When the Waters Will Be One: Indigenous Performance Traditions at the New Frontier of Inter-Cultural Discourse in Arnhem Land. This project will examine the emerging roles of Indigenous performance traditions from Arnhem Land as fulcra for the strategic development of new discourses between peoples of the region and the international community. The adaptation of music and dance traditions to new media and performance contexts will be considered as will the hereditary intellectual paradigms that ....When the Waters Will Be One: Indigenous Performance Traditions at the New Frontier of Inter-Cultural Discourse in Arnhem Land. This project will examine the emerging roles of Indigenous performance traditions from Arnhem Land as fulcra for the strategic development of new discourses between peoples of the region and the international community. The adaptation of music and dance traditions to new media and performance contexts will be considered as will the hereditary intellectual paradigms that underpin these processes. This project will also investigate historical antecedents to these new developments within the past 50 years, and explore their centrality to current attempts by Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land to achieve cultural and economic sustainability amid a continuing period of radical social change.Read moreRead less
Reciprocals across languages. Reciprocity lies at the heart of social organization and human evolution. This project will examine how reciprocity is expressed, and what the different subtypes of reciprocal meaning are, by carrying out linguistic fieldwork on fifteen little-known languages of Australia and its region, making available detailed descriptions of reciprocals that until now have only been available for English and a few European languages. The fieldwork on undescribed, and in most cas ....Reciprocals across languages. Reciprocity lies at the heart of social organization and human evolution. This project will examine how reciprocity is expressed, and what the different subtypes of reciprocal meaning are, by carrying out linguistic fieldwork on fifteen little-known languages of Australia and its region, making available detailed descriptions of reciprocals that until now have only been available for English and a few European languages. The fieldwork on undescribed, and in most cases endangered, languages will be supplemented by a ground-breaking survey of how the various notions of reciprocity are expressed in languages around the world.Read moreRead less
Verbs and coverbs: a cross-linguistic re-analysis of part-of-speech categories. This project will make a significant contribution to the maintenance of Australia's Aboriginal cultural heritage. Aboriginal people consistently identify the maintenance of traditional languages as one of their primary concerns. The project will result in detailed documentation of three endangered Australian languages. The material produced by the project will be an invaluable resource both to linguists international ....Verbs and coverbs: a cross-linguistic re-analysis of part-of-speech categories. This project will make a significant contribution to the maintenance of Australia's Aboriginal cultural heritage. Aboriginal people consistently identify the maintenance of traditional languages as one of their primary concerns. The project will result in detailed documentation of three endangered Australian languages. The material produced by the project will be an invaluable resource both to linguists internationally and to Aboriginal communities, to whom materials will be returned in accessible formats to support language maintenance activities. The project will maintain Australia's momentum at the forefront of digital archiving technology for language documentation. Read moreRead less
Life after death: Exploring the birth of Gurindji Kriol, a new Aboriginal mixed language. Considerable attention is currently being directed towards the problems faced by Indigenous people living in remote communities. Just how best to help the younger generations emerge from the cycle of poor health and education standards is the topic of many debates in contemporary Australian society and politics. This project addresses the issue of what it is to be a modern Indigenous person and how this ide ....Life after death: Exploring the birth of Gurindji Kriol, a new Aboriginal mixed language. Considerable attention is currently being directed towards the problems faced by Indigenous people living in remote communities. Just how best to help the younger generations emerge from the cycle of poor health and education standards is the topic of many debates in contemporary Australian society and politics. This project addresses the issue of what it is to be a modern Indigenous person and how this identity is expressed linguistically. In understanding more clearly what it means to be a modern Indigenous person, communication channels between mainstream Australia and Indigenous communities can be improved.Read moreRead less
