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BWF 2011 Transcript

Some interesting quotes from the discussion:

Language loss is the canary in a coalmine: it’s really the indicator of a greater trend, which is the erosion of cultural diversity. And I think the reason we’re so concerned about the language loss is not only because a language is not just grammar and vocabulary; it’s by definition a flash of the human spirit; it’s a vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture comes in the material world. You know, every language is an old-growth forest of the mind, a watershed of thought, an ecosystem of social and spiritual possibilities. And language loss has been a constant in history, just as species have gone extinct.
Wade Davis

People often say to you, ‘Why does it matter if a language – you know, if a language is sort of spoken by a handful of people, is there a value in its revitalisation? Can it truly be revitalised?’ Well, it’s important to remember that even the gesture of attempting to revitalise a language suddenly brings children to the knees of the grandparents, suddenly validates the integrity of the culture. And even if a small group of people in Australia, who probably may never again speak their mother tongue completely, just the fact that the society recognises the vitality and legitimacy of that language is important in terms of this overall gesture of restitution that Australia has embarked on.
Wade Davis

These cultures are not destined to fade away as if by natural law; they’re not failed attempts to be modern; they’re dynamic, living peoples that, in every case, are being driven out of existence by identifiable forces. And that both is an optimistic observation, because it suggests that if human beings are the agents of cultural destruction we could be the facilitators of cultural survival, but it also puts a responsibility on us to do precisely that.
Wade Davis

I think with the internet and with technology the way it’s going, the protection of languages has a huge potential to just accelerate
Andrew Westoll

About 80 languages are spoken by 90 per cent of humanity.
Wade Davis

Every two weeks somebody dies and carries with them into the grave the last syllables of an ancient tongue.
Wade Davis

In 2009 the Federal Government did agree to release a National Indigenous Languages Policy … we can now go to government or different departments and say, ‘Here is this policy. You have to work to that. You’ve got to make changes in what you’re doing.’
Faith Baisden

Genocide is universally condemned, the physical extermination of a people; but ethnocide is not only not condemned, in many corners of the world – the World Bank and elsewhere – it’s promoted as proper modern development policy. And the last sacred cow, that no-one’s prepared to go after, is education and literacy. This is assumed, universally, to be only a positive force, but throughout the world, in fact, literacy is very often the frontline tool for acculturation and assimilation.
Wade Davis

I agree it’s very important to have languages recorded, but we also, I think, have to be very wary that those languages don’t then get colonised … And then the problem is that, once things get colonised, they get distorted, and so things that once meant something, the meaning changes; or perhaps the language is used for some purpose to know something that was previously passed on between members of a community and now is put outside the community for anybody to buy. So I think we need to be quite political about how these things are done and not just go in with our tape recorders and willy-nilly put them up there on the internet.
Susan Hawthorne

We could document every language and put it into a digital archive. What good will that really do humanity if the people that speak the language have been eradicated or assimilated or violated.
Wade Davis

If I can just give you a little bit of hope for what’s happening in Australia, our groups are supporting community-based projects, so with not so much the focus on the academic and the linguists, it’s about getting back to community and getting the hand-helds out there and training young people – people of all ages. It’s really great to see the young people sitting down with the elders, so the young ones are using their technology and getting the elders to speak to them and capturing it that way. There’s not enough of it being done; we need to encourage the government to give more money to these programs; but, you know, it’s a tiny amount that they’ve got available.
Faith Baisden

I just wanted to say that, in Australia here, anthropologists, many anthropologists, have been very puzzled because of the great number of languages there are in this country. There are at least 300 Indigenous languages and just as many, or many more, dialects. Now, in some areas, there’s small groups of people teaching the local language. Aboriginal people quite understand why we had so many different languages: because of the importance and sacredness of the land and the language that belongs to it. And there’s small numbers of people who are teaching the Indigenous language in the schools. And what I want to say is if this could be increased. Because what it does [is] it teaches the children a greater respect for the land. It teaches children to, hopefully, start to take on responsibility for that land they live on because they’re learning from the Indigenous people the very important nature of the land and how we need to go about healing that land now.
And if that could happen on a larger scale throughout the country, I think Aboriginal people are so willing, so very willing, to share their knowledge with other people who’ve come from elsewhere. And unfortunately we see people who are only too willing to limit their own intellect and stay within their own terms of reference, when Aboriginal people are so willing and available to share what knowledge they have, and especially to health land. I mean, just a brief comment: I mean, women’s languages are so important, and there’s always been women’s language in this country, and I’m sure in other cultures as well; only it needs to be recognised in a very positive manner, and that hasn’t always occurred.
The only other thing I guess I’d like to say is that my dear sister, who is deceased now, but she had a message for people which I think can be understood in any language, and her message was, in terms of healing the country and making a contribution to healing what’s happening in the world today, she asked the question, ‘Will you be an honourable ancestor for our future generations?’
Lila Watson

It’s not a record to be proud of, but Australia appears to be world champions at linguicide, the killing of languages. Out of an estimated 250 spoken by indigenous people only 20 are now in common usage. Linguistics professor GHIL’AD ZUCKERMANN is urging Australians to join a global movement designed to revive endangered tongues.

612 Drive reporter TERRI BEGLEY is talking with indigenous language expert, Des Crump.

Adelaide University’s linguistics professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann is urging the Australian community to preserve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, saying they should be better recognised as part of the country’s heritage.

Nance Haxton reported this story for AM, Radio National, on Tuesday, April 10, 2012. With Leonora Adidi.

As the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander languages in use dwindles there’s one Indigenous language that’s growing Yumplatok, Stefan Armbruster reports from the Torres Strait.

The Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA) 2012 Conference – Perth, 12, 13, 14 November

‘Evolving Paradigms: Language and Applied Linguistics in a Changing World’

For further details see the ALAA website.

In 2014, the AILA World Congress will be held
in Brisbane AILA 2014.pdf AILA 2014.pdf (106.25 KB). We
encourage all members to register their interest
and receive regular updates at the AILA website: http://www.aila2014.com/

“My Mob Going to the Beach” by Jaquanna Elliott and the late Sylvia Emmerton (who was a teacher at Shalom Christian College) is recommended in the Australian Curriculum for first term grade one, and this lovely book about Townsville is already a best-seller at Black Ink Press.

Two other books have also been recommended. “Crow Feathers, an Indigenous collection of poems and images”, Black Ink’s very first book published nine years ago (designed by Robbie Paul) has been suggested for year 5 students. In addition, “Biddy’s fishing-line” by Robbie Paul and Bridget Priman has been suggested for Prep students by the Department of Education and Training’s C2C team (Curriculum into the Classroom) team.

Read the full article in the Congress Community Development and Education Unit newsletter.

Stephen was challenged by Kathy Balngayngu Marika from Yirrkala, North East Arnhem Land, to tell the story in her language. Well done for rising to the challenge!

The play has received great reviews and is in Brisbane in March

The Queensland Government has committed $685,000 to continue special education, language and cultural programs at the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy.

The programs will serve the dual purposes of preserving local dialects and improving educational outcomes in general.

“By studying their own culture and history, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students feel a greater sense of belonging at school and this leads to improved performance rates,” a government spokesman said.