FAQs - Australian Indigenous
languages
So you want to find out something about Australian
languages? Here we've adapted some FAQs from the ASEDA
page.
Well, to start with there are more than 300 languages.... so...
Q: I want to find about Aboriginal
names and meanings.
A: Macquarie Aboriginal Words,
ed Nicholas Thieberger & William McGregor, Macquarie Library, 1994.
This has word-lists from many Australian languages, properly labelled.
Avoid:
Cooper, H.M. 1952. Australian
Aboriginal words and their meanings. Adelaide: (South Australian
Museum).
Kenyon, Justine. 1982. Aboriginal
word book. Melbourne: Lothian.
Reed, A.H. and A.W. 1965. Aboriginal
words of Australia. Sydney: A.H. and A.W. Reed Pty Ltd.
These are lists of words WITHOUT identification of the source
language. The meanings are often very fanciful. The only
use for these books is to track down some "Aboriginal" name that
someone gave some boat/house/institution/ after finding it in one
of these books...
For particular languages, check out the AIATSIS
Indigenous Languages Bibliographies
Q: I want to find about Aboriginal
words that are used in English.
A: Check out: Australian Aboriