School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemLD Tools and Methods Summit Report( 2016)This document provides an overview of the main points arising from discussion at the Language Documentation Tools and Methods Summit (http://bit.ly/LDsummit2016) held at the University of Melbourne on 1-3 June 2016 and convened by Nick Thieberger and Simon Musgrave for the Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, funded by the Australian Research Council. Invited participants were asked to consider key issues that were pre-circulated and then prepare discussion points for the meeting. Each theme leader took notes and they are summarised below, with links to the original notes also provided below. There is necessarily some overlap between the reports on group discussions.
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ItemWhat is subjectivity? Scholarly perspectives on the elephant in the room(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022-01-01)Abstract The concept of subjectivity has long been controversially discussed in academic contexts without ever reaching consensus. As the main approach for a science of subjectivity, we applied Q methodology to investigate subjective perspectives about ‘subjectivity’. The purpose of this work was therefore to contribute with clarity about what is meant with this central concept and in what way the understanding might differ among Q researchers and beyond. Forty-six participants from different disciplinary backgrounds and geographical locations sorted 39 statements related to subjectivity. Factor analysis yielded five different perspectives. Employing a team approach, the factors were carefully and holistically interpreted in an iterative manner. Preliminary factor interpretations were then discussed with prominent experts in the field of Q methodology. These interviewees were selected due to their clear representation by a specific factor and led to a further enrichment of the narratives presented. Despite some underlying consensus concerning subjectivity’s dynamic and complex structure and being used as individuals’ internal point of view, perspectives differ with regard to the measurability of subjectivity and the role context plays for their construction. In light of the wide range of characterisations, we suggest the presented perspectives to be used as a springboard for future Q studies and urge researchers, within and beyond the Q community, to be more specific regarding their application of the concept. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of attempting to deeply understand research participants in order to truly contribute to a science of subjectivity.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe AICCM Bulletin, Volume 37.1 Editorial(Informa UK Limited, 2016-01-02)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableCustomary song in Christian clothing(Presses universitaires de la Nouvelle‐Calédonie, 2023)In this paper, we illustrate the maintenance of archaic forms of Nafsan (a language spoken in Efate, Vanuatu) in song, and take one particular song as an example. Nafsan is known for having lost medial and final vowels in everyday language, but these can be, as in many languages, retained in song. One of the very few books written in Nafsan by Nafsan speakers was produced in 1983 in Port Vila (Wai et al.). It contains twelve stories, and ends with a cryptic inscription, M‐dd‐M‐dd‐ddl‐S‐dl‐s‐dd. All the stories were transcribed and translated as part of Thieberger’s research, but he was not sure what to do with this collection of letters. By chance, a copy of a hymnal on Lelepa island had the same cryptic letters that were evidently a form of musical notation known as solfa, Tonic Sol‐fa, or Solfege. Translations of Christian hymns into Nafsan were first made in the 1840s, but none of these hymnals includes solfa notation. As Stevens (2005) notes, solfa “often resulted in the emergence of a school of indigenous composers writing in Tonic Sol-fa notation and using the tonal harmonic style”. That is clearly the case in this Nafsan story. In this paper, we will look in more detail at the Ririal song, noting its archaic content. Early translations of hymns often maintain vowels that are now lost in Nafsan, and the same appears to be the case with the Ririal song. It is indicative of the syncretism with which Christianity has been received in Efate that a method of transcription originally intended to make Christian hymns more accessible has been adapted in a monolingual set of kastom stories to present a traditional song.
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ItemBridging Australian Indigenous language learner’s guides with SLA materials development frameworks(Taylor and Francis Group, 2022)The learner’s guide (LG) is a genre of pedagogical materials for Australian Indigenous languages, but LGs developed by field linguists are often questioned regarding their capacity to effectively facilitate language learning and, eventually, language revitalisation. This reflects a gap in the literature where applied linguistics perspectives are limited in Indigenous language studies, and vice versa. This study aims to address this gap by examining nine existing LGs published over the past four decades using a modified framework based on Tomlinson’s guidelines for second language acquisition (SLA) materials development. Findings show that the LGs are designed based on one of the three model types: (1) Type 1: non-communicative grammar-based, (2) Type 2: practice-integrated grammar-based, and (3) Type 3: text-driven meaning-based, among which the text-driven model has, theoretically speaking, the best potential to achieve pedagogical purposes. Yet, in general, existing LGs likely fail to equip learners with communicative competence. Other issues of greater complexity are also raised, including material comprehensibility and limited resources. A critical implication for the field is the necessity of empirical needs analyses for future LG development.
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ItemThe Typology of Reciprocal Constructions(Annual Reviews, 2023-01-17)Reciprocal constructions involve a complex mapping of semantics onto morphosyntax, requiring multiple propositions to be overlaid onto a single clause and the permutation of semantic roles within the set of participants involved. This complexity challenges the standard processes relating predicates to situations, and thus languages arrive at a great diversity of solutions for how reciprocal situations are encoded within a single clausal structure. Recent typological work has showcased this diversity from different perspectives, but further work is needed to determine how different morphosyntactic and semantic properties interact and what implicational connections and correlations exist with other parts of the linguistic system. Theoretical typologies highlight the importance of reciprocal constructions for our understanding of grammatical structure crosslinguistically.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableProsodic phrasing, pitch range and word order variation in Murrinhpatha(ASSTA, 2022)Like many Indigenous Australian languages, Murrinhpatha has flexible word order with no apparent configurational syntax. We analyzed an experimental corpus of Murrinhpatha utterances for associations between different thematic role orders, intonational phrasing patterns and pitch downtrends. We found that initial constituents (Agents or Patients) tend to carry the highest pitch targets (HiF0), followed by patterns of downstep and declination. Sentence-final verbs always have lower Hif0 values than either initial or medial Agents or Patients. Thematic role order does not influence intonational patterns, with the results suggesting that Murrinhpatha has positional prosody, although final nominals can disrupt global pitch downtrends regardless of thematic role.
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ItemHypothetically Speaking: Ethics in linguistic fieldwork, a provocation(Routledge, 2023-03-06)Ethical issues are not always easily resolved. In the case of language documentation work, such issues require careful thought to ensure that all parties to a research process are informed and are able to participate equally, or to the level that they want, in the research process. While there is a considerable literature on ethics and fieldwork, here we present some of the issues in the form of an entertaining hypothetical discussion, presented as part of the social program at a conference of the Australian Linguistic Society with a cast who were given an outline of their roles, but not the scenarios that they would have to address in the course of the event. At the request of cast members, and in keeping with the topic, we did not record the presentation, but do offer the script here in the hope that it provides a less didactic coverage of some ethical issues than may be found elsewhere. We are pleased to be able to offer this chapter in celebration of Nick Ostler’s career and of his support for many language projects around the world. We hope this chapter’s entertainment can live up to Nick’s entertaining conversation in conference presentations and dinners.
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ItemA Millenium of Guitars(Contrastes Records, 2022)This works argues for continuity in the guitar music of Spain over a period of more than a thousand years. Spain and the guitar are inseparable. They are inseparable for reasons that are inexplicable, no matter how hard we try to invent theories. The guitar and its ancestors have always been there, not just in the time of living memory, but far beyond. Music specifically composed for the guitar and notated for it goes back some five hundred years, but evidence is preserved to show their presence in Spanish culture for at least another five centuries.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableJournal of the Lute Society of America(Lute Society of America, 2021)