Extinct Western Tasmanian language of Australia
| Peerapper |
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| Northwestern Tasmanian |
| Region | North-western coast of Tasmania |
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| Ethnicity | Northwestern tribe of Tasmanians |
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| Extinct | 19th century |
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Language family | Northern–Western Tasmanian? |
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| Dialects | |
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| Language codes |
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| ISO 639-3 | xpw |
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| Glottolog | None
west2205 included |
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| AIATSIS[1] | T3 North-western (Tasmania), T6 Macquarie Harbour, T11 Robbins Island, T12 Circular Head |
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Northwestern Tasmanian, or Peerapper ("Pirapa"), is an Aboriginal language of Tasmania in the reconstruction of Claire Bowern.[2] 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 in 1819.[3]
The list collected by George Augustus Robinson at West Point ("Western Tribes") is divergent, and falls out as a separate language in Bowern. However, it includes only 28 words, so little can be definitively said.
References
