A Longitudinal Study of Ngarrindjeri

A Longitudinal Study of Ngarrindjeri

Corinne Bannister.

This thesis aims to follow the changes that occur in Ngarrindjeri, a language from South Australia, over a period of 130 years. Over this period of time the speakers underwent great social and cultural change, with the settlement of white people, and the language changed from being a vibrant living language to one where only a few lexical items can be remembered. Particular attention is given to the syntactic changes, with a focus on case, the pronominal system and the antipassive function. A range of sources have been used; however Meyer’s grammar from 1843 and the Berndt texts, recorded in the 1940s, plus the accompanying analysis provided by Cerin (1994), receive the main focus because they are the most extensive descriptions of the language. The other sources are used when necessary to fill in the gaps. Chapter one introduces the language and the source material. It also discusses general concepts in language attrition. Chapter two deals with nominal morphology, with a particular focus on how the cases have changed. It also contains some reanalysis of the forms, which differs slightly from previous analyses. Chapter three address the pronominal morphology and identifies and explains discrepancies among the sources. This chapter contains information on the personal pronouns, reflexive pronouns and also a small section on how the pronominal system influenced a change in word order. Chapter four addresses the antipassive in Ngarrindjeri. Previous work on the antipassive has been scarce, so firstly this chapter establishes the form of the antipassive. Next it identifies the semantic uses of the construction. Finally, there is an investigation into the existence of a syntactic antipassive and the type of pivots that may also exist.

Media Databases

David Nash’s summary of media databases used for Australian languages.

Grant opportunity

Aboriginal community organisations can apply for one-off grants worth up to
$25,000 to protect and teach Aboriginal languages.

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Paul Lynch said for Aboriginal people,
language is a direct link to their identity, land and country, reflecting
their unique way of looking at the world.

Applications for close on Friday, May 25. For more information or to get an
application form visit www.alrrc.nsw.gov.au or call 9219 0700.

http://www.alrrc.nsw.gov.au/

Vanishing languages of the Pacific Rim

Oxford University Press site. Peter Austin has posted on the book at ELAC.

2003 Paradisec Conference

From Transient Languages and Cultures, the proceedings of the 2003 PARADISEC workshop on Researchers, communities, institutions and sound recordings. There are many papers directly and indirectly relevant to fieldwork with Indigenous Australian languages.

ELF Request for Proposals

For more information see the announcement at http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/request.html

Language Documentation and Conservation: New Journal

Email from Nick Thieberger:

I am writing to announce a new journal called Language Documentation and Conservation (http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc) from the University of Hawai’i. This is an online peer-reviewed journal and the first issue will appear in mid-2007. You are encouraged to subscribe to the journal (which costs nothing) here: http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/subscribe.html.

I am the technology editor and am hoping you will want to contribute articles on methods for language documentation which may include (but not be limited to) software and hardware tools, techniques and workflows. These articles can be in the form of reviews of particular tools, announcements about new tools or methods for linguistic analysis associated with language documentation. We want to explore the possibilities offered by an online journal, for example in allowing larger datasets to be made available for corroboration of claims made in paper journals.

The deadline for the first issue is late March so please consider submitting that article that has been sitting around waiting for the right forum.

Sustainable Data from Digital Fieldwork

Conference held at the University of Sydney.

• Conference page is here.
• Conference review at ELAC.
• DSpace collection of papers resulting from the workshop.

OREL

The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project has just launched OREL: Online Resources for Endangered Languages.

OREL is a new and unique resource - a library of over 200 annotated and categorised links to websites for people interested in endangered language documentation and revitalisation. To access OREL go to http://www.hrelp.org/languages/resources/

There is a version of OREL also available in Arabic at http://www.hrelp.org/languages/resources/orel-ar/index.html

Peter Austin
Marit Rausing Chair in Field Linguistics
Director, Endangered Languages Academic Programme
SOAS

Ozbib update

OZBib

A linguistic bibliography of Aboriginal Australia

and the Torres Strait Islands

SUPPLEMENT 1999-2006

Compiled by Geraldine Triffitt

Published by Mulini Press, Canberra

OZBIB was compiled by Lois Carrington and Geraldine Triffitt and published by Pacific Linguistics in 1999. Its aim was to provide a full bibliographical listing of all published materials and theses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and linguistics. This Supplement covers the period from July 1999 to September 2006 plus addenda from OZBIB. There are both language and subject indexes to the bibliography.

OZBIB is broad in scope. It lists both theoretical and applied linguistics works. It covers the description and analysis of languages, dictionaries, grammars, works on bilingual education, language policy, language use in courts of law, the experiences of language speakers and the linguistic output of language centres. Included in the Indigenous languages are creoles and Aboriginal English.

Available from

Naviti Documentation, PO Box 537, MAWSON, ACT 2607
No Credit Card facilities available

$30 + postage and handling.

Postage rates: Australia $5.50: Overseas air mail $10-$17 depending on destination

Geraldine Triffitt is a librarian with linguistic qualifications from the Australian National University. She worked as Bibliographer (Linguistics) and Collection Manager (Linguistics) at AIAS and AIATSIS Library from 1986 to 1997.