Australian Linguistics – Page 5 – Endangered Languages and Cultures

The ‘wombat’ trail

14 February 201116 January 2009 by David Nash

How English acquired the word wombat is another story which began in early Sydney, after dingo (1788) and before boomerang (1820s). The way that the form and denotation of wombat came together for the colonists is notable for its convolutions, and for the record we have of some of the twists along the way.

The intriguing story of the European discovery of the common wombat Vombatus ursinus was assembled recently by museum specialists Pigott and Jessop, focussing on how “the Governor’s wombat” comes to be in Newcastle upon Tyne. There was a string of coincidences, with one sequence leading to general adoption of the word wombat for this marsupial. It spread also through the genus Vombatus (É. Geoffroy 1803) (with the synonym Wombatus (Desmarest 1804)) which was an early incorporation of an Australian word into a biological genus name — and through Family Vombatidae (Burnett 1829), up to Suborder Vombatiformes (Burnett 1830) and superfamily Vombatoidea (Archer 1984).

✝ Geoffrey Noel O’Grady 1928-2008

5 February 20111 January 2009 by Jane Simpson

I was sad to learn that Geoffrey O’Grady [1] has died – on 28th December at home in Victoria, British Columbia. He was a fine linguist, who documented Australian languages (Nyangumarta most extensively), wrote the report with Ken Hale that started bilingual education in the Northern Territory, and loved with a great passion the work … Read more

Brand new day for the Darkinyung language

5 February 201119 December 2008 by Jane Simpson

Late in the nineteenth century, probably on the left bank of the Hawkesbury River, Tilly Clarke and Annie Barber took the trouble to teach a surveyor, Robert H. Mathews, something of their language, Darkinyung. He wrote down words, sentences and phrases in his No. 7 notebook, and published a little about it. The notebook is preserved among his papers in the National Library of Australia. This is the main surviving written source for the Darkinyung language.
On Monday 15 December, at the Ourimbah campus of Newcastle University, the Darkinyung Language Group launched Darkinyung grammar and dictionary: revitalising a language from historical sources, by Caroline Jones. It’s another terrific Muurrbay/Many Rivers product. At the launch, Darkinyung people were centre-stage, but celebrating too were Wiradjuri, Gamilaraay, Gumbaynggirr, non-Aboriginal people, and the staff of Muurrbay and Many Rivers who made the publication possible.

Sunlight through the clouds

5 February 201119 November 2008 by Jane Simpson

[Updated with pictures – 21/11/08, 25/11/08, 30/11/08 ]

Three excellent books were launched yesterday, on a misty rainy day in the area of Nyambaga (Nambucca Heads). Long may they float, and God bless all who read them, buy them and review them.
They are:

Gumbaynggirr dictionary and learner’s grammar = Gumbaynggirr bijaarr jandaygam, ngaawa gugaarrigam, by Steve Morelli, Nambucca Heads, N.S.W. : Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative, 2008.
Barriyala – Let’s work : Gumbaynggirr language student workbook, by Julie Long.
Nambucca Heads, N.S.W. : Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-Operative, 2007.
and the most significant general reference work on Indigenous intellectual traditions published in a long time, A handbook of Aboriginal languages of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, by James Wafer, and Amanda Lissarrague with a chapter by Jean Harkins. Nambucca Heads, N.S.W. Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-Operative, 2008.

You can order the books from Muurrbay. More about the books below, but now to the launch.

Photo from Muurrbay: L-R Aunty Vilma Moylan, Aunty Jessie Williams, Uncle Ken Walker
“Thank you for supporting us as a people, and keep the spirit alive eh?” That’s how the Master of Ceremonies, and Chairman of Muurrbay, Uncle Ken Walker ended a cheerful, joking, rousing morning’s celebration of Gumbaynggirr language survival and revival. When you have 200 people to help launch three books, everything connects.

Sydney Language –mb– ~ –m– and dingo

29 August 201214 November 2008 by David Nash

Update: The contents of this post have been incorporated in the paper ‘Dawes’ Law generalised: cluster simplification in the coastal dialect of the Sydney Language’, published in 2011 in Indigenous languages and social identity: Papers in honour of Michael Walsh. Pacific Linguistics 626, pp.159-178.