How mixed language input affects child language development: case studies from Central Australia. Case studies of three Aboriginal communities (Gurindji at Victoria River Downs, Alyawarr at Epenarra, Warumungu at Tennant Creek) will identify: (i) the language input young children receive from traditional indigenous languages, Kriol and English varieties, and from code-switching involving these languages (ii) the effect on first language acquisition; (iii) the processes of language shift and mai ....How mixed language input affects child language development: case studies from Central Australia. Case studies of three Aboriginal communities (Gurindji at Victoria River Downs, Alyawarr at Epenarra, Warumungu at Tennant Creek) will identify: (i) the language input young children receive from traditional indigenous languages, Kriol and English varieties, and from code-switching involving these languages (ii) the effect on first language acquisition; (iii) the processes of language shift and maintenance resulting from multilingual environments, and consequent transmission or loss of target languages, and emergence of new mixed languages. This is an unexplored area of bilingual first language acquisition, and has theoretical implications for language shift, and practical applications for language maintenance.Read moreRead less
The relationship between speech production and perception in Australian language speakers: implications for speech development and learning in Aboriginal children. Chronic ear infection blights the life of at least 50% of Aboriginal Australians. In a vicious cycle that extends from generation to generation, it leads to hearing loss, educational disadvantage, socio-economic disadvantage and environmental depredation, which once again leads to ear (and many other) infections. This is a unique atte ....The relationship between speech production and perception in Australian language speakers: implications for speech development and learning in Aboriginal children. Chronic ear infection blights the life of at least 50% of Aboriginal Australians. In a vicious cycle that extends from generation to generation, it leads to hearing loss, educational disadvantage, socio-economic disadvantage and environmental depredation, which once again leads to ear (and many other) infections. This is a unique attempt by researchers across academic disciplines to study the role of language in educational disadvantage and whether this disadvantage might be made worse for Aboriginal children by the early use of English at school. We ask whether, on purely acoustic or linguistic grounds, communicating in an Aboriginal language might offer improved educational and health outcomes for Aboriginal children in the early years.Read moreRead less
Preserving Australia's endangered heritages: Murrinhpatha song at Wadeye. This project will produce authoritative, thorough and archivally sound musicological and linguistic documentation of one of Australia's most vibrant indigenous song traditions, the public dance songs of Murrinhpatha people at Wadeye, NT. We will work with traditional owners to document three song genres (Dhanba, Wurlthirri, and Malkarrin) in the light of their historical and contemporary interrelationships with other local ....Preserving Australia's endangered heritages: Murrinhpatha song at Wadeye. This project will produce authoritative, thorough and archivally sound musicological and linguistic documentation of one of Australia's most vibrant indigenous song traditions, the public dance songs of Murrinhpatha people at Wadeye, NT. We will work with traditional owners to document three song genres (Dhanba, Wurlthirri, and Malkarrin) in the light of their historical and contemporary interrelationships with other local genres. More broadly, we will assess the song corpus as endangered cultural heritage of national and international significance, and will develop and apply appropriate electronic media interfaces to ensure longterm conservation and accessibility of the research within the community and outside.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-m ....Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-musicological study aimed particularly at showing the distribution of song-styles and the way songs were transmitted.Read moreRead less
Singing the Dreaming: exploring the relationship between language and music in Arandic song-poetry. Positive interactions between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians are essential for our nation to grow. By assisting Arandic people maintain and promote their song-poetry, this project is a practical step towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Furthermore, performances of Arandic song-poetry play a major role in Promoting and Maintaining Good Health. These ....Singing the Dreaming: exploring the relationship between language and music in Arandic song-poetry. Positive interactions between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians are essential for our nation to grow. By assisting Arandic people maintain and promote their song-poetry, this project is a practical step towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Furthermore, performances of Arandic song-poetry play a major role in Promoting and Maintaining Good Health. These health-giving practices not only benefit Indigenous people, but may also reduce national health expenditure. Wider appreciation of Arandic song-poetry may lead to more performance opportunities, resulting in increased economic independence for Indigenous people, and assist in forging a national musical culture of international significance.Read moreRead less