Researching your own language from your own remote NT community? Kah-mon!

Greg Dickson writes on the Crikey Language blog:

Talking about language in Australia isn’t all about discussing Australianisms, etymologies and bitching about prescriptivists and linguisticians. There’s a small movement led by a bunch of Aboriginal and Islander Australians, a handful of committed linguists and a few sundries who work quietly and tirelessly to support the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders languages of Australia.

These are the original Australian languages and they are suffering under constant pressure from mainstream Australia. Three weeks ago, I had the absolute pleasure of tutoring two women from Barunga community, south east of Katherine, NT, who are attempting to complete a course called Certificate One in Own Language Work, delivered by Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education. I’ve known Marie and Queenie for a few years now and they are clever, experienced women. Between them, their talents and experiences include radio broadcasting, interpreting in the Supreme Court, primary school teaching and short-film direction.

They are expert speakers of Mayali and Kriol and have few hassles with English. But, their own language is a language called Dalabon which is now critically endangered with only a few elderly speakers left. Queenie speaks Dalabon well and Marie not too badly, but they enrolled in the language course to help them develop their ‘language work’ skills – reading and writing Dalabon, making resources, teaching kids, working with researchers and learning a bit more Dalabon for themselves – all things that will support their language and help develop their own skills.

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