School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications

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    Handbook of Western Australian Aboriginal Languages South of the Kimberley Region
    Thieberger, N (Pacific Linguistics Publishers, 1993)
    An annotated bibliography and guide to the indigenous languages of part of Western Australia. Information on individual languages can be found via a geographic, alphabetic, or language family index.
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    State of Indigenous languages in Australia - 2001, Australia State of the Environment Second Technical Paper Series (Natural and Cultural Heritage), Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra
    McConvell, P ; Thieberger, N ( 2001)
    This paper provides data for, or information about, nine environmental indicators related to the condition of Indigenous languages in Australia, being a contribution towards the 2001 national State of the Environment Report. The indicators address the following key issues about the state of Indigenous languages in Australia: * condition of Indigenous languages, * state of documentation of languages, * the wider use of Indigenous languages, * funding, research and education.The study found that in 1996: * there has been a decrease in the percentage of Indigenous people speaking Indigenous languages from 100% in 1800 to 13% in 1996, * there are about 55,000 speakers of Indigenous languages in Australia, * the number of Indigenous languages, and the percentage of people speaking these languages have continued to fall in the period 1986-1996, accelerating over the ten years, and * of the 20 languages categorised in 1990 as 'strong', 3 should now be regarded as 'endangered'.The paper comments on the usefulness of the indicators and makes recommendations to improve either the indicators or the source data collections.
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    Language maintenance: Why bother?
    Thieberger, N (Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 1990-01-01)
    What do we mean by 'language maintenance'? It is an enterprise that, understandably, has the support of most linguists, but for what reasons, and to what possible outcome? There are at least seven arguments used in defence of the effort placed on 'maintaining' Australian Aboriginal languages, and these are discussed and evaluated in this paper. While each has merit, it is ultimately by appeal to morality and social justice that we find justification for Aboriginal language maintenance.
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    The Road Less Travelled: Recording and Teaching Aboriginal Languages in Western Australia
    Thieberger, N (Edith Cowan University, Claremont: Institute of Applied Language Studies, 1991)
    This paper discusses the treatment of Aboriginal languages in Western Australia. A brief historical overview is followed by an account of the more recent changes in approach to indigenous language work in Western Australia.
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    Language data assessment at the national level: learning from the State of the Environment process in Australia
    McConvell, P ; Thieberger, N (Foundation for Endangered Languages, 2003)
    Language maintenance is necessarily grounded in communities and has a local focus. Federal government policy has a national and international focus, yet it is the source of funding for most Australian indigenous language (IL) work, through ATSIC. The nearest approach to a national assessment of the number of languages and their needs has come through a perhaps unexpected source, an initiative of the federal department responsible for the environment, Environment Australia. Every five years this department mounts an evaluation of aspects of the physical and cultural environment, called the 'State of the Environment'. In 1997 it proposed a set of indicators for assessing the state of indigenous languages and in 2001 these indicators were implemented in the State of Indigenous Languages (SOIL) report. Among the indicators are those which measure the level of endangerment of languages. This necessitated building an improved listing of languages and consideration of how census data can be used to extract endangerment measures. Especially given the minimal questions on language in the Australian census and issues surrounding the meaning of the responses, these measures benefit from cross-checking against local studies where they exist. This paper presents some of the most recently available census data from 2001 and compares it, where possible, with local and regional studies.
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    Language programmes: for tradition or today
    Thieberger, N (Perth:Institute of Applied Aboriginal Studies, 1988)
    This paper argues that language programmes should not necessarily require relearning of languages that are no longer spoken. Just because a programme does not aim at fluency in a language does not mean there is no role for a linguist. The challenge is to assess the reasons for initiating language work, and to design programmes and materials so that they address the current needs of Aboriginal people.
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    Wangka Maya, the Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre.
    SHARP, J ; THIEBERGER, N ; SIMPSON, J ; NASH, D ; LAUGHREN, M ; AUSTIN, PK ; ALPHER, B (Pacific Linguistics Publishers, 2001)
    Aboriginal Language Centres occupy an exciting and innovative space in the fringe between academia and the people used by academia as its source of data. Now with funding that has lasted over a decade, language centres have the potential to train local people, to record and store information about local languages, and to promote the use of the languages in schools and other venues. In this paper we discuss the establishment and ongoing function of Wangka Maya, the Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre in Port Hedland, Western Australia (WA).