Australian Aboriginal conversational style. This project aims to re-examine claims that Aboriginal Australians conduct conversations in different ways to Anglo-Australians. It will investigate and compare ordinary conversations in these groups on a large scale. The project expects to provide new evidence to explicate Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal conversational norms, pinpointing differences which may lead to intercultural miscommunication. Expected outcomes include endangered language documenta ....Australian Aboriginal conversational style. This project aims to re-examine claims that Aboriginal Australians conduct conversations in different ways to Anglo-Australians. It will investigate and compare ordinary conversations in these groups on a large scale. The project expects to provide new evidence to explicate Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal conversational norms, pinpointing differences which may lead to intercultural miscommunication. Expected outcomes include endangered language documentation, and evidence-based findings to disseminate to service providers, to communities and to Aboriginal organisations to improve ways of engaging with each other. In addition, the project will benefit Aboriginal communities with new approaches to language revitalisation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100493
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$350,000.00
Summary
Aboriginal English in the global city: Minorities and language change. This project aims to document patterns of variation and change in metropolitan Aboriginal English. Since colonisation, English has encroached on Australian languages, and Aboriginal English has emerged as a powerful carrier of ethnic identity. The project will quantitatively study how Aboriginal English storytelling functions cross-generationally, and whether global linguistic innovations are apparent. Exploring these dynamic ....Aboriginal English in the global city: Minorities and language change. This project aims to document patterns of variation and change in metropolitan Aboriginal English. Since colonisation, English has encroached on Australian languages, and Aboriginal English has emerged as a powerful carrier of ethnic identity. The project will quantitatively study how Aboriginal English storytelling functions cross-generationally, and whether global linguistic innovations are apparent. Exploring these dynamics is key to understanding language change in minority urban communities, and to refining educational programs to suit the needs of Indigenous children and youth. The project expects to inform the implementation of cross-cultural teaching programmes in Australia, helping teachers and curriculum developers to design materials, and to empower Indigenous Australians by documenting how Aboriginal English is changing.Read moreRead less
The building blocks of language: Words in Central Australian languages. This project seeks to model the structure of words and phrases in three indigenous languages of of central Australia: Anmatyerr, Kaytetye, and Warumungu. The project will advance our understanding of the different ways that words and phrases function as the building blocks of language: how words vary in complexity, and the different ways that they combine to generate higher levels of linguistc structure. The project will pre ....The building blocks of language: Words in Central Australian languages. This project seeks to model the structure of words and phrases in three indigenous languages of of central Australia: Anmatyerr, Kaytetye, and Warumungu. The project will advance our understanding of the different ways that words and phrases function as the building blocks of language: how words vary in complexity, and the different ways that they combine to generate higher levels of linguistc structure. The project will preserve Indigenous language heritage and contribute to Indigenous cultural maintenance, a significant factor in advancing Indigenous well-being. The project will generate new insights into language structure that will advance linguistic theory, and inform language teaching and speech processing technologies.Read moreRead less
Mid-Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IM230100544
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$862,952.00
Summary
Unlocking the archive: reuniting Indigenous languages and their communities. Australia is experiencing a crisis in the loss of Indigenous languages. Drawing on both international best practice and local knowledge, this project aims to develop innovative and enduring resources for community-driven language maintenance and revitalisation. By collaborating with and building the capacity of Indigenous language workers and organisations, the following transformative outcomes are anticipated: (1) tool ....Unlocking the archive: reuniting Indigenous languages and their communities. Australia is experiencing a crisis in the loss of Indigenous languages. Drawing on both international best practice and local knowledge, this project aims to develop innovative and enduring resources for community-driven language maintenance and revitalisation. By collaborating with and building the capacity of Indigenous language workers and organisations, the following transformative outcomes are anticipated: (1) tools to unlock linguistic terminology and methods; (2) resources for language revitalisation; (3) an evaluation of existing strategies for language revitalisation; (4) new understanding of Indigenous people's perceptions of language change and how this informs their language goals.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100073
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$447,768.00
Summary
Learning to think and talk about events in the APY lands. This project aims to investigate differences between languages in how events are described. Do these linguistic differences relate to differences in how people think? And how does the relationship between the way people think and talk about events develop throughout childhood? The project focuses on the Indigenous languages Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara with a comparison to English. It expects to significantly improve our understandi ....Learning to think and talk about events in the APY lands. This project aims to investigate differences between languages in how events are described. Do these linguistic differences relate to differences in how people think? And how does the relationship between the way people think and talk about events develop throughout childhood? The project focuses on the Indigenous languages Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara with a comparison to English. It expects to significantly improve our understanding of event cognition as well as how children learn Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. The project also intends to provide valuable materials for use in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands to assist in maintaining their traditional languages while also improving access to English.Read moreRead less
