Proto-Mirndi

Mark Harvey: Proto-Mirndi

Blurb from Pacific Linguistics’ web site:

The Mirndi language family is one of the very few discontinuous language families that have been proposed for Australia . This reconstruction shows that there is a sufficient evidentiary basis, according to the canons of standard historical linguistics, to show that the Mirndi languages constitute a distinct language family. The evidence comes from closed class morphemes, both grammatical and lexical. The evidence from open, lexical classes is negligible and would not suffice to establish the family.

The reconstruction also considers the evidence as to the territorial associations of Proto-Mirndi. There are a number of strands of evidence, which though limited, all converge in indicating that the territorial associations of Proto-Mirndi were in the vicinity of the south-western Gulf of Carpentaria . As such, this implies shifts in territorial affiliations of the Mirndi varieties from east to west.

In addition its linguistic aspects, the reconstruction also provides a detailed overview of the history of subsections. Subsections are a salient social construct across much of north-central and north-western Australia . The reconstruction shows that subsections are of considerable time depth, and also that the diffusion of subsections is of considerable time depth.

2008 ISBN 9870858835887
Prices: Australia AUD $55.00 (incl. GST)
Overseas AUD $50.00

Gayarragi, winangali

From the project web site:

Gayarragi, Winangali is an interactive multimedia resource for Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay, languages of northern New South Wales, Australia (see pop-up maps). Gayarragi, Winangali was produced as a CD-ROM but is also available by download (about 200MB, Win XP/Vista).

Gayarragi, Winangali is a resource for language learners at all levels, and for anyone interested in the Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay languages. It contains extensive language resources, including audio:

• a searchable Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay Dictionary with over 2,600 entries, all including audio
• 957 spoken sentences from traditional speakers, all transcribed, and hyperlinked to the dictionary
• 30 songs and 14 stories, all transcribed, and hyperlinked to the dictionary
• games, including crosswords and memory/matching games
• other language resources as pdf and text files

Archive for Endangered Language work

[from the ILAT list]Studies on Endangered Languages (SEL): A new open archive for linguistic research

Call: We would like to announce a new open archive for unpublished, in-progress and in-press work on endangered languages: Studies on Endangered Languages. SEL will be integrated as a topic page on Lingbuzz (http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/). To get the site going, we need a minimum critical mass of about 20 studies. If you have work you would like to make available, please send it (or a link to it) to Chris Collins (cc116@nyu.edu) or Daniel Kaufman (bahasawan@gmail.com), and we will post it when we have the critical mass.

Description: The inspiration for this archive is Lingbuzz, a thriving repository of papers on theoretical linguistics. We would like the SEL archive to serve as a repository of electronic grammars, dictionaries, and papers (including scans) on endangered languages.

As there is no precise definition of  “endangered language” – even very large languages can be considered endangered if their speaker population is rapidly decreasing – we extend the scope of this archive to include studies on under-researched languages as well.

The papers can be descriptively or theoretically oriented. For the more descriptive papers, the description and keywords that are posted on Lingbuzz (see below) should try to convey notable typological features or points of potential wider interest in the data. One of the goals of the project is to try to integrate data on endangered and under-researched languages into work being done in the theoretical linguistics community.

Papers will not be reviewed. For an overview of Lingbuzz policies, see:

http://ling.auf.net/buzzdocs/

As with Lingbuzz, each paper will appear with the following information:

Title
Name of Author
Date of Submission
Description
(one or two paragraphs)
Place of publication
(if there exists a published version)
Keywords
(one of the key words for all SEL papers will be “Endangered Languages”)
Previous version dates
Number of times downloaded

Variation in Indigenous Minority Languages

[includes paper by Carmel O'Shannessy on change in Warlpiri]

Edited by James N. Stanford and Dennis R. Preston

Dartmouth College / Oklahoma State University

Indigenous minority languages have played crucial roles in many areas of linguistics – phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, typology, and the ethnography of communication. Such languages have, however, received comparatively little attention from quantitative or variationist sociolinguistics. Without the diverse perspectives that underrepresented language communities can provide, our understanding of language variation and change will be incomplete. To help fill this gap and develop broader viewpoints, this anthology presents 21 original, fieldwork-based studies of a wide range of indigenous languages in the framework of quantitative sociolinguistics. The studies illustrate how such understudied communities can provide new insights into language variation and change with respect to socioeconomic status, gender, age, clan, lack of a standard, exogamy, contact with dominant majority languages, internal linguistic factors, and many other topics.

The Murrinhpatha Legal Glossary Abstracts

Ford, L.J. and Dominic McCormack. 2006. The Murrinh-patha Legal Glossary: translating legal concepts across cultures. English for Special Purposes 2. University of Foggia.

Walsh on Land Claims and Native Title Cases

Here is an interesting article on the difficult legal issues surrounding Aboriginal land claims and Native Title cases.

Michael Walsh. 2008.   “Which way?”: Difficult options for vulnerable witnesses in Australian Aboriginal land claim and Native Title cases.  Journal of English Linguistics 36,239.  DOI: 10.1177/0075424208321142

Murrinhpatha-English Legal Glossary

Ford, Lysbeth and Dominic McCormack. 2007. Murrinhpatha – English legal glossary. Murrinh tetemanthai ngarra murrinh law kardu bamam-thangunu. Difficult words that come from non-Aboriginal law. xii + 40 pp. PDF linked from www.bowden-mccormack.com.au.

Murrinhpatha Language

The web page for the Murrinh-patha language, the main language of the people of the Thamarrurr Region, is now available here:
http://www.bowden-mccormack.com.au/index.php?page=murrinh-patha-language

[via AAASNET]
INVITATION TO AIATISIS SEMINAR SERIES 2009

I am pleased to invite you to come along to AIATSIS for our 2009 Seminar
Series, which will take place between February – June. The first seminar
is on Monday 2 February.

The theme of this year’s Series is ‘Giving an Account of Ourselves:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Philosophy, Knowledge and View”
and the free seminars will be held on Mondays between 12.30 – 2pm in the
Mabo Room at AIATSIS.

This seminar series is being presented by Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The
seminars are free and open to all members of the public – Indigenous and
non-Indigenous.  The seminar series, in acknowledging the intellectual
heritage and strength of Indigenous Australian’s society, is also a
celebratory expression.  The speakers in this series come from all
States and Territories of Australia.

Click here for the full seminar program and to register your interest:
http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research_program/events2/seminar_series_1_2009

I also attach a PDF of the program – we’d be grateful if you could
circulate this to all you feel may be interested in coming along.

We really hope to see you.

Cheers Suzi

Suzi Clark
Director, Public Affairs and Marketing
AIATSIS
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Acton Peninsula, Lawson Crescent
Acton ACT 2601
Tel: 02 6261 4254
www.aiatsis.gov.au
Worldwide knowledge and understanding of Australian Indigenous cultures,
past and present.

ALS 2007 Proceedings

The proceedings of the 2007 conference are now available.

Cohesive features in Rembarrnga narratives
Graham McKay