Thawa language explained

Thawa
Extinct:Nearly
Familycolor:Australian
Fam5:Southern Coastal Yuin?
Iso3:xtv
Glotto:none
Glotto2:sout2771
Glottoname2:included in Southern Coastal Yuin
Glottorefname2:Southern Coastal Yuin
Aiatsis:S52

Thawa is a nearly extinct Australian Aboriginal language of New South Wales with only very few speakers including certain local elders. It is sometimes classified with Dyirringany as a dialect of Southern Coastal Yuin, though it is not clear how close the two varieties actually were.

In 2015 local Yuin people collaborated with the Tathra Public School in Tathra to create a new app as a teaching aid for both Thawa and the Dhurga language, using old audio recordings of elders as well as documentation created by early explorers and settlers in the region. One of the major contributors to the project, Graham Moore, has also written an Aboriginal language book.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Brown . Bill . Yuin elders develop 'message stick' app to teach almost-lost Aboriginal language . ABC News. . 16 October 2015 . 21 June 2021.