The Age on Children's books

In Silly Stories with a serious message, Elisabeth Tarica reports on The Naked boy and the Crocodile, a book edited by children's author Andy Griffiths but comprised of "13 stories written and illustrated by children that he had met" travelling to remote communities in Australia.

She also comments on the low literacy rates amongst Indigenous Australian children, and also mentions the Book Buzz programme, under which, "popular picture books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Dear Zoo and Where is the Green Sheep? are translated into local languages and supplied to preschoolers in remote communities." The project has "achieved amazing results because the books are translated into the Ngaanyatjarra language.

The article highlights the importance of literacy to the individual in "today's print-driven world", but makes no mention of the importance of written materials in the survival of a language in such a print-driven world, by maintaining the prestige of a language.

The Age: New chapter for ancient songbook

In New chapter for ancient songbook, Andrew Bock writes about The Song Peoples Sessions, a project to produce both archival material, and commercial releases of traditional and contemporary indigenous Australian musicians.

The article claims that "This is the first project to help contemporary indigenous musicians learn traditional language and record music with song people from their own families", and relates the stories of some of the musicians involved.

Languages mentioned: Yanyuwa, Warumungu

Crikey Reposts a Paradisec post.

In Deeply depressing news from the North – the slow death of bilingualism in remote Northern Territory schools, Bob Gosford reports on a post by Jane Simpson on the Endangered Langauges and Cultures blog, bringing the issue to a broader audience

Gosford states (about Simpson and her post):

She knows what she is talking about, so when she writes in such dramatic terms we should all sit back and listen.

ABC Reports on Indigenous translation of National Anthem

In Kutju Australia, our land is girt by red dust
, ABC reports on a new translation of the Australian National Anthem into Loritja Pintupi.

The translation was undertaken by "politician Alison Anderson and musician Ted Egan", "to increase awareness about the language of Australia's first people."

The article claims that it is the first translation in to an indigenous Australian language.

The Existential Problems of minority cultures.

The Australian: Speaking one's mother tongue is vital



Noel Pearson writes in The Australian on the existential problems of Indigenous Australians, and by extension, other minority cultures ("Where are the Livonians today?", and "The Swedes on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea...under Russian or Soviet domination").

He makes particular mention of the Guugu Yimdhirr, to whom the author "belongs historically and linguistically, and through descent.", but also mentions the Yolngu.

He states that "Anglophones, such as non-indigenous Australians, have difficulty understanding the existential angst of small ethnicities." because "The English language and the Anglophone culture are the most powerful forces in history."

He ends with a plea:

If you don't know an indigenous Australian language, learn one. (People with no indigenous Australian family may learn the language of the area with which they have the strongest ties.) If you know an indigenous Australian language, improve your grasp of it; literacy in Australian languages is still rare.


Then speak it to the children. This is the noblest and worthiest cause for an Australian patriot.

Don't listen to us, go and do chores

A dance for the winds


Australian Geographic reports on a new work by dancer/choreographer Elma Kris.

What is interesting for this blog is that she mentions the nature of language use in her childhood home life:

When she was growing up her mother didn't speak much "language" as she calls Kalaw Lagaw Ya, the language of the western and central Torres Strait Islands, but would converse in Creole, a form of English. "The only time you got to see them talk language was when there was an event on the island or people coming to a celebration. My mother would always say to me, 'don't listen to us - go and do chores'."

This highlights one of the causes of language death. The reluctance to use a language around one's children, favouring a different language perceived to be more "useful" in some way. Whether it be more widely spoken or prestigious.

ABC reports on language survival in South Australia

The soon to be lost languages of our Indigenous cultures


ABC reports on a five year project at the University of Adelaide, tracking the survival rates of several indigenous languages.

Pitjantjatjarra and Yankunytjatjara, are reported as being the two dominant indigenous languages of South Australia, with others being "severely endangered".

The article states that generational attitudes and relocation are leading to languages not being passed on to younger generations, and that most of the interviewees involved in the study primarily speak English.

A positive point mentioned in the article is that a sense of ancestral pride and heritage, along with a sense of language ownership and "a wish to continue dialect preservations through non-governmental agencies."

It is interesting to note that, despite the assertion by one interviewee in the university's report that

"It is everybody‟s responsibility to keep Indigenous language alive, by supporting the teaching of it in schools. And acknowledging that they are languages in their own right and not dialects."

The word dialect appears three times in the ABC article, in reference to indigenous languages. However, this could be interpreted as a stylistic effect, driven by the appearance of the word language in about half of the paragraphs.

Also included is a link to the full report delivered to the Office for the Arts (http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201103/r728637_5853358.pdf)

New Project to preserve Wirangu

"AN Aboriginal community risks losing its language because too much emphasis is placed on Pitjantjatjara."


The South Australia Sunday Mail reports on a new three year project to "preserve and regenerate" the critically endangered local language Wirangu. The article states that one of the causes for endangerment is a focus on Pitjantjatjara in schools, and states that Wirangu only has two fluent speakers left.