Nauo language

Nauo
Nauo
Nawu, Nhawu
Native to	Australia
Region	Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
Ethnicity	Nauo people
Extinct	19th century
Revival	21st century
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Thura-Yura Wirangu Nauo; ; ;
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nwo
Glottolog	nauo1235
AIATSIS	L2
	Languages of South Australia.

Last updated February 22, 2025

Nauo, or Nawu, is an extinct, poorly-attested Pama-Nyungan language that was spoken by the Nauo people on the southern part of the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.

Name

Other variant spellings have been recorded as Nhawu, Nawo, Njao, Gnowoo, Growoo, and variant names include Battara, Hilleri, Kadu, Kartwongulta, and Wiljaru.

Classification

The Nauo language may have been related to the languages of its regional neighbours on the Eyre Peninsula, such as Barngarla or Wirangu. It has also been treated as a variant of the Wirangu language.^[1]

Status

The language was deemed to be extinct by Norman Tindale, based on linguistic investigations done to determine Nauo's status in the 1930s. No speakers have been recorded since 1975.^[1]

Reconstruction and revival

Mobile Language Team (MLT) from the University of Adelaide has started work on the reconstruction of the language, based on the 10 words recorded by German missionary C. W. Schürmann, increasing the wordlist to 300 words. MLT is preparing a website for online learning site of the language.^[3]

References

1 2 3 L2 Nauo at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
↑ Tribal boundaries, after Tindale (1974), adapted from Hercus (1999).
↑ "Nauo/Nhawu". Mobile Language Team . University of Adelaide . Retrieved 13 December 2020.

Hercus, Luise; Simpson, Jane (2001). "The tragedy of Nauo". Forty years on: Ken Hale and Australian languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 263–290.

External links

"Nauo (SA)". South Australian Museum . Reproduced from Tindale's Aboriginal Tribes of Australia (1974).
"Nauo (SA)". South Australian Museum . Archive Collections. Includes inventory listings of holdings.

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[AIATSIS-1] 1 2 3 L2 Nauo at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

[2] Tribal boundaries, after Tindale (1974), adapted from Hercus (1999).

[mlt-3] "Nauo/Nhawu". Mobile Language Team . University of Adelaide . Retrieved 13 December 2020.

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