50 words of Australian languages project

The Research Unit for Indigenous Language is running a project in 2019/2020 to collect and present words in as many Australian Indigenous languages as possible. Please consider contributing to this project.

This project aims to provide resources for schools to teach at least fifty words in their local language.

We are asking for contributions of at least fifty words in as many Australian Indigenous languages as possible. The typed words need to be listed in a spreadsheet, with audio file recordings attached. Full instructions on capturing the details are on this website.

The words will be used as teacher resources; in apps; and online language resources (such as the Gambay map by First Languages Australia).

Splitting Elan files

Part of the project relies on getting the audio or video recording of fifty words, having a transcript in Elan, and then linking the English word as the transcript of the word in the recording. We can then split the media file using the Elan file to end up with a set of fifty files, each named with the language code, so, for example, the language Windaga has the AIATSIS code A111, so the word for dog would be called A111_dog.

The Elan splitter is a set of python scripts provided by Ben Foley and can be downloaded from this github repository. It reads the Elan file and allows the user to choose which tier to use to chop up the audio file into chunks.

Chief Investigators: Professor Rachel Nordlinger and Associate Professor Nick Thieberger, resourced by the Research Unit of Indigenous Language.

This research project has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of The University of Melbourne. Project number:1853186.1

6 thoughts on “50 words of Australian languages project”

  1. There are now 30 languages on the map, and more are on the way: Alyawarr, Barngarla, Bilinarra, Burarra, Djamparrpuyngu, Djinang, Eastern Arrernte, Gurindji, Jaru (Balgo), Jaru (Yaruman), Kaurna, Kaytetye, Kukatja, Kunbarlang, Kuninjku, Mathi Mathi, Mawng, Murrinhpatha, Ndjébbana, Ngaanyatjarra, Ngalia, Ngardi, Nyangumarta, Pitjantjatjara, Tiwi, Wajarri, Warlmanpa, WikMungkan, YanNhangu, and Yawuru.

  2. The site now has 81 languages and continues to grow. It has had over 120,000 users since it was launched.

Here at Endangered Languages and Cultures, we fully welcome your opinion, questions and comments on any post, and all posts will have an active comments form. However if you have never commented before, your comment may take some time before it is approved. Subsequent comments from you should appear immediately.

We will not edit any comments unless asked to, or unless there have been html coding errors, broken links, or formatting errors. We still reserve the right to censor any comment that the administrators deem to be unnecessarily derogatory or offensive, libellous or unhelpful, and we have an active spam filter that may reject your comment if it contains too many links or otherwise fits the description of spam. If this happens erroneously, email the author of the post and let them know. And note that given the huge amount of spam that all WordPress blogs receive on a daily basis (hundreds) it is not possible to sift through them all and find the ham.

In addition to the above, we ask that you please observe the Gricean maxims:

*Be relevant: That is, stay reasonably on topic.

*Be truthful: This goes without saying; don’t give us any nonsense.

*Be concise: Say as much as you need to without being unnecessarily long-winded.

*Be perspicuous: This last one needs no explanation.

We permit comments and trackbacks on our articles. Anyone may comment. Comments are subject to moderation, filtering, spell checking, editing, and removal without cause or justification.

All comments are reviewed by comment spamming software and by the site administrators and may be removed without cause at any time. All information provided is volunteered by you. Any website address provided in the URL will be linked to from your name, if you wish to include such information. We do not collect and save information provided when commenting such as email address and will not use this information except where indicated. This site and its representatives will not be held responsible for errors in any comment submissions.

Again, we repeat: We reserve all rights of refusal and deletion of any and all comments and trackbacks.

Leave a Comment