The grammar of knowledge: a cross-linguistic view of evidentials and epistemological expressions. How does a speaker know that what they say is correct? Some languages have obligatory marking for stating 'information source' ('seen', 'inferred', or 'reported'). In others a source is optional - 'the (reported) theft'. This cross-linguistic investigation will advance our understanding of human interaction and the expression of knowledge.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100013
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$600,000.00
Summary
Nyingarn: a platform for primary sources in Australian Indigenous languages. This project aims to build Nyingarn, an online platform of digital text versions of early Australian Indigenous language manuscripts with images of the original documents. There are over a thousand such documents that are foundational to understanding Australia's languages, and Nyingarn makes textual versions, accessions, and navigates such documents, with a means for adding more in future. Expected outcomes of this pro ....Nyingarn: a platform for primary sources in Australian Indigenous languages. This project aims to build Nyingarn, an online platform of digital text versions of early Australian Indigenous language manuscripts with images of the original documents. There are over a thousand such documents that are foundational to understanding Australia's languages, and Nyingarn makes textual versions, accessions, and navigates such documents, with a means for adding more in future. Expected outcomes of this project are accessible sources useful for educational materials, and for understanding the local language, its history, and its relationship to other languages. Nyingarn will provide cutting-edge methods for ingesting, analysing, and presenting these historical materials, both for research and for the general public.Read moreRead less
Restoring on-Country performance: song, language and south coast landscapes. This project aims to investigate relationships between place, people and endangered performance traditions in the south coast region of Western Australia. For the first time, it will bring together work on archival song and language material, ecological readings of landscape and Indigenous community expertise to extend and enhance knowledge of critically endangered Nyungar songlines. Expected outcomes include increased ....Restoring on-Country performance: song, language and south coast landscapes. This project aims to investigate relationships between place, people and endangered performance traditions in the south coast region of Western Australia. For the first time, it will bring together work on archival song and language material, ecological readings of landscape and Indigenous community expertise to extend and enhance knowledge of critically endangered Nyungar songlines. Expected outcomes include increased community capacity to develop, maintain and share a place-based performance repertoire and the potential to nourish social cohesion, strengthen connection to Country and aid re-interpretation of the landscape. This should provide benefits to Indigenous wellbeing, environmental understanding and processes of reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Life After Digitisation: Future-Proofing WA's Vulnerable Cultural Heritage. This project aims to do the following: 1. digitise significant cultural collections held across Western Australia, including Aboriginal languages, the WA performing arts collection, and selected objects of significance from across the State. 2. develop world-leading post-digitisation socialisation processes for the storage, management and dissemination of these collections. The project's significance lies in the preserva ....Life After Digitisation: Future-Proofing WA's Vulnerable Cultural Heritage. This project aims to do the following: 1. digitise significant cultural collections held across Western Australia, including Aboriginal languages, the WA performing arts collection, and selected objects of significance from across the State. 2. develop world-leading post-digitisation socialisation processes for the storage, management and dissemination of these collections. The project's significance lies in the preservation of the collections and the development of sustainable access protocols for the collection owners. Expected outcomes include digital preservation of the collections, plus new protocols and procedures for their digitisation and dissemination. Benefits include preservation of, and systems for access to, these collections.
