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23.01.2022 Professor Rachel Nordlinger, one of the country’s foremost experts on Australian Indigenous languages, explains their unique importance to an audience of hundreds at the Centre's Annual Public Lecture. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/lpJ3l6lcwwI

23.01.2022 For over 40 years this school has been teaching in 2 languages. It creates its own learning material in the #Indigenous Murrinh-patha language. #ReconciliationWeek #IYIL2019

23.01.2022 Professor Trevor Johnston has played a significant role in the evolution of sign language linguistics, most of which has occurred in the past half century. We c...aught up with him as he taught a course on sign languages at the Centre's Summer School in December, where he highlighted a continuing debate in contemporary scholarship about them. http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au//latest-hea/article/

22.01.2022 Drawn from the Ground, by our Research Fellow Jennifer Green, is out again. Pre-order it by 30 September with the code GREEN2019 at the checkout to get 20% off! https://www.cambridge.org//drawn-ground-sound-sign-and-ins

21.01.2022 What are the best articles ever published in Language? Our Anthology has the answers: http://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/language-anthology

21.01.2022 No matter where you are in Australia make sure you know that it's on Aboriginal land ... and *what* Aboriginal land. #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe

19.01.2022 Across this nation there are many different Rock Sites where we have learnt valuable lessons from stone.

19.01.2022 Research Unit for Indigenous Language’s second Public Lecture for 2019 will be presented by Jack Kanya Buckskin and Associate Professor Rob Amery, Re-Awakening... Kaurna, the language of the Adelaide Plains. This event is co-sponsored by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. Further details are available on http://alumni.online.unimelb.edu.au/kaurna This free public lecture will be held at 6.00pm on 5 December in the Copland Theatre, The Spot Building, The University of Melbourne. Registration is free but essential due to limited seating. Please register at http://alumni.online.unimelb.edu.au/kaurna. ... Kaurna, the language of the Adelaide Plains, has been reclaimed from written records, in the absence of any sound recordings, which were compiled in the mid-19th century. Without these records, principally the work of Dresden missionaries Christian Teichelmann and Clamor Schürmann, the re-introduction of Kaurna would not be possible. The interpretation of historical records relies on comparisons made between different observers and with neighbouring related languages, though there is still a large element of guesswork involved. Historical records provide a reasonably solid foundation for the formation of new words to fill gaps and expand the vocabulary, and to formulate expressions enabling the language to be spoken once again. We will discuss strategies for re-introducing Kaurna, including songs, games and the formulaic method. Kaurna now functions as an auxiliary language alongside English, where its emblematic role is paramount. It is frequently used in ‘Welcome to Country’ and ‘Acknowledgement of Kaurna’ speeches, within dance performances, in signage and in public works of art. There is recognition of extant Kaurna placenames, some in accordance with dual naming legislation, and strong demand for Kaurna names and translations for a wide range of entities. Kaurna is now beginning to gain a foothold within the Kaurna community and within the homes of some families. Kaurna people are adopting Kaurna names for themselves, their children and their pets. Some young Kaurna people have developed considerable fluency, whilst Buckskin is raising his three children as at least semi-native speakers of Kaurna. .... Jack Kanya Buckskin is a Kaurna, Narrunga and Wirangu man, born in the Adelaide Plains region who has for well over ten years dedicated himself to learning and sharing the Kaurna language and culture. He is the most fluent Kaurna speaker since efforts were initiated to reclaim and re-introduce the language. Jack became a fluent Kaurna speaker in adulthood through working directly with the historical materials, teaching the language, sending messages in Kaurna to his students, speaking the language to his dogs and later to his own children. Jack began his engagement with the Kaurna language through dance performance. Together with Steve Gadlabarti Goldsmith he was part of the Taikurtinna Kaurna dance group, but has since formed his own dance group called Kuma Kaaru ‘one blood’. Jack and Kuma Kaaru have also been given the opportunity to showcase dance, language and culture internationally, having been invited to perform and speak in a number of countries, including Malaysia, India, Nauru, Canada, United States and Austria. Jack has taught Kaurna at Warriparinga through the School of Languages, Salisbury High School, Kaurna Plains School, Le Fevre HS and at Adelaide HS. He also worked at the University of Adelaide recording sound files for the Southern Kaurna Placenames project, Kaurna Warra Ngayirda Wingkurila and other KWP projects. Jack is raising his three young children Mahleah Kudlyu Kartanya, Vincent Nguku Warritya and Jackson Puntuntu Kudnuitya speaking Kaurna, who appear to be emerging as at least semi-native speakers of the language. In 2011 Jack was recognised as South Australia’s Young Australian of the Year, and by Port-Adelaide-Enfield Council with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander award in 2018 for his contribution to the arts. In 2013 Dylon McDonald released a documentary portraying Kanya’s engagement with his Kaurna language and culture simply titled Buckskin. Associate Professor Rob Amery, Head of Linguistics, University of Adelaide, completed a PhD in 1998 (published 2000; 2016) on Kaurna language reclamation. For 30 years he has worked closely with Kaurna people and their language, developing teaching programs and resources, providing advice and implementing strategies to re-introduce the sleeping Kaurna language. In 2002, together with Kaurna Elders Dr Alitya Wallara Rigney and Dr Lewis Yerloburka O’Brien, he formed Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi (KWP). Prior knowledge of Western Desert and Yolu Matha provided valuable insights for the interpretation of Kaurna historical records. In 1993-94 he developed an innovative national curriculum framework for introducing accredited Indigenous language programs, including Kaurna, at senior secondary level.

