflict was 183.” (Clark, 1983)
In 1835 ...

... middle of paper ...

... greatly; their number declined from thousands upon European arrival, to the last native Tasmanian, Fanny Cochrane Smith, passing away in 1905. One could argue that European settlement was the main reason for the Tasmanian languages to become extinct; not only was European dominance the main reason for the decrement of Tasmanian Aborigines, it also caused the languages to merge into one pidgin that started to be the primary language spoken on Flinders Island by Tasmanian Aborigines. Fanny Smiths recordings of some native songs are the only source of a native Tasmanian language that still remains. However, her recordings are not a trustworthy source since they are not entirely in accordance with each other and because of the condition of the recordings. One could argue that European settlement was the main reason for the Tasmanian languages to become extinct.

Open Document