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Australian Aboriginal conversational style. This project aims to re-examine claims that Aboriginal Australians conduct conversations in different ways to Anglo-Australians. It will investigate and compare ordinary conversations in these groups on a large scale. The project expects to provide new evidence to explicate Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal conversational norms, pinpointing differences which may lead to intercultural miscommunication. Expected outcomes include endangered language documenta ....Australian Aboriginal conversational style. This project aims to re-examine claims that Aboriginal Australians conduct conversations in different ways to Anglo-Australians. It will investigate and compare ordinary conversations in these groups on a large scale. The project expects to provide new evidence to explicate Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal conversational norms, pinpointing differences which may lead to intercultural miscommunication. Expected outcomes include endangered language documentation, and evidence-based findings to disseminate to service providers, to communities and to Aboriginal organisations to improve ways of engaging with each other. In addition, the project will benefit Aboriginal communities with new approaches to language revitalisation.Read moreRead less
Clearing the path towards literacy and numeracy: language for learning in Indigenous schooling. The Australian and State Governments are committed to halving the gap between Indigenous and other Australians, notably in education outcomes. This project will provide a platform for a better understanding of how language is used in Indigenous classrooms, and set foundations for improving practices for teaching these students, in particular for literacy and numeracy. The project will investigate how ....Clearing the path towards literacy and numeracy: language for learning in Indigenous schooling. The Australian and State Governments are committed to halving the gap between Indigenous and other Australians, notably in education outcomes. This project will provide a platform for a better understanding of how language is used in Indigenous classrooms, and set foundations for improving practices for teaching these students, in particular for literacy and numeracy. The project will investigate how children's language use differs from Standard Australian English. Where teachers are aware of such differences, and adapt their classroom communication styles, greater engagement from children can be expected. This will ultimately lead to improved retention rates and learning outcomes, giving Indigenous students a better start to life.Read moreRead less
Talking knowledge, doing learning: the early years. An enduring problem in Indigenous schooling is the discrepancy in outcomes compared to mainstream children, but little is known about one crucial factor: the role of Indigenous ways of speaking and their ways of engaging with knowledge and learning. This ground-breaking project aims to compare preparatory school students in two urban settings: a mainstream school and a school with high Indigenous enrolments. The project also seeks to examine le ....Talking knowledge, doing learning: the early years. An enduring problem in Indigenous schooling is the discrepancy in outcomes compared to mainstream children, but little is known about one crucial factor: the role of Indigenous ways of speaking and their ways of engaging with knowledge and learning. This ground-breaking project aims to compare preparatory school students in two urban settings: a mainstream school and a school with high Indigenous enrolments. The project also seeks to examine learning in children's homes to establish how the flow of knowledge is managed in Indigenous and mainstream families. By investigating these four settings, it is expected to provide important evidence for understanding how language and cultural ways of knowing contribute to the discrepancy in schooling outcomes.Read moreRead less
Land, language and heritage. The project will produce full documentation (written, audiovisual and web form) of the Jirrbal tribe from north Queensland, dealing with traditional life and language, ancient and recent history and cultural adaptation. The project works towards the empowerment of Indigenous Australians, reaffirmation of their identity and sustainable use of traditional environment.
Trilingual language contact in an Indigenous community. The linguistic cradle of many Aboriginal children in remote Australia is a multilingual setting involving considerable mixing between languages. Children bring this linguistic background to the task of learning English. This project is the first investigation of a trilingual Indigenous community, Elliott (Northern Territory), where children grow up hearing Jingulu, Mudburra and Kriol. It aims to examine how people at Elliott manage multiple ....Trilingual language contact in an Indigenous community. The linguistic cradle of many Aboriginal children in remote Australia is a multilingual setting involving considerable mixing between languages. Children bring this linguistic background to the task of learning English. This project is the first investigation of a trilingual Indigenous community, Elliott (Northern Territory), where children grow up hearing Jingulu, Mudburra and Kriol. It aims to examine how people at Elliott manage multiple languages and how these languages have changed through mixing processes such as creolisation and code-switching. Exploring this dynamic language ecology is crucial to tailoring educational programs to suit the needs of Aboriginal children. It is expected to place Australia at the forefront of studies of complex language change.Read moreRead less
Something old, something new: Indigenous languages since colonisation. This project aims to undertake an extensive survey of colonial language change in Australia. English has changed the linguistic landscape of Indigenous Australia profoundly. Of the 300 languages spoken at first contact, only 18 remain strong. In their place is a complex array of restructured varieties, Kriol dialects and fusions of traditional languages with English. The project aims to develop new methodologies for investiga ....Something old, something new: Indigenous languages since colonisation. This project aims to undertake an extensive survey of colonial language change in Australia. English has changed the linguistic landscape of Indigenous Australia profoundly. Of the 300 languages spoken at first contact, only 18 remain strong. In their place is a complex array of restructured varieties, Kriol dialects and fusions of traditional languages with English. The project aims to develop new methodologies for investigating and predicting the mechanisms of change across languages and generations of speakers. The expected outcomes of the project include recognising new ways of speaking and providing Indigenous communities with guiding principles for language revitalisation. This will place Australia at the forefront of studies of language change.Read moreRead less