Endangered Languages and Cultures

Indexing and managing song recordings for e-publication

5 February 201111 August 2006 by Linda Barwick

Allan Marett and I spent yesterday meeting with the good folks from Sydney e-Scholarship regarding a publication project we have to archive some of our song recordings in the University of Sydney Library’s Dspace repository and then link to them from an electronic publication we are developing about six repertories of wangga songs from the … Read more

Current fieldwork technology – over to an aunt!

5 February 201110 August 2006 by Jane Simpson

Our sister blogger (perhaps ‘aunt’ since she’s been blogging much longer!) Claire Bowern has started to post sections of her draft manual on fieldwork on her blog. First off are some gripping posts on those inevitable initial questions: “What recording equipment should I get?” The answers change each year – but the categories Claire uses … Read more

Census night

5 February 20119 August 2006 by Jane Simpson

How did you interpret the intent of Census Question 22 “Does the person ever need someone to help with, or be with them for, communication activities?” What’s ‘Australian’ ancestry (C.Q.18)? As always, census forms raises concerns of interpreting the questions, and interpreting the answers to the questions, especially when the forms are being filled out by speakers of other languages.
Monday’s Sydney Morning Herald has a short article on the physical problems of doing the census at Wadeye, in particular the fact that they have “hired eight Wadeye residents who translate the questions for people into their local language and then fill in the answers for them.” A good start. The mention that John Taylor was there as an observer took me back to his excellent co-authored paper “Making sense of the census: observations of the 2001 enumeration in remote Aboriginal Australia.”

Solar Power in the Field (Part 1)

5 February 20117 August 2006 by admin

I don’t know how many parts this will be all together, but writing up a guide to getting a solar power kit together is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.
In today’s instalment, we’ll be looking at how to prepare for a trip.

National Indigenous Languages Forum “Technology-language-culture” 5th – 7th September 2006

5 February 20115 August 2006 by Jane Simpson

Fancy going to Port Hedland in the Pilbara to discuss Australian languages in early September this year? A flyer arrived from FATSIL (Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages) asking for us to spread the word on their conference and Annual General Meeting. I can’t see anything about it on their website, so download the flyer if you want registration forms and membership forms. A summary follows.

Language revival – nice Gamilaraay resources and good news on assessment

5 February 20114 August 2006 by Jane Simpson

The Wednesday linguists’ lunch at the CHATS cafe, ANU is a free-wheeling discussion of language, Indigenous Studies, and life in our various institutions – this week it ranged from the reconstructions of the pronunciation of place-names (is Ulladulla really Nguladarla?), to language revival programs, especially John Giacon’s experience with Gamilaraay, and what works and what doesn’t.

Get rid of those cicadas!

5 February 20112 August 2006 by admin

Thanks to Linda and Frank for a very interesting workshop last Friday. I picked up some great tricks on using transcriber and audacity. Perhaps the best trick I learnt was how to remove cicada noise from my PNG recordings.
Maybe you already knew how to do this (or maybe you just fiddle with the EQ), but I always thought this was in the realm of Hollywood fantasy (like when the forensics guy magically “enhances” a grainy image to reveal the killer’s face in a thriller). Removing the noise allows me to more easily transcribe a busy recording, and seeing as insect noise was pretty constant and loud through all my recordings, this is quite handy. There are some caveats, but here’s how to do this using freely available, cross platform software.

New report on Indigenous languages in Canada

5 February 20111 August 2006 by Jane Simpson

Margaret Florey just posted a notice on the list “Resource-Network-Linguistic-Diversity@unimelb.edu.au” (a terrific list for information on languages and fieldwork – see also their website) about a new 161 page Canadian report on revitalising First Nation, Inuit and Métis languages and cultures. It is definitely worth downloading, both for its recommendations and for the information about what’s happening in Canada.

Wiradjuri language revival

5 February 201128 July 2006 by Jane Simpson

Last Wednesday (26 July) I went along to a ceremonial ribbon cutting on a bunch of books on Wiradjuri in the Parkes Shire Library (central west NSW). This prompted some thoughts on language revival, Wiradjuri, the German Saturday school I went to, and teaching language.

A Blackwood by the Beach for Papuanists

5 February 201124 July 2006 by admin

After a couple of very enjoyable Australianist mini-conferences at Crommelin Field Station, James McElvenny from Sydney University has decided to organise the same for Papuan Languages!. We’re hoping to replicate the laid back style of the Blackwood by the Beach conferences, but specifically for Papuan languages. Read on for more details.