Language and ethnic boundaries. This project aims to use language to study the causes and effects of ethnic diversity, focusing on a Southeast Asian case study. In the isolated Nam Noy valley of Laos, three groups live in close contact and insist on maintaining linguistic and ethnic differences, but have stable interethnic social relations. This project will document the three languages and their communities’ social relations; measure the convergence among the languages; and test causal explanat ....Language and ethnic boundaries. This project aims to use language to study the causes and effects of ethnic diversity, focusing on a Southeast Asian case study. In the isolated Nam Noy valley of Laos, three groups live in close contact and insist on maintaining linguistic and ethnic differences, but have stable interethnic social relations. This project will document the three languages and their communities’ social relations; measure the convergence among the languages; and test causal explanations of the relation between language convergence and stability of culture boundaries. The project expects to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying ethnic and cultural diversity.Read moreRead less
Enacting Reconciliation: Negotiating Meaning in Youth Justice Conferencing. 'Restorative justice' initiatives like youth justice conferencing are aimed at strengthening the social fabric by making sure the voices of victims are heard while giving offenders a genuine opportunity to 'set things right' and get back on track with their lives. More detailed research into the way participants use language and other communicative modes will help the convenors of conferences, and the trainers of conveno ....Enacting Reconciliation: Negotiating Meaning in Youth Justice Conferencing. 'Restorative justice' initiatives like youth justice conferencing are aimed at strengthening the social fabric by making sure the voices of victims are heard while giving offenders a genuine opportunity to 'set things right' and get back on track with their lives. More detailed research into the way participants use language and other communicative modes will help the convenors of conferences, and the trainers of convenors, to understand better the potential of this social healing process. This project will also add to Australia's reputation as a world-leader in the field of restorative justice.Read moreRead less
Understanding Indonesian: developing a machine-usable grammar, dictionary and corpus. Australia's relationship with Indonesia is of great significance. The need for good relationships founded on appreciation of the range of societies and views in modern Indonesia is widely acknowledged. A better knowledge of the languages is essential for this, and so are fast, efficient information gathering systems for processing multilingual sources (including Indonesian text), that can analyse large volumes ....Understanding Indonesian: developing a machine-usable grammar, dictionary and corpus. Australia's relationship with Indonesia is of great significance. The need for good relationships founded on appreciation of the range of societies and views in modern Indonesia is widely acknowledged. A better knowledge of the languages is essential for this, and so are fast, efficient information gathering systems for processing multilingual sources (including Indonesian text), that can analyse large volumes of text. The skills to build such systems exist internationally. Through collaboration with established international teams, we plan to transfer cutting-edge skills in the development of machine-useable grammars to Australian researchers, and to create the language resources essential for understanding Indonesian.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0560711
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$325,873.00
Summary
PARADISEC, the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures: Accessibility and Decentralisation. PARADISEC, the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures, is a collaborative facility established in 2003 to preserve and make accessible Australian researchers' field recordings of endangered languages and musics from the area around Australia. Improvement plans for 2005 include: decentralising audio ingestion; adding audio restoration capabil ....PARADISEC, the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures: Accessibility and Decentralisation. PARADISEC, the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures, is a collaborative facility established in 2003 to preserve and make accessible Australian researchers' field recordings of endangered languages and musics from the area around Australia. Improvement plans for 2005 include: decentralising audio ingestion; adding audio restoration capabilities; developing a geographical interface to our collection; web-publishing our catalogue; developing and testing protocols for linking audio with text, images and relevant material in other collections; and participating in international consortia developing standards and tools for management of and access to endangered cultural recordings. Read moreRead less
Postoccidental Englishes and Rap. This project examines the conjunction between new Englishes and rap music. Applied linguistic research on world Englishes has focused predominantly on newly emergent standardized national varieties, and thus has tended to overlook the changing oral codes in domains such as popular music. By looking at the global spread of rap in relationship to the global spread of English, this project has great significance for 1.Expanding our knowledge about the implications ....Postoccidental Englishes and Rap. This project examines the conjunction between new Englishes and rap music. Applied linguistic research on world Englishes has focused predominantly on newly emergent standardized national varieties, and thus has tended to overlook the changing oral codes in domains such as popular music. By looking at the global spread of rap in relationship to the global spread of English, this project has great significance for 1.Expanding our knowledge about the implications and processes of this spread; 2. Developing a model of postoccidental Englishes that goes beyond current frameworks; and 3. Creating educational materials that can engage with student interests and desires.Read moreRead less
Thinking and talking about atolls: the role of environment in shaping language and our understanding of physical space. This project investigates the role of environment in shaping how we think about physical space. By comparing how people in the highly specialised environment of the atoll talk about space in different parts of the world we will gather new data to test ideas on the roles of language and environment in shaping how we understand the physical world.
