Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-m ....Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-musicological study aimed particularly at showing the distribution of song-styles and the way songs were transmitted.Read moreRead less
Clearing the path towards literacy and numeracy: language for learning in Indigenous schooling. The Australian and State Governments are committed to halving the gap between Indigenous and other Australians, notably in education outcomes. This project will provide a platform for a better understanding of how language is used in Indigenous classrooms, and set foundations for improving practices for teaching these students, in particular for literacy and numeracy. The project will investigate how ....Clearing the path towards literacy and numeracy: language for learning in Indigenous schooling. The Australian and State Governments are committed to halving the gap between Indigenous and other Australians, notably in education outcomes. This project will provide a platform for a better understanding of how language is used in Indigenous classrooms, and set foundations for improving practices for teaching these students, in particular for literacy and numeracy. The project will investigate how children's language use differs from Standard Australian English. Where teachers are aware of such differences, and adapt their classroom communication styles, greater engagement from children can be expected. This will ultimately lead to improved retention rates and learning outcomes, giving Indigenous students a better start to life.Read moreRead less
Learning English and Aboriginal languages. This project aims to leverage mobile technologies to expand and enrich the communication between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working together on Aboriginal owned or controlled country. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the areas of oral language learning and on-country technology design, through extensive collaboration with Indigenous participants in Arnhem Land. Expected project outcomes include mobile technologies that sup ....Learning English and Aboriginal languages. This project aims to leverage mobile technologies to expand and enrich the communication between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working together on Aboriginal owned or controlled country. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the areas of oral language learning and on-country technology design, through extensive collaboration with Indigenous participants in Arnhem Land. Expected project outcomes include mobile technologies that support learning of spoken English and Aboriginal languages, new ways for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians to come together to design digital technologies and to learn each other's languages.Read moreRead less
Reading the Nation: A critical study of Aboriginal/settler representations in the contemporary Australian literary landscape. This project will map literary representations of Aboriginal Australians by non-Aboriginal authors in the post-Mabo period, and the reciprocal representations by Aboriginal Australians. This is a study of the politics of representation that play out between Aboriginal and white Australians in the contemporary literary landscape.
Towards sustainable language revival: a Kaurna case study. This project aims to increase understanding of how a language can be successfully reclaimed through a longitudinal study on the reclamation of the Kaurna language of the Adelaide Plains. Reviving Indigenous languages is a key factor in helping restore Indigenous health and well-being, and Kaurna has been a model of language revival initiatives in Australia and internationally. But despite many impressive gains, its story is still one of ....Towards sustainable language revival: a Kaurna case study. This project aims to increase understanding of how a language can be successfully reclaimed through a longitudinal study on the reclamation of the Kaurna language of the Adelaide Plains. Reviving Indigenous languages is a key factor in helping restore Indigenous health and well-being, and Kaurna has been a model of language revival initiatives in Australia and internationally. But despite many impressive gains, its story is still one of vulnerability. The current Kaurna movement, with its extensive records, offers a window of opportunity to examine the successes and problems since its last critical appraisal. By examining the means of success and ways of overcoming obstacles and challenges for Kaurna, this project will propose recommendations for Indigenous languages as living, viable languages into the future.Read moreRead less
Verbs and coverbs: a cross-linguistic re-analysis of part-of-speech categories. This project will make a significant contribution to the maintenance of Australia's Aboriginal cultural heritage. Aboriginal people consistently identify the maintenance of traditional languages as one of their primary concerns. The project will result in detailed documentation of three endangered Australian languages. The material produced by the project will be an invaluable resource both to linguists international ....Verbs and coverbs: a cross-linguistic re-analysis of part-of-speech categories. This project will make a significant contribution to the maintenance of Australia's Aboriginal cultural heritage. Aboriginal people consistently identify the maintenance of traditional languages as one of their primary concerns. The project will result in detailed documentation of three endangered Australian languages. The material produced by the project will be an invaluable resource both to linguists internationally and to Aboriginal communities, to whom materials will be returned in accessible formats to support language maintenance activities. The project will maintain Australia's momentum at the forefront of digital archiving technology for language documentation. Read moreRead less
Talking knowledge, doing learning: the early years. An enduring problem in Indigenous schooling is the discrepancy in outcomes compared to mainstream children, but little is known about one crucial factor: the role of Indigenous ways of speaking and their ways of engaging with knowledge and learning. This ground-breaking project aims to compare preparatory school students in two urban settings: a mainstream school and a school with high Indigenous enrolments. The project also seeks to examine le ....Talking knowledge, doing learning: the early years. An enduring problem in Indigenous schooling is the discrepancy in outcomes compared to mainstream children, but little is known about one crucial factor: the role of Indigenous ways of speaking and their ways of engaging with knowledge and learning. This ground-breaking project aims to compare preparatory school students in two urban settings: a mainstream school and a school with high Indigenous enrolments. The project also seeks to examine learning in children's homes to establish how the flow of knowledge is managed in Indigenous and mainstream families. By investigating these four settings, it is expected to provide important evidence for understanding how language and cultural ways of knowing contribute to the discrepancy in schooling outcomes.Read moreRead less
Mapping the diversity of Aboriginal song: social and ecological significances for Australia. Indigenous ceremonies are a fundamental aspect of Indigenous identity and they play a role in Indigenous health and wellbeing. This project aims to develop a typology of Australian Aboriginal ceremonies by classifying them according to their structural features. By mapping their distribution and comparing these with linguistic and anthropological evidence it seeks to provide insights into Indigenous preh ....Mapping the diversity of Aboriginal song: social and ecological significances for Australia. Indigenous ceremonies are a fundamental aspect of Indigenous identity and they play a role in Indigenous health and wellbeing. This project aims to develop a typology of Australian Aboriginal ceremonies by classifying them according to their structural features. By mapping their distribution and comparing these with linguistic and anthropological evidence it seeks to provide insights into Indigenous prehistory and cultural diffusion across arid Australia. This project aims to lead to a greater understanding of the ecological knowledge contained in songs and increased Indigenous knowledge of, and engagement in, ceremonial life.Read moreRead less
Land, language and heritage. The project will produce full documentation (written, audiovisual and web form) of the Jirrbal tribe from north Queensland, dealing with traditional life and language, ancient and recent history and cultural adaptation. The project works towards the empowerment of Indigenous Australians, reaffirmation of their identity and sustainable use of traditional environment.
Developing narratives from language and stories indigenous to the south coast of Western Australia. Over time linguists have collected Indigenous language narratives. This research project involves returning these narratives to the descendants of the people who first created human society in their part of the world. It will investigate the extent to which an Indigenous language and its stories, can inform contemporary writing in English about Australian identity.