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Five examples are presented of how native speakers may try to explain a grammatical point to a linguist, and in the absence of a suitable meta-language, adopt some "lateral" way of demonstrating the point. (five references) (Author/LB)

Direct links between Australian English and the Australian culture are drawn. The author proposes ways in which a linguistically precise and culturally revealing study of linguistic phenomena such as expressive derivation, illocutionary devices, and speech act verbs are related to Australian society, history, culture, and "national character." (Author/CB)

Describes the functions of a verbal derivational suffix found in the Ngayarda languages of Western Australia. This suffix has a general "collective activity" meaning, but may be used to indicate the existence of a particular kin relationship between participants involved in the action described. (Author/LMO)

This article incorporates themes from ethnolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, sign linguistics, and decolonization of research methods. We examine a Yolŋu-led collaboration to save their endangered Yolŋu Sign Language (YSL) in Australia's remote North East Arnhem Land. YSL is an alternate bimodal language for hearing Yolŋu and the primary language of Deaf Yolŋu. In light of dissimilar worldviews between indigenous Yolŋu people and the Australian state, we describe opportunities for ethical research and equitable collaboration, with a practical guide to strategies of local action research. We deploy ethnographic insight to describe a globally rare and distinctive metaphysics of place and language. We find that long-term, embedded, place-based collaborative research, through local language, [End Page 201] bestows a deeper understanding of Yolŋu spiritual connection to kin and country. Further, we found the affirmation of Yolŋu life space—as embodied in life on the homelands—provokes a different, empowered, non-subordinate cultural future. This embodied cultural future supports the critical intergenerational transmission of the Yolŋu ancestral inheritance, of kin and country, and its languages, signed and spoken, while resisting internal colonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An article discussing difficulties in analyzing Aboriginal languages and dialects in the north-east region of Victoria, Australia is presented. The author examines the study of the Dhudhuroa language in the Omeo district, noting the multiple sources present in the tribal vocabulary. Addressing ethnohistoric records, the author explains the possibility that two language groups were present in the Mitta Mitta River basin, citing key differences between the Yaithmathang and Dhudhuroa languages. An analysis of Dhudhuroa and Gundunderre linguistics and comparisons between Omeo and Ngarigu vocabularies are also included.

This paper is a preliminary attempt to evaluate the linguistic vitality of Yankunytjatjara spoken in Coober Pedy and other communities in South Australia, with particular emphasis on extra-linguistic factors. The Western Desert dialects Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara are the two remaining 'strong' languages within South Australia, but considering the socio-cultural and political context wherein Indigenous Australian languages exist as spoken in decreasing numbers by members of encapsulated minorities, subject to an intrusive and increasingly dominant Euro-Australian culture, the question is how strong Yankunytjatjara really is. Different language endangerment indices are incorporated into the discussion with a view to how they apply to the study of contact-induced extensive linguistic change in general, and specifically to Yankunytjatjara. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has one of the most diverse migrant populations in the world. This pattern of cultural diversity is also reflected in the older population, with increasing numbers of older people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. The aim of the present review is to examine the evidence base related to the health and social needs and existing support systems for older Australians from CALD backgrounds. It is difficult to generalise the issues and challenges associated with these groups because of their heterogeneity, both between and within groups. However, their health and social needs may be particularly acute as a result of cultural and language barriers; their geographical location and the circumstances of migration, which impact on their financial circumstances as well as psycho-social health. Whilst there is a range of community and government stakeholders involved in addressing these issues, the evidence base for policy and practice is not well understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores how young people's cultural identities are being increasingly redefined in complex linguistic and performative relation to transcultural experiences. It first considers the situation of young people of Maltese origin whose parents settled in Australia after the Second World War, and critiques the suggestion that these youths' educational performance and access to professional level employment may have been negatively affected by their alleged loss of 'mother tongue', ethnic identity and cultural heritage. The paper challenges this perception by outlining the complex ways in which young people growing up in Malta itself (the 'home' or 'mother' country) perceive, construct and perform their linguistic and cultural identities. It argues that young Maltese people's performative and linguistic constructions of their cultural identities provide a striking example of 'glocal' hybridity, and that, irrespective of whether they choose to claim Maltese or English or a combination of the two as the primary marker of their cultural identity, this hybridity is experienced as a positive performance and expression of selfhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1996, I worked with what appear to have been the last fluent speakers of Ngarnka, a language of central northern Australia. To the best of my knowledge, the last fluent speaker passed away in 1997 or 1998. In 2000, I began to collect all available information on the language. This article describes some of the challenges that have arisen in working with a language during and after the final stages of its death, and examines some of the possible reasons for, and impact of, this kind of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between language maintenance patterns of Turkish immigrants in two different contexts and their ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions. It appears that mainstream society's attitudes towards the minority groups affect the language maintenance patterns and ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions of the ethnic minority. As documented in this study, Turkish immigrants in Australia have low ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions but their language maintenance is as strong as that of Turkish immigrants in Germany, where Turkish appears to have more vitality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the nature and development of Australian languages. This literature explores the ways in which almost all Australian languages are genetically related. Furthermore, it discusses the low-level subgroups containing from two to seven or eight languages as well as the absence of detailed work on the possibility of higher-level subgrouping in terms of shared innovations during development. It also presents the similar sets of consonant and vowel phonemes of most Australian languages, the phonotactic structures, and the languages' speech style that must be used in the presence of a taboo relative.

This article examines the rationale and philosophical underpinnings of Australian public policy relating to language and culture, especially as they have emerged in relation to non indigenous ethnic minorities, i.e., migrants and ethnic groups. An underlying theme is that the concepts of language and culture as they have evolved in relation to the ideologies of multiculturalism are not neutral but contested concepts which need understanding and critical analysis. The article has three main objectives. The first is to show how, historically, language, in particular English, has been an important public issue in matters of migrant settlement. Second, it examines the hidden and often unstated assumptions of social theory implicit in policies relating to language and culture by analyzing the way in which the key concepts of culture and ethnicity have been used in policies. Third, it presents the case for a paradigm shift in public policy and argues that the issue of language and culture should be re-examined and restructured to serve new and emerging social needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two seemingly disparate areas of English language structure—the grammar of reported speech and of textual cohesion—are functionally related in that both entail a distinction between ‘wording’ and ‘meaning.’ This is consistent with the Western ideological disjunction between language and reality, talk and action. Neither these language structures nor this linguistic ideology are found among the Ngarinyin people of northwestern Australia, suggesting a Whorfian hypothesis about their possible interrelationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on a study performed by anthropologist Farzad Sharifan on the interpretation of the English language by native children in Australia. This study was focused on examining how the meanings of specific words within a common language can vary across a spectrum of dialectal variation. The groups of children examined, from different dialectal regions, each showed a distinct conceptualization of target words assigned for them to define. Sharifan argues that these differences in interpretations present important information about cultural differences for the regions examined.