A panel study of Kobe women’s interview discourse. This project aims to investigate women’s life transitions and language use over 30 years. Analysis of changes to the languages, societies and cultures of Asia is essential to Australia’s Asia literacy. This project will analyse shifts and changes in women’s language, discourse and identities by examining ethnographic data of a longitudinal research project into working-class women’s life trajectories in Kobe, Japan. The project will research lan ....A panel study of Kobe women’s interview discourse. This project aims to investigate women’s life transitions and language use over 30 years. Analysis of changes to the languages, societies and cultures of Asia is essential to Australia’s Asia literacy. This project will analyse shifts and changes in women’s language, discourse and identities by examining ethnographic data of a longitudinal research project into working-class women’s life trajectories in Kobe, Japan. The project will research language, gender, class and mobility in Japan in the transition from young adulthood to middle adulthood. Understanding how life transitions and identities shape ways of speaking Japanese is expected to contribute to sociocultural understandings, and influence social and public policies about Japan.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180101609
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$392,315.00
Summary
Telling the whole story in one sentence. This project aims to produce a framework for analysis of the ultra-long sentences that occur in hundreds of languages and to investigate the processing of these sentences by adults and children. Anticipated outcomes are enhanced models of language structure, mental processing of language, and brain functions. Understanding of drastically-different sentence types in the world’s languages will further benefit foreign language learners, machine translators, ....Telling the whole story in one sentence. This project aims to produce a framework for analysis of the ultra-long sentences that occur in hundreds of languages and to investigate the processing of these sentences by adults and children. Anticipated outcomes are enhanced models of language structure, mental processing of language, and brain functions. Understanding of drastically-different sentence types in the world’s languages will further benefit foreign language learners, machine translators, and immigrants learning English.Read moreRead less
Tracking language development of Indigenous children in Central Australia. This project aims to identify language development paths of Indigenous children in Central Australia by examining the spoken language, gesture and sign of children’s early interactions. It expects to generate new knowledge for the health and education sector, and Indigenous families, about children’s language development, enabling reliable identification of typical development. Expected outcomes include theoretical contri ....Tracking language development of Indigenous children in Central Australia. This project aims to identify language development paths of Indigenous children in Central Australia by examining the spoken language, gesture and sign of children’s early interactions. It expects to generate new knowledge for the health and education sector, and Indigenous families, about children’s language development, enabling reliable identification of typical development. Expected outcomes include theoretical contributions to language and cognition internationally and uptake of the findings by Australian health and education sector staff and Indigenous communities. This should provide significant benefits to Indigenous families through increased capacity of families and professionals to identify service needs in language development.Read moreRead less
Languages of Barrier Islands, Sumatra: Description, History and Typology. This project aims to investigate endangered languages of the Asia-Pacific via four undocumented languages in the Barrier Islands, Indonesia. New knowledge will be generated into the languages, cultures and societies of the region on an unprecedented scale, and be made freely available to the public. New data will uncover past migration patterns in Southeast Asia, advance language theory (such as linguistic typology and lan ....Languages of Barrier Islands, Sumatra: Description, History and Typology. This project aims to investigate endangered languages of the Asia-Pacific via four undocumented languages in the Barrier Islands, Indonesia. New knowledge will be generated into the languages, cultures and societies of the region on an unprecedented scale, and be made freely available to the public. New data will uncover past migration patterns in Southeast Asia, advance language theory (such as linguistic typology and language change), and support the computational modelling of Austronesian for future language technologies. Connections with Indonesian institutions will strengthen Australia’s regional engagement, and support language revitalisation and maintenance among minority communities for the preservation of their culture and history.Read moreRead less
Understanding communication about advance care planning across the lifespan. This project aims to understand how people communicate about advance care planning for children, adolescents, and adults. This project expects to generate new knowledge by using leading social scientific and linguistic methods to analyse real-world advance care planning conversations and documents. Expected outcomes include detailed knowledge about challenges people encounter in these conversations and how to manage the ....Understanding communication about advance care planning across the lifespan. This project aims to understand how people communicate about advance care planning for children, adolescents, and adults. This project expects to generate new knowledge by using leading social scientific and linguistic methods to analyse real-world advance care planning conversations and documents. Expected outcomes include detailed knowledge about challenges people encounter in these conversations and how to manage these challenges. Over 170,000 Australians die each year, most from serious illness. This project should provide significant benefits to future initiatives for enhancing communication about advance care planning, especially in relation to young Australians, older Australians, and Australians with disabilities.Read moreRead less