Jane Simpson

Summer research scholarships!

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AIATSIS/ANU Summer Research Scholarship Program 2012/13 CLOSING DATE 31 AUGUST The ANU School of Language Studies (SLS) and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies (AIATSIS) are pleased to announce they will co-host two Summer Research Scholars in the 2012/13 round. Outstanding undergraduate and honours students working on Australian languages are encouraged … Read more

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New book and launch

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Talk, Text and Technology: Literacy and social practice in a remote Indigenous community by Inge Kral (The Australian National University) has just been published by Multilingual Matters in Britain. It is an ethnography of language, learning and literacy in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands communities of south-east Western Australia. This study traces the Ngaanyatjarra from the introduction … Read more

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Very Long Track to the Other Side

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Road construction sometimes means new names, new opportunities.. The Kempsey bypass project includes a bridge over the Macleay River and Floodplain which, at 2 kilometres long on completion, will be the longest bridge in Australia. So Yapang Gurraarrbang Gayandigayigu Very Long Track to the Other Side…. This is the neat name which, so Amanda Lissarague … Read more

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Book launch: Kaytetye Dictionary

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At the Aboriginal Languages Workshop at North Stradbroke Island last month, as usual there were things to celebrate. I had the honour of helping launch the Kaytetye Dictionary*. Book launches are a lovely way of thinking about and celebrating people’s work and ideas. Here’s what I said, more or less. Things I love about this … Read more

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Big Boss: Race against Time

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Update on Laurie Baymarrwangga, Senior Australian of the Year, 2012 and patron of the Crocodile Islands Rangers. Her life story ‘Big Boss: Race against Time’ will screen on Sunday the 13th of May at 1.30pm on the ABC’s Message Stick Program. And here’s a bit about it from Bentley James, Crocodile Islands Rangers. 95 years … Read more

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The living archive of Aboriginal languages – call for expressions of interest

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CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST DEVELOP A USER-FRIENDLY SEARCH INTERFACE AND TOUCHPAD APP FOR A DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF LITERATURE IN ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES THE LIVING ARCHIVE PROJECT Submission date: 30 April 2012 During the era of bilingual education in the NT, books were produced in 25 Literature Production Centres in more than 16 languages. These materials … Read more

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International Mother Language Day 21 February 2012

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Large or small, Indo-European or Inuit, endangered or killer, let’s celebrate our mother tongues on UNESCO‘s International Mother Language Day! We don’t all die for language rights, like the Bangla-speaking students of the University of Dhaka who were killed on 21 February 1952, protesting the then Government of Pakistan’s decision to promote Urdu as the … Read more

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Hopes and dreams

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On Thursday I had an interesting time in a sleek-looking conference room at Parliament House with the House of Representatives Inquiry into language learning in Indigenous communities. The terms of inquiry cover learning English and learning Indigenous languages. Lots of people have put lots of time and thought into their submissions and appearances (available online). They are a fascinating snapshot of current concerns, hopes and dreams. (A couple contain not-so-subtle touting – gimme a gazillion and I’ll solve literacy/attendance/savethelanguage, but they’re the exception).

So I was answering questions about my submission [.pdf] on language learning in Indigenous communities. Here goes with points that I wanted to make, and then what I remember of questions asked by the Committee:

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