Helping to revive Aboriginal languages

Languages

Endangered Aboriginal languages on the state's West Coast could be revived, thanks to the work of linguistics experts at the University of Adelaide.

Language researcher Dr Paul Monaghan has spent the past year working with local elders in the Ceduna region to document the Wirangu and Gugada languages.

Now spoken by only a handful of elders, both languages are under threat of disappearing, leaving a huge gap in the cultural history of
the region.

Aboriginal elder Gladys Miller, one of the last two speakers of Wirangu, worked alongside Dr Monaghan late last year to develop a talking picture dictionary, featuring around 200 common Wirangu words.

An illustrated book featuring a traditional Wombat hunt, written in the Wirangu language, was also launched last November.

Dr Monaghan's second project involved producing language cards for another endangered West Coast language known as Gugada. Children from the Koonibba Community Aboriginal School illustrated the language cards.

A dedicated language exhibition area in the Ceduna Arts and Culture Centre now enables tourists and locals to access the dictionaries and language cards of both the Wirangu and Gugada dialects.

"Aboriginal children and older people wanting to get in touch with their roots can look up words on the dictionary compact disc using a computer and hear the correct pronunciation and sentence structure for the language," Dr Monaghan said.

About 250 Aboriginal dialects are recognised in Australia. Only relatively few are still spoken on a frequent basis, Dr Monaghan said.

"In the case of the Wirangu and Gugada languages, the greatest impact has been the migration of Aboriginal people over the last 150 years from the desert to the coast. Inter-marriage between different tribes has also strengthened some dialects and watered down others.

"The measure of an endangered language is when there are no young people speaking it. That's the reason we're so keen to get children involved in helping to revive these languages so they are spoken on a regular basis."

Dr Monaghan is organising an August workshop in Ceduna, where local teachers will be trained to deliver Wirangu language packages through the schools.

The linguistics researcher is also helping to produce a short film of Gladys Miller and the history of the Wirangu language. The film, due to be completed in the next eight weeks, will be on display in the Ceduna Arts and Cultural Centre.

Professor Peter Mühlhäusler, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Adelaide, helped co-ordinate the endangered languages project.

Story by Candy Gibson