School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemDestabilizing Racial Discourses in Casual Talk-in-interaction(Oxford University Press, 2022)Racialized descriptions are a constant practice in our societies and a fundamental aspect of racial discourses. This paper uses conversation analytic tools within a Foucauldian perspective on discourse to investigate how discourses of race are (re)produced, and consequently navigated, in talk-in-interaction among speakers of Chinese. Four instances of racialized person description, taken from a larger corpus of 16 hours of casual conversation among Chinese migrants in Melbourne and their acquaintances, are explored in detail. The analysis identifies two interactional sequences, joking and accounting sequences, which allow participants to resist racialized descriptions while still orienting to the interactional preference for sociality in casual conversation. The paper argues that casual and friendly interaction may provide empirical evidence for how discourses of race are destabilized at the level of talk-in-interaction.
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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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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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ItemLanguage contact in North Sulawesi: Preliminary observations(Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa （ILCAA）, 2020-03-31)Categorised as a Pidgin Derived Malay ( PDM ), Manado Malay ( MM ) is spoken throughout northern Sulawesi and on islands to the south of the southern Philippines. After originally functioning as regional lingua franca, it is now well established as the first language of up to one million people. This paper examines the language-contact situation between MM and two indigenous languages with a long presence in the region. Despite centuries of continued close contact, an examination of a range of typological features reveals minimal shared features, almost none of which have arisen through borrowing. These results corroborate multiple theories relating to language-contact outcomes, in particular the availability of different structural features for borrowing, the likely direction of any transfer, and the effect of both linguistic and non-linguistic factors on the potential for intense bilingualism.
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ItemIt's a word isn't it? Language affection as an outcome of language programmes.(School of Languages and Linguistics, 2000)Structural linguistics has a particular view of the integrity of language which may be detrimental to the construction of appropriate language maintenance programmes for small indigenous languages. In this paper I outline ways in which ‘affective’ use of language may be the most useful target of language programmes in some situations, based on my experience with Australian indigenous languages. Fluency in a language may not be the achievable outcome of a language course for a number of reasons, not least among them being the enormity of the task perceived by learners of the language. For languages with few or no speakers we should be able to construct language programmes in which the use of a small number of terms in the target language, for purposes of identity, is a sufficient and realistic outcome.
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ItemThe Aboriginal Studies Electronic Data Archive (ASEDA)(De Gruyter, 1995)
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ItemThe Acquisition of Quotatives and Quotative Be Like among Chinese L2 Speakers of English in Australia(MDPI, 2022-06-01)This study explores the acquisition of the English quotative system and the innovative quotative variant be like among Chinese L2 speakers of English residing in Melbourne, Australia. The L2 speakers’ use of quotatives such as say, go, be like, and quotative zero is compared with quotatives used by native speakers of Australian English (AusE) in Perth and Sydney, as well as with a group of Polish L2 speakers in Ireland. A quantitative analysis of the Chinese L2 speakers’ sociolinguistic interviews shows that their distribution of quotatives is dramatically different from native AusE speakers, primarily because of their overall low proportion of be like and their high proportion of quotative say and zero. The L2 speakers also show neutralization (no preference) for language-internal constraints, which have traditionally shown be like to be preferred in first person contexts and for reporting inner thoughts, differing from patterns for AusE observed in Perth and in a recent study of second generation Chinese Australians in Sydney.
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ItemLocational pointing in Murrinhpatha, Gija, and English conversations(JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING CO, 2021-12-31)Abstract It has been suggested that the gestural accuracy used by speakers of Australian Aboriginal languages like Guugu Yimidhirr and Arrernte to indicate directions and represent topographic features is a consequence of absolute frame of reference being dominant in these languages; and that the lackadaisical points produced by North American English speakers is an outcome of relative frame being dominant in English. We test this claim by comparing locational pointing in contexts of place reference in conversations conducted in two Australian Aboriginal languages, Murrinhpatha and Gija, and in Australian English spoken by non-Aboriginal residents of a small town in north Western Australia. Pointing behaviour is remarkably similar across the three groups and all participants display a capacity to point accurately regardless of linguistic frame of reference options. We suggest that these speakers’ intimate knowledge of the surrounding countryside better explains their capacity to accurately point to distant locations.