Aspects of the Sydney Language are a perennial fascination. Last month recent events prompted me to look into the etymology of boomerang. In recent weeks the gripping SBS documentary First Australians first episode (available as a 227MB MPEG4) took us to the early days of Sydney. And now I’ve noticed what I think is an unreported sound correspondence, as I’ve become more familiar with sources on the Sydney Language.

Update on Australianist Workshop in Manchester, 12-13 Dec 2008 – Eva Schultze-Berndt

5 February 201121 October 2008 by Jane Simpson

[from Eva Schultze-Berndt, School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, University of Manchester]
This is to remind you of the upcoming Australianist workshop at the University of Manchester. As the interest seems to be high and 12 December was a better date for some participants, the workshop will start on Friday 12 December around noon and continue for all or most of the day on Saturday 13 December.
So far I received two abstracts (thank you!). I still welcome abstracts on the theme of “Prosody and information structure” but it looks as if many contributions will be on other topics, so feel free to offer a presentation on any topic of interest to Australianists (and possibly others!).
Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in presenting, or just attending as a participant. If you would like to present a paper, please send me a title and abstract ASAP. I will then get back to you with a preliminary program and accommodation information by the end of October.
I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in Manchester soon.
Eva Schultze-Berndt
E-mail: eva.schultze-berndt AT manchester.ac.uk

Kartiya, kartipa – Barry Alpher

5 February 201121 October 2008 by Jane Simpson

[From our kartiya in Washington, Barry Alpher]
In a query to David Nash’s posting (4 October) on munanga ‘white person’ in languages of Arnhem Land, Joe Blythe asks “So what about kartiya [the term for ‘white person’ in a number of Ngumpin-Yapa languages]? Any ideas?”
Here are a couple.
At least three languages attest kartiya: Walmajarri, Gurindji, and Warlpiri (in the form kardiya). Mudburra attests kardiba in the same meaning, and Gurindji attests kartipa as a variant of kartiya. (Note that in view of the Gurindji change *rt > r [Pat McConvell, pers. comm.; see under *kartu below], both of these Gurindji variants must be reckoned as loans.)

More Good News

5 February 201120 October 2008 by Aidan Wilson

Following on from Jane’s announcement during the week of all the great news regarding successful grant applications, I have another bit of good news to share: James McElvenny and I recently applied for, and even more recently received, a grant from a philanthropic foundation to support our current work in compiling dictionaries.

Pilbara language dictionaries – free, interactive and downloadable

5 February 201114 October 2008 by Jane Simpson

Wow! Sally Dixon has just pointed me to Wangka Maya (the Pilbara Language Centre)’s free downloadable interactive Pilbara language dictionaries for the following languages: Bayungu, Burduna, Jiwarli, Martu Wangka, Nyamal, Nyangumarta, Thalanyji, Warnman, and Yulparija.
“These may be downloaded and used for personal use at no cost.”
What a fantastic resource! And what a good way of ensuring that the material isn’t lost.
Lucky PC users, unlucky Mac users – they’re made in Lexique Pro, and so they run under Windows only. Off to the Windows emulator sigh.., as the LP people say firmly that they have NO plans to make Mac or Linux versions.

An “unsaleable bent stick”, boomerangs, and yardsticks

5 February 20116 October 2008 by David Nash

The (in)authenticity of accounts of early Sydney have been in the news recently. The fictionalised account of Lt William Dawes and his pioneering documentation of the Sydney Language in Kate Grenville’s new novel The Lieutenant has had mixed reviews, but the concurrent story about a possible 1770 boomerang has gripped me more.

Ten days ago the Sydney Morning Herald reported

A boomerang claimed to have belonged to Captain James Cook appears to have been withdrawn from sale on the eve of a London auction after advice from the National Museum of Australia that it was probably not the real thing.

The Times reported bluntly that

Arthur Palmer, an Australian ethnographer who independently appraised the boomerang, described it is [sic] an “unsaleable bent stick” which hails from about the 1820s — 40 years after the explorer’s death.

The colourful Arthur Beau Palmer‘s sizeable bucket of cold water can be hefted here; it is worth consulting for the view of early Sydney weapons. The story began in The Times of 21 August (with a photograph) and here in The Age on 22 August; there was an update in the SMH on 10 September.