"Lhotsky/Backhouse" is a label for an unnamed aboriginal Tasmanian language identified in the reconstructions of Claire Bowern. It was presumably spoken somewhere in the northeast of Tasmania, but the original location of the speakers was not recorded.
Vocabulary The name of the language was not recoded; "Lhotsky/Backhouse" is a label based on the names of people associated with various word lists. Bowern (2012), based on Plomley (1976), finds several word lists that attest to this previously unidentified language:
the "eastern" list of Jorgen Jorgenson (first published in 1842, and later republished in 1846 by Thomas Henry BraimBraim, T. H. History of New South Wales, from its first settlement to the close of the year 1844. (London, 1846, vol. 2, pp. 257-266).Braim, T. H. Papers. Mitchell Library, ML.A614.), 345 words a list of 68 words from the manuscripts of James BackhouseBackhouse, James. Manuscript journal. Mitchell Library: vol. 1, B730. George Washington Walker, 148 words combinedWalker, George Washington. Manuscript journals, nos. 2 and 4. Mitchell Library: nos. B709 and B711.Walker, George Washington. Letters addressed to friends, vols. 1 and 2. Mitchell Library: nos. B727 and B728.Walker, J. B. 1898. Notes on the aborigines of Tasmania, extracted from the manuscript journals of George Washington Walker, with an introduction. Pap. Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasm., for 1897, pp. 145-175. 105-word list of Alexander McGeary, published by John Lhotsky in 1839Lhotsky, John. 1839. Some remarks on a short vocabulary of the natives of Van Diemen Land; and also of Menero Downs in Australia. J. Roy. Geog. Soc. London, 9, pp. 157-162.
The sources above are all listed and discussed in detail by Plomley (1976). +"Lhotsky/Backhouse" wordlistsglossJorgensonbadgerpubledinabandicootpadinabellymiuleanblushwadebeweannaboatluirapeuyboyplerennylittle boycuckana ludawinnabreadtowereelabreastwagleybrotherpleragenanacatlarganachiefbunganachildbadanychincamenacometeperacoveringleguniacowcateenacrookedpowenadaylanenaa daymagratodaywaldea-powtfine daylutregaladevilcomtenadrakelamilbenawild drakemalbenadressleguniadrinkluganadrycatrebuteanyearpelverataearthguntaelbowrowellaemurekunaevacuateleganaeyelepenafareniparanafathermunlamanafeathersmunwaddiafirepatarolafisttrewflyingpinegafetuslewardfogmunafootlanganafrogpulbenafrostultagirlludinenylittle girlcuckana ludinenygo ontabelty!goodnaracoopa!gooserobengannagrassrodidanagrass-treecomthenanagroundguntagullrowenannagunlilahaircethana
References
External links James Backhouse and George Washington Walker papers, 1831-1841 (call numbers: B 706–B 732, C 393)