{"id":3766,"date":"2008-12-05T21:09:52","date_gmt":"2008-12-05T21:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/2008\/12\/re-awakening-languages-call-for-contributions\/"},"modified":"2011-02-05T07:46:50","modified_gmt":"2011-02-05T07:46:50","slug":"re-awakening-languages-call-for-contributions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/2008\/12\/re-awakening-languages-call-for-contributions\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-awakening languages: call for contributions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Re-awakening languages: Theory & practice in the revitalisation of Australia’s Indigenous languages <\/em>
\nProposals are invited for an edited volume that will include contributions from a broad range of authors involved in the revitalisation of Australian languages. If you, your colleagues or your students are participants in Indigenous languages revitalisation anywhere in Australia you are strongly encouraged to contribute.
\nThe book will be independently edited by a panel consisting of John Hobson<\/a> (University of Sydney), Kevin Lowe<\/a> (NSW Board of Studies), Susan Poetsch<\/a> (NSW Board of Studies) and Michael Walsh<\/a> (University of Sydney) and be published by Sydney University Press<\/a> (SUP). It is intended that the final product will be a significant Australian resource comparable to Hinton & Hale (eds.) (2001) The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\nAll contributions will be edited by the panel. Scholarly chapters will be subject to a more rigorous editorial process and be eligible for DEST\/DEEWR research quantum as B1. Copyright will be vested in the authors with a licence to publish granted to SUP. Chapters will be publicly available free-to-download directly from the Sydney eScholarship Repository<\/a>.
\nWhile there is scope for the structure and content of the volume to develop as contributions are received, the editors have proposed a number of potential sections:
\nAnalysis and documentation
\nLanguage in communities
\nLanguage in education
\nLanguage and technology
\nLiteracy and oracy
\nLanguage centres and programs
\nPolicy and planning
\n(An expanded explanation of each of these headings is included at the end of this email to provide a stimulus for prospective contributors.)
\nA particular ambition for the book is to privilege Indigenous community and practitioner voices and give them equal standing with those of academics and theorists. On this basis we are open to a broader range of contributions than might normally be expected and encourage the inclusion of different types of texts such as transcripts of dialogues, lectures and speeches, case studies and reports. Other types of contribution will also be considered.
\nWe are also very keen to foster collaborations between academics and community members and between teachers and students. We wish to recognise expertise at all levels, regardless of whether the authors hold formal qualifications. Teachers, linguists and allied professionals are urged to participate by fostering community contributions as well as providing their own.
\nWe especially invite papers that document successful (and unsuccessful) strategies for languages revitalisation and education, and intend that all contributions should suggest future directions for others to follow. However, please note that the focus of the volume will be the revitalisation of endangered languages, rather than the maintenance of relatively strong ones.
\nWhile it will not be possible to publish any item that has previously been published elsewhere, some authors may wish to consider contributing developed papers from past conference presentations, or revising and updating articles. Students may also wish to consider developing past essays in the field into more substantial papers, particularly with the collaboration of their teachers.
\nThe provisional schedule for contributions is as follows:
\nCall for contributions closes January 2, 2009
\nFinal drafts due March 27, 2009
\nFinal Edited versions due July 3, 2009.
\nIf you are interested in contributing to this exciting project, please contact the following editors to discuss your proposal and obtain a copy of the proposal form:
\nJohn Hobson (02) 9351 6994, john.hobson At usyd.edu.au
\nSusan Poetsch (02) 9367 8147, susan.poetsch AT bos.nsw.edu.au
\nFinally, please note that this volume will not make a profit and will require granted funds and the donation of the editors’ time by their employers to permit its publication. There is therefore no prospect of individual authors being paid by the editors for their contribution or receiving royalties from the book.<\/p>\n

\n

Potential sections (expanded):<\/em>
\nAnalysis and documentation<\/b>
\nThe documentation of endangered languages by linguists has historically emphasised
\nthe elicitation of data to produce technical reference grammars,
\noften to the disappointment of later generations of speakers intent on
\nrevitalising their languages who find these materials largely inaccessible.
\nRecently linguists have come to recognise this issue and that the
\ndocumentation of a language by its users can produce in a richer and more
\ndiverse range of texts that are potentially as useful to those who wish to
\nrestore the true flavour of their spoken language as they are to analysts.
\nWhat opportunities are there for Indigenous Australian communities and
\nlinguists to work in partnership to help bring languages back now and in the
\nfuture and what action can we take to facilitate them?
\nLanguage in communities<\/b>
\nWhile school programs are increasingly taking a leading role in stimulating
\nthe revitalisation of many languages across the nation, the places where
\nlanguages truly live are in the family and the community. Furthermore,
\ncommunities must take a leading role in ensuring their children acquire
\ntheir languages in the home before they reach the school if the continued
\ndominance of English is to be resisted. But this is easier said than done.
