When do gestures become linguistic? Understanding the gesture-language interface through a corpusbased study of pointing signs in signed languages. This project will use corpus-based and experimental studies to compare pointing signs in three sign languages with pointing gestures used by hearing non-signers in order to answer the question: What relationship do gestures have to language? It will help us understand how pointing works as part of a sign language system, and how it is used as co-spee ....When do gestures become linguistic? Understanding the gesture-language interface through a corpusbased study of pointing signs in signed languages. This project will use corpus-based and experimental studies to compare pointing signs in three sign languages with pointing gestures used by hearing non-signers in order to answer the question: What relationship do gestures have to language? It will help us understand how pointing works as part of a sign language system, and how it is used as co-speech gesture. Both spoken languages and sign languages make use of pointing, and thus it represents a unique case study for the investigation of the relationship between gesture and language. This project will provide a distinctive contribution to our knowledge about the relationship between language and other aspects of human communication. Read moreRead less
De-tabooing depression and anxiety: Mental health communication in old age. This project aims to uncover how older Australians talk about and understand depression and anxiety, and it seeks to raise awareness of these debilitating conditions via new media. There has been much medical research in this area, and while language has been identified as highly relevant for recovery, little is known of how people express their experiences around mental well-being. The research gap is even wider for the ....De-tabooing depression and anxiety: Mental health communication in old age. This project aims to uncover how older Australians talk about and understand depression and anxiety, and it seeks to raise awareness of these debilitating conditions via new media. There has been much medical research in this area, and while language has been identified as highly relevant for recovery, little is known of how people express their experiences around mental well-being. The research gap is even wider for the worst affected in the population — older adults. These illnesses are shrouded in taboo, and symptoms often go undetected. The expected outcomes of the project are improved communication about mental well-being and the celebration of the lives and stories of older Australians — an integral but vulnerable segment of society.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.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101209
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$420,000.00
Summary
Linguistic discrimination and migrant youth in regional Australia . Linguistic discrimination is among the critical factors in migrant youth’s dissatisfaction with their lives in regional Australia. This project aims to investigate migrant youth’s experiences and management of such discrimination, and its impact on their linguistic citizenship (sense of belonging associated with language), using an interpretative research approach. Expected outcomes include new knowledge, theory development, and ....Linguistic discrimination and migrant youth in regional Australia . Linguistic discrimination is among the critical factors in migrant youth’s dissatisfaction with their lives in regional Australia. This project aims to investigate migrant youth’s experiences and management of such discrimination, and its impact on their linguistic citizenship (sense of belonging associated with language), using an interpretative research approach. Expected outcomes include new knowledge, theory development, and policy recommendations for supporting migrant youth to counteract such discrimination and empower them as more capable citizens. Expected benefits include improving migrant youth’s wellbeing and their connection with regional areas, as well as enhancing understandings of linguistic discrimination in Australia.Read moreRead less
Cross-linguistic study of endangered Maluku languages: Eastern Indonesia and the Dutch diaspora. This project represents the first large scale investigation of Eastern Indonesian languages, and assembles an international team to examine language evolution through the interface between linguistic typology, language contact and language shift. This ground-breaking work includes a cross-linguistic analysis of structural features in ten Central Moluccan languages. It will test current theories of co ....Cross-linguistic study of endangered Maluku languages: Eastern Indonesia and the Dutch diaspora. This project represents the first large scale investigation of Eastern Indonesian languages, and assembles an international team to examine language evolution through the interface between linguistic typology, language contact and language shift. This ground-breaking work includes a cross-linguistic analysis of structural features in ten Central Moluccan languages. It will test current theories of contact and shift through an innovative comparative analysis of data from speakers in the homeland and the Dutch diaspora. Outcomes will include grammars of six undescribed languages and crucial new insights about language cognition and simplification. Improved knowledge of this closely-neighbouring region will strengthen Australia's Asia-Pacific relations.Read moreRead less
Where Gesture Meets Grammar: Crosslinguistic Multimodal Communication. This project aims to investigate both differences and universal tendencies in the interplay of speech and gesture across four languages of importance for Australia. The crucial role of gestures is often overlooked in the analysis of communication. In this project, specialists from linguistics, gesture and cultural studies, psychology and cognitive science collaborate using an innovative approach to generate new knowledge abou ....Where Gesture Meets Grammar: Crosslinguistic Multimodal Communication. This project aims to investigate both differences and universal tendencies in the interplay of speech and gesture across four languages of importance for Australia. The crucial role of gestures is often overlooked in the analysis of communication. In this project, specialists from linguistics, gesture and cultural studies, psychology and cognitive science collaborate using an innovative approach to generate new knowledge about how speech and gesture interact to communicate meaning. The project can provide significant benefits for our understanding of language and cognition, cross-cultural communication in multilingual Australia, and the documentation of endangered languages.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE100100211
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$650,000.00
Summary
The Big Australian Speech Corpus: An audio-visual speech corpus of Australian English. Contemporary speech science and technology are driven by the availability of large speech corpora. While audio databases exist for languages spoken in America, Europe and Japan, there is currently no large auditory-visual database of spoken language, and certainly not one for Australian English. Here we will establish the Big Australian Speech Corpus, which will support a speech science research and developmen ....The Big Australian Speech Corpus: An audio-visual speech corpus of Australian English. Contemporary speech science and technology are driven by the availability of large speech corpora. While audio databases exist for languages spoken in America, Europe and Japan, there is currently no large auditory-visual database of spoken language, and certainly not one for Australian English. Here we will establish the Big Australian Speech Corpus, which will support a speech science research and development using Australian English and facilitate the development of Australian speech technology applications from automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech synthesis used in taxi and other ordering services, to hearing prostheses and talking head aids for learning-impaired children, and a range of security and forensic applications.Read moreRead less
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
Understanding the sounds of Australia's Indigenous languages. Our perception of sounds in a non-native language is strongly influenced by our native language background, yet knowledge of minority and endangered language sounds is almost entirely based on the perceptions of European and Asian language speakers. This project will provide the first large-scale acoustic analyses of Australia's Indigenous languages.
Improving Communication with Aboriginal English Speakers: A Study of cultural conceptualisations in Aboriginal English. The project will explore cultural conceptualisations in Aboriginal English. Often unfamiliarity with Aboriginal cultural conceptualisations on the part of non-Aboriginal people leads to miscommunication, disadvantaging Aboriginal speakers, especially in institutional contexts (for example, schoolrooms, courtrooms, Centrelink offices). The aim of this study is to alleviate such ....Improving Communication with Aboriginal English Speakers: A Study of cultural conceptualisations in Aboriginal English. The project will explore cultural conceptualisations in Aboriginal English. Often unfamiliarity with Aboriginal cultural conceptualisations on the part of non-Aboriginal people leads to miscommunication, disadvantaging Aboriginal speakers, especially in institutional contexts (for example, schoolrooms, courtrooms, Centrelink offices). The aim of this study is to alleviate such problems, and significantly advance Aboriginal English research, by exploring culturally constructed conceptualisations, in particularly cultural-conceptual metaphor, underlying the use of Aboriginal English, using the the analytical tools of Cultural Linguistics. The study will also make a significant contribution to the development of Cultural Linguistics. Read moreRead less