Peerapper language

Peerapper
Northwestern Tasmanian
RegionNorth-western coast of Tasmania
EthnicityNorthwestern tribe of Tasmanians
Extinct19th century
Northern–Western Tasmanian?
Dialects
  • West Point?
Language codes
ISO 639-3xpw
Glottolognort3415
AIATSIST3 North-western (Tasmania), T6 Macquarie Harbour, T11 Robbins Island, T12 Circular Head

Northwestern Tasmanian, or Peerapper (also Peewrapper or "Pirapa"), is an Aboriginal language of Tasmania in the reconstruction of Claire Bowern. It was spoken along the west coast of the island, from Macquarie Harbour north to Circular Head and Robbins Island.

Northwestern Tasmanian is poorly attested from four word lists: The "west coast" vocabularies of Charles Robinson and George Augustus Robinson, with 246 words combined; the Robbins Island list of George Augustus Robinson, with 162 words; and the Macquarie Harbour vocabularies of Allan Cunningham (222 words), collected on 25 January 1819 and later republished by Phillip Parker King in 1826.

The list collected by George Augustus Robinson at West Point ("Western Tribes") is divergent, and is classified as a separate language by Bowern. However, it includes only 28 words, so little can be definitively said.

References

  1. ↑ T3 North-western (Tasmania) at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  2. ↑ Bowern, Claire (2012). "The riddle of Tasmanian languages". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 279 (1747): 4590–4595. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.1842. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 3479735. PMID 23015621.
  3. ↑ Robinson, George Augustus. Robinson papers A7085. Manuscripts held at the Mitchell Library, Sydney.
  4. ↑ Cunningham, Allan. Manuscript journal for 25 January 1819. Mitchell Library, ML.A1744.
  5. ↑ King, Phillip Parker. 1826. Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia. London.
  6. ↑ Bowern (2012), supplement