School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemKaipuleohone, The University of Hawai'i's Digital Ethnographic Archive(University of Hawaii Press, 2009)The University of Hawai‘i’s Kaipuleohone Digital Ethnographic Archive was created in 2008 as part of the ongoing language documentation initiative of the Department of Linguistics. The archive is a repository for linguistic and ethnographic data gathered by linguists, anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, and others. Over the past year, the archive has grown from idea to reality, due to the hard work of faculty and students, as well as support from inside and outside the Department. This paper will outline the context for digital archiving and provide an overview of the development of Kaipuleohone, examining both concrete and theoretical issues that have been addressed along the way. The creation of the archive has not been problem-free and the archive itself is an ongoing process rather than a finished product. We hope that this paper will be useful to scholars and language workers in other areas who are considering setting up their own digital archive.
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ItemExplaining the Linguistic Diversity of Sahul Using Population Models(PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2009-11)The region of the ancient Sahul continent (present day Australia and New Guinea, and surrounding islands) is home to extreme linguistic diversity. Even apart from the huge Austronesian language family, which spread into the area after the breakup of the Sahul continent in the Holocene, there are hundreds of languages from many apparently unrelated families. On each of the subcontinents, the generally accepted classification recognizes one large, widespread family and a number of unrelatable smaller families. If these language families are related to each other, it is at a depth which is inaccessible to standard linguistic methods. We have inferred the history of structural characteristics of these languages under an admixture model, using a Bayesian algorithm originally developed to discover populations on the basis of recombining genetic markers. This analysis identifies 10 ancestral language populations, some of which can be identified with clearly defined phylogenetic groups. The results also show traces of early dispersals, including hints at ancient connections between Australian languages and some Papuan groups (long hypothesized, never before demonstrated). Systematic language contact effects between members of big phylogenetic groups are also detected, which can in some cases be identified with a diffusional or substrate signal. Most interestingly, however, there remains striking evidence of a phylogenetic signal, with many languages showing negligible amounts of admixture.
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ItemCommunity languages and LOTE provision in Victorian primary schools: Mix or match?(John Benjamins Publishing, 2007)Primary school languages education continues to be a challenging issue for all states in Australia. In Victoria, LOTE study is provided at the primary level to address the needs of linguistically diverse communities, as well as to provide an enriching learning experience for monolingual speakers of English. The challenge remains to ensure that programs that are run are effective, address the needs of the community and are embraced as a valuable and enriching component of the school curriculum. This study looks at the provision of LOTE in 2003 in Victorian primary schools and in particular, through an analysis of the geographical location of community groups and primary LOTE programs, how effectively community needs are being met. We also analyse the nature of LOTE programs through an examination of teachers’ qualifications, time allotment and program type. Factors identified by some schools as impinging on LOTE study at the primary level, such as literacy concerns and multilingual diversity, will also be examined.
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ItemLanguages Other Than English in Victorian government schools 2008(Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2009)
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ItemHey Hey, We're Just Ignorant(The Australian, 2009-10-10)EVERY so often something happens that reveals a rift between Australian and foreign understandings of the world and its people. The performance of the "Jackson Jive" by five dancers in blackface and a Michael Jackson impersonator on Hey, Hey, It's Saturday is a good example.
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ItemGenre and disciplinary competence: A case study of contextualisation in an academic speech genre(PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, 2009-10)
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ItemThe place of foreign culture in the Saudi pre-service EFL teacher education(Saudi Students Schools & Clubs in UK and Ireland, 2008)In this paper, the researcher presents the results of an investigation of the place of foreign culture in preservice EFL teacher education. Grounded in the context of Saudi Arabia, qualitative analysis indicates that widespread static views of culture across the education sector minimise the place of culture in both policy and practice. Intercultural approaches need to be adapted as a way to reconceptualise culture dynamically. Implications included recommending supportive policies, appropriate pedagogies, and computer-assisted exposure to better emphasise the place of foreign culture within pre-service EFL teacher education.
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ItemSynchrony as the underlying structure of gesture: the relationship between speech sound and body movement at the micro level(School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne, 2007)In pursuit of the nature of gesture, Condon observed synchrony of the body with speech sound within speakers and between speaker and listener. His work aroused interest on first publication in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but most researchers failed to replicate the results and interest waned. This paper presents a successful replication of the original research with updated methodology. A review of the original research is also presented as context for the replication.
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ItemA speech/gesture interface: encoding static, locative relationships in verbal discourse(School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne, 2007)When speakers communicate, both verbal and non-verbal aspects of behaviour create and influence discourse. This paper looks at a PhD in progress, which examines how native speakers of Australian English and French use both language and gesture to describe static, locative relationships in everyday spatial scenes. The major hypotheses of the study stem from two theoretical concepts which are central to the lexical expression of spatial relationships: the degree of granularity (Narasimhan and Gullberg) in individual English and French prepositions, and the frames of reference (Levinson) adopted by speakers to encode locative relationships. A link between language and gesture is proposed by examining the ramifications these concepts may have for a speaker’s gestural behaviour.