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Luise Anna Hercus , , (16 January 1926 – 15 April 2018) was a German-born
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
who lived in Australia from 1954. After significant early work on Middle Indo-Aryan dialects (
Prakrit Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Ind ...
s) she had specialised in
Australian Aboriginal languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...
since 1963, when she took it up as a hobby. Works authored or co-authored by her are influential, and often among the primary resource materials on many languages of Australia.


Life and career

Hercus was born Luise Anna Schwarzschild on 16 January 1926 in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, Germany, to the artist Alfred and his wife, Theodora Schwarzschild. The family descended from a long line of rabbis, merchants and intellectuals. Her uncle was the noted astronomer and physicist
Karl Schwarzschild Karl Schwarzschild (; 9 October 1873 – 11 May 1916) was a German physicist and astronomer. Schwarzschild provided the first exact solution to the Einstein field equations of general relativity, for the limited case of a single spherical non-r ...
. On the assumption of power in Germany by
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
, their position as Jewish people rapidly deteriorated, despite financial assistance from an uncle who had emigrated to the United States. With her family, she took refuge in England in 1938, and the family settled in
East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill, it straddles the London Boroughs of London Borough of Barnet, Barnet and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey, with most of East F ...
, in northern London, where she attended Tollington Hill School. Due to the air raids on London, the family moved to Hampstead Gardens. At 17, Hercus won a scholarship to
St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. ...
, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in
Oriental Studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...
in 1946, followed by an M.A. In 1948, she was appointed tutor and lecturer at St Anne's College, a position she held until 1954, when she emigrated to Australia. She married the scientist Graham Robertson Hercus, on 23 February 1955 (died 1974). Together they had one child, Iain Robertson Hercus, who obtained a doctorate in astronomy. From 1965 to 1969, Hercus was a research fellow at the
University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
, South Australia. It was at that time that she began to pursue private studies in Aboriginal languages, managing to pull some from the brink of oblivion, as for example with Wangganguru, which she recorded with the assistance of her informant, Mick McLean Irinjili. After 1969, she took up an appointment as senior lecturer, and then reader, in
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, in the Department of South Asian and Buddhist Studies at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
, Canberra. In the 1970s, Hercus, along with Peter K. Austin and David Trefry, did research on the Diyari language. Hercus had been publishing significant articles on linguistic features of Middle Indo-Aryan dialects (Prakrits) since 1953 (using her maiden name), and a collected volume reprinting and indexing them was published by the ANU Faculty of Asian Studies in 1991 (her last article on the topic was in 1979). After 1991, she became a visiting fellow in the Department of Linguistics at ANU, writing up grammars, dictionaries and traditional texts, and continuing fieldwork, mainly in the north of South Australia and adjacent areas of New South Wales and Queensland.Luise Hercus - ANU Press http://press.anu.edu.au/press-author/luise-hercus/ A
Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
was presented to Hercus on the occasion of her retirement in 1990. In January 2016,
AIATSIS The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...
presented Hercus with digital copies of the foundational sound recordings, of which she had made over 1,000 hours ranging over 56 native languages and dialects, as a token of gratitude in celebrating her 90th birthday. Included in the material were unique sound recordings of Pantyikali,
Nukunu Nukunu are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia, living around the Spencer Gulf area. In the years after British colonisation of South Australia, the area was developed to contain the cities of Port Pirie, South Australia, Port Piri ...
, Woiwurrung, Dadi Dadi, Djadjala, Gunnai, Narungga, Wadi Wadi, Wergaia, Kurnu, and Nari Nari. In addition, a second Festschrift, the book, ''Language, land and song: Studies in honour of Luise Hercus'', with contributions from over 30 scholars, was published online in 2017, to honour her lifelong engagement with Aboriginal people and their languages.


Indigenous languages

Hercus wrote on, among others, the following languages (and their dialects): * Arabana-Wangkangurru *
Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kau ...
*
Nukunu Nukunu are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia, living around the Spencer Gulf area. In the years after British colonisation of South Australia, the area was developed to contain the cities of Port Pirie, South Australia, Port Piri ...
* Nauo * Paakantyi (Baagandji, Bagundji) * Thura-Yura languages * Mirndi * Nungali * Yarli languages Besides Australian languages, Hercus also studied Romance and early Indian languages.Hercus, L. A. (Luise Anna) 1926- http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n84094231/


Works

Hercus was a prolific author, with 163 works to her credit at WorldCat Identities, but perhaps best known for the following works: * (1965) ''The languages of Victoria: A late survey in two parts.'' * (1981) ''The Bagandji language.'' (Pacific Linguistics) * (1986) ''This is what happened: historical narratives by Aborigines.'' * (1991) ''Collected articles of LA Schwarzschild on Middle Indo-Aryan (1953-1979)'' * (1999) ''A Grammar Of The Wirangu Language From The West Coast Of South Australia'' * (2009) (ed., with Harold Koch) * (2009) ''Two Rainbow Serpents Travelling: Mura Track Narratives From the 'Corner Country'.'' * (2010) with G Miller. P. Monaghan et al., ''A Dictionary of the Wirangu Language of the Far West Coast of South Australia,'' Tjutjunaku Worka Tjuta and University of Adelaide, Adelaide. * (2012) ''Trees from the dreaming.'' Of particular value to her Aboriginal informants is her * (2011) ''Paakantyi Dictionary'' (AIATSIS).


Honours

On 12 June 1995, Luise Hercus became a Member of the
Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
, for her service to education and linguistics, particularly through the preservation of Aboriginal languages and culture.


Collaborations

Hercus worked with Janet Mathews (1914–1992), who recorded around 180 hours of Aboriginal music and language, ''"containing testimony from more than eighty Aboriginal people"''. Hercus co-wrote an obituary for Mathews after her death in 1992. Their work proved important in providing evidence of sacred sites on Mumbulla Mountain in New South Wales in the late 1970s.


Notes and references


Notes


References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hercus, Luise 1926 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Australian linguists 21st-century linguists Australian Aboriginal mythology Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Linguists from Germany Linguists of Pama–Nyungan languages Members of the Order of Australia Australian women linguists German emigrants to Australia Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford People from Munich