A longitudinal study of the interaction of home and school language in three Aboriginal communities. The importance of language skills cannot be underestimated, and contribute to 'a healthy start to life'. In multilingual Indigenous communities, children must negotiate the complexities of different languages used for different purposes. This project will provide detailed insights into how children manage differences between home and school language, the kinds of problems they encounter when the ....A longitudinal study of the interaction of home and school language in three Aboriginal communities. The importance of language skills cannot be underestimated, and contribute to 'a healthy start to life'. In multilingual Indigenous communities, children must negotiate the complexities of different languages used for different purposes. This project will provide detailed insights into how children manage differences between home and school language, the kinds of problems they encounter when they enter the school system, and how their languages develop over the first four crucial years of school which provide the foundation for the children's future education. Their ability to manage the language of school underpins their ability to lead successful and engaged lives as adults. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100216
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$345,000.00
Summary
Emotions, language and culture in Arnhem Land (Katherine region). This project aims to increase our understanding of emotional language and cultural practices about emotions among Indigenous Australian groups. Emotion is a fundamental human experience, yet different languages provide very different ways of talking about it. What are the consequences of this? Are these differences culturally constrained? Might differences in the grammar of a language influence the way its speakers express emotion ....Emotions, language and culture in Arnhem Land (Katherine region). This project aims to increase our understanding of emotional language and cultural practices about emotions among Indigenous Australian groups. Emotion is a fundamental human experience, yet different languages provide very different ways of talking about it. What are the consequences of this? Are these differences culturally constrained? Might differences in the grammar of a language influence the way its speakers express emotions, or even the way they experience emotions? This project seeks to describe and compare the way emotions are expressed in five Aboriginal languages of Arnhem Land. Four of these languages are endangered and the project will also provide the urgent documentation needed to preserve them.Read moreRead less
The integration of language and society. This project aims to seek associations between social and life-style differences and language structure. All human societies show pervasive similarities and all languages share recurrent features. Viewing society and language as an integrated whole, the project will study related groups in contrasting physical and social environments in PNG, Africa, East Asia, Amazonia and Australia. Inductive generalisations about associations between societal and langua ....The integration of language and society. This project aims to seek associations between social and life-style differences and language structure. All human societies show pervasive similarities and all languages share recurrent features. Viewing society and language as an integrated whole, the project will study related groups in contrasting physical and social environments in PNG, Africa, East Asia, Amazonia and Australia. Inductive generalisations about associations between societal and language parameters (e.g. varying techniques of address relating to articulated kin systems and social hierarchy) aim to provide insight into the human dynamic. Findings should benefit programmes for cultural awareness, language teaching and revitalisation and understanding of multicultural situations.Read moreRead less
Grammatical variation in English worldwide: the role of colloquialisation, Americanisation and other factors. The first large-scale study of grammatical features in English worldwide and their relationship to sociocultural practices, this project will provide insights into the interplay of local and global forces in the shaping of English and enhance Australia’s capacity to interpret and engage with societies in which English is a major language.