\nHow are languages being revitalised in communities now and what more can be
\ndone to support this process? What ways are there to encourage and support
\nIndigenous communities to speak their language every day?
\nLanguage in education<\/b>
\nSchool, TAFE and university programs are currently responsible for the
\nmajority of growth in materials and speaker populations in Indigenous
\nAustralian languages undergoing revitalisation. What successes and failures
\nare being experienced in this process that practitioners new to the field
\ncan learn from and avoid repeating the errors of the past? How can classroom
\npractice be informed by theory and methods from the fields of languages
\neducation and linguistics? What works, and what doesn’t? Is immersion the
\nultimate answer and are there really any ways to accelerate learning a
\nlanguage, or must it necessarily involve great effort? How can universities,
\nTAFE and schools work more cooperatively to support communities in the
\nrevitalisation of their languages?
\nLanguage and technology<\/b>
\nLanguage revitalisation has always had a heavy reliance on technology, in
\ndocumentation and analysis as well as in teaching. Increasingly each new
\ntechnological development is seen as the next great hope for revitalising
\ndying languages. But, how practical and cost-effective are they and can the
\nbest technologies really perform as well as a competent teacher or the
\nsimple act of speaking a language to another person? How can technology best
\nbe used to facilitate communicative learning strategies and engage learners
\nin effective acquisition processes, rather than making languages and
\nlearners its captives? What technologies afford the most resource effective
\nproduction of resources with the maximum portability across revitalising
\nlanguages?
\nLiteracy and oracy<\/b>
\nAs in many parts of the world, Indigenous Australian languages existed for
\nmillennia in only oral forms. However, the modern world places great
\nemphasis on literacy and many revitalisation programs seem to favour written
\nlanguage over spoken, or find it simpler to deal with. There has also been
\nmuch debate and misunderstanding over the process and outcome of developing
\nwriting systems. Why can’t Aboriginal languages be written ‘in English’ and
\nwho or what determines the best writing system to use? What techniques are
\navailable to ensure revitalising languages are spoken again and how can we
\nbest assist English-speaking Indigenous Australians to master the sounds of
\ntheir ancestral languages when they may not have heard them spoken in their
\nlifetime? How do we assess fluency in revitalising languages, who is fluent
\nenough to teach, and who decides?
\nLanguage centres and programs<\/b>
\nThe provision of a language centre or program is often a key milestone in
\nthe revitalisation of languages that greatly enhances prospects for success.
\nAs well as providing documentation, analysis and generating materials they
\ncan offer a community focus and take a leading role in facilitating
\nlanguages education. How have groups of interested individuals worked to
\nbring such agencies into existence and what advice can they offer others
\nfollowing in their path? What scope is there for language-specific, regional
\nor state-based Indigenous language authorities to develop and work together
\nin future? What makes for a successful language centre or program?
\nPolicy and planning<\/b>
\nLanguage policy is often perceived to be the province of government and for
\nmany years there have been calls for the formulation of a national
\nIndigenous Australian languages policy. NSW is one state that has
\nimplemented its own. But language communities can have their own policy too
\nand the often-cited ‘protocol’ is really just that, policy, albeit usually
\nunwritten. However, with government policy there are normally both strings
\nand funds attached that exert control over the actions of individuals. What
\npolicies exist and how can they best be navigated to produce the outcomes
\ncommunities desire? As in all fields, planning is essential to be able to
\nrecognise when goals have been achieved and what steps are required along
\nthe way. Yet, language revitalisation activities are often piecemeal and
\ndisconnected. What are the key concepts of language planning and how can
\nthey be applied to achieve the best outcomes for Australia’s revitalising
\nlanguages?
\nRegards,
\nJohn
\n—
\nJohn Hobson
\nCoordinator
\nIndigenous Languages Education
\nKoori Centre
\nOld Teachers College, A22
\nUniversity of Sydney, NSW, 2006
\nPhone: (02) 9351 6994
\nFax: (02) 9351 6924
\nhttp:\/\/www.koori.usyd.edu.au\/staff\/jhobson.shtml
\n“When you lose a language, you lose a culture, intellectual wealth, a work
\nof art. It’s like dropping a bomb on a museum, the Louvre.”
\nComment by the late Kenneth Hale cited in The Economist (November 3, 2001).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Re-awakening languages: Theory & practice in the revitalisation of Australia’s Indigenous languages Proposals are invited for an edited volume that will include contributions from a broad range of authors involved in the revitalisation of Australian languages. If you, your colleagues or your students are participants in Indigenous languages revitalisation anywhere in Australia you are strongly … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indigenous-australia-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4246,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions\/4246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paradisec.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}