18.01.2022 Good story on reawakening Kulkalgau Ya, a dialect of the Kala Lagaw Ya .language.https://www.theguardian.com//language-carries-our-custom-t?

16.01.2022 Our Summer School 2019 will be held on 2-6 December - save the date! This year, it will be held at the School of Languages and Linguistics and the Research Uni...t for Indigenous Language at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne, and the program of courses is shaping up nicely. See here for an early taste: http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au///summer-school-2019/ See more

16.01.2022 'Gabina-Gabina Dhabal' The classic children's book 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' has been translated into the Yuwi language, a language of the Yuibera and Yuwibara traditional owners in the Mackay region, following years of hard work to revitalise the language. #languageinthenews

14.01.2022 This week we will celebrate Patji-Dawes winner Sophia Mung. In this video she teaches Gija kids how to talk about their skin names. https://www.jarraggirrem.org/watch

12.01.2022 Our Chief Investigator Rachel Nordlinger is one the nation's foremost scholars of Australian Indigenous languages and advocates for the communities that speak t...hem. She is also Director of the Research Unit for Indigenous Language at Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOpzUYclcNM

11.01.2022 **NEW COURSE** Whose language you on? A crash course in Australian indigenous languages A course running over four Thursdays in May, 6:30-8pm at The Alderman, 1...34 Lygon St Brunswick East. Full deets on the poster! **Please note there is a typo on week 4, the correct date is 30 May 2019!

06.01.2022 You've definitely heard this word, you may have even used it yourself... but do you know where it comes from?

04.01.2022 Professor Kim Sterelny, leader of the Language Evolution program at the Centre, speaks with Dr Rosey Billington about his life's work and current research inter...ests. Kim and Rosie tackle questions at the intersection of philosophy and the natural sciences, including the theories of Noam Chomsky and philosophy’s integrative role in an age of relentless specialisation. In a relatively short time, humans have become extraordinarily different from the other great apes. Something strange and interesting happened, and my central interest is to understand what that thing is and language has got to be part of that story.

04.01.2022 Learning a language is child’s play, but linguists are still trying to understand how children do it so easily.

03.01.2022 Our Chief Investigator Gillian Wigglesworth from Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne is a leading authority on multilingualism and the way children acquire languages. Find out why instruction through home languages is the proven approach for Indigenous kids.

02.01.2022 To build public awareness around the diversity of First Nations' languages, the Research Unit for Indigenous Language has created the 50 Words Project, which ai...ms to record 50 words in every Indigenous language of Australia. Explore the interactive language map here http://50words.online/

02.01.2022 Here's a map you've never seen before... We've listed the 3* most commonly spoken Aboriginal languages from each State. We've created this because all of the Ab...original languages with 1000+ speakers are located across either Central or Northern Australia. We wanted to create a map which also highlights languages in the South East of the country. We are doing this to remind everyone that Aboriginal languages are still surviving there too. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics To see a complete (and much more accurate) language map, visit here: https://bit.ly/2sbKtj1