Australian Aboriginal Languages
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Recent papers in Australian Aboriginal Languages
Aboriginal incarceration rates are much higher than the general Australian population. Moreover, indigenous women represent 34% of the total number of inmates. As if this wasn't enough, the legal and welfare systems are removing... more
Corresponding with the aesthetic of bir'yun or 'shimmering brilliance' created by the cross-hatching in Yolŋu painting, manikay (song) might also be characterised by a play of colour and movement, generated through the heterophonic... more
The results of a study of Bilinarra, Gurindji and Malngin plant and animal knowledge conducted by traditional knowledge custodians with linguistic and biological support are presented. Bilinarra, Gurindji and Malngin names and uses of... more
German missionaries working in Central Australia were cultural translators who had a strong grounding in philology, a discipline which developed in Germany to a high standard throughout the nineteenth century. The missionaries aimed to... more
Academic Reference: Zuckermann, Ghil'ad & Monaghan, Paul (2012). "Revival linguistics and the new media: Talknology in the service of the Barngarla language reclamation", pp. 119-126 of Foundation for Endangered Languages XVI Conference:... more
This paper proposes the enactment of an ex gratia compensation scheme for loss of Indigenous languages in Australia. Although some Australian states have enacted ex gratia compensation schemes for the victims of the Stolen Generation... more
This research contends that the singular purpose of the material production of four different types of artefact is to provide a religious function for a discrete society of people located in the Pilbara, Western Australia. Integral to... more
At Warruwi, a remote Australian Indigenous community, people use a range of Indigenous languages on a daily basis. Adults speak 3-8 Indigenous languages and these high levels of multilingualism are out of step with current trends which... more
Traditional Tiwi is a language isolate within the Australian language group, traditionally spoken on the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin. This language exhibits the most complex verb structure of any Australian language. Altogether there... more
The extreme violence that women suffer during conflict does not arise solely out of the conditions of war; it is directly related to the violence that exists in women's lives during peacetime. Throughout the world, women experience... more
Four stars in the night sky have been formally recognised by their Australian Aboriginal names. The names include three from the Wardaman people of the Northern Territory and one from the Boorong people of western Victoria. The Wardaman... more
The book and accompanying DVD shows how coolamons are carved and the types of trees and tools used to make them. Coolamons are an important part of Gurindji culture. They are used to carry young babies, collect bush foods and medicines... more
This paper focuses on a group of geographically-disparate, but related English-based creoles - Bislama (Vanuatu), Solomons Pijin (Solomon Islands), Tok Pisin (PNG) and Kriol (Australia) - spoken in Australia and Melanesia. These languages... more
Gurindji is a Ngumpin-Yapa language of northern Australia. Ngumpin-Yapa languages have contributed a number of debates in formal theory around non-config- urationality and phrase structure. Gurindji is also one of the contributing... more
Murrinhpatha is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in a region of tropical savannah and tidal inlets on the north coast of the continent. Some 3000 speakers live mostly in the towns of Wadeye and Nganmarriyanga, though they maintain... more
Sociolinguistic variation involves socially constituted categories, and is therefore shaped by the salient categories of a particular social context (e.g. Eckert 1989; Stanford & Preston 2009). Australian Indigenous societies have... more
Descriptions of natural events, such as fireballs, and meteorite impacts, are found within Indigenous Australian oral traditions. Studies of oral traditions demonstrate that they extend beyond the realm of myth and legend; they contain... more
A paper written following my time in the South Pacific, this essay examines how culture and language can have effects on perspective and worldview. Examples from Maori education and religious language as well as Australian Aboriginal... more
Aboriginal Australians have been observing the stars for more than 65,000 years, and many of their oral traditions have been recorded since colonisation. These traditions tell of all kinds of celestial events, such as the annual rising of... more
It is widely known that the phonological systems of Australian Aboriginal languages show many similarities right across the continent. One characteristic of these systems that has been often reported is the lack in most languages of a... more
The Pama-Nyungan language Yidiny has long held an important position in the typology of stress systems. Dixon’s (1977, 1990) original analysis of the system places alternating stress on odd-numbered syllables by default, as in (1a).... more
Song and dance are a traditional means of strengthening culture and passing knowledge to successive generations in the Torres Strait of northeastern Australia. Dances incorporate a range of apparatuses to enhance the performance, such as... more
In this paper we discuss the ways in which successive governments have addressed Indigenous affairs, and we argue that the Australian approach is still firmly rooted in colonial attitudes and discourses. Although self-determination is a... more
Les métaphores de la colère ont été documentées et analysées dans de nombreuses langues du monde, et ces travaux ont mis à jour leur remarqua-ble uniformité (et même leur quasi-universalité) à travers les continents. Cet article apporte... more
Reduplication is found in almost every language (Inkelas, 2012, p. 378), and hence understanding it well is a priority for linguistic theory. Yet common to much of the literature is a stated need for more empirical data for making valid... more
What does the historical record tell us about the structures of Aboriginal life at the time lands that came to be known as South Australia were colonised? Colonisation refers to the process whereby the British Crown made claim to these... more
This paper is a critical evaluation of a number of key themes in Against Native Title: Conflict and creativity in outback Australia. This book is described as an ‘ethnographic biography’ of Ceduna (SA) Aboriginal woman Sue... more
This paper is a description of the language situation in the region between the Gascoyne and Ashburton Rivers in the north-west of Western Australia. At the time of first white settlement in the region, there were eleven languages spoken... more
This is the first part of what is intended to be a comprehensive reference grammar of the Mantharta languages (Jiwarli, Thiin, Warriyangka, Tharrkari) traditionally spoken in the Gascoyne-Ashburton region in the north-west of Western... more
Early ethnographers and missionaries recorded Aboriginal languages and oral traditions across Australia. Their general lack of astronomical training resulted in misidentifications, transcription errors and omissions in these records. In... more
The more than 250 languages spoken in Australia prior to the nineteenth century exhibit both striking similarities to one another and remarkable variation. The exponential increase in what linguists have learned about these languages... more
This bibliography presents annotated entries for 352 theses completed at the University of Queensland between 1948 and 2000 of interest to researchers in the field of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. The theses included in... more
Successful communication hinges on keeping track of who and what we are talking about. For this reason, person reference sits at the heart of the social sciences. Referring to persons is an interactional process where information is... more
This thesis is a comprehensive analysis of the nominal and pronominal morphology of Ngardi, an endangered Pama-Nyungan language of the Ngumpin-Yapa subgroup spoken in the western regions of the Tanami Desert in Western Australia. On the... more
By displacing Aboriginal communities, interfering with their migratorial routes and sacred sites and forcing them into sedentary practices, European colonialism disrupted the closely-knit links between people, space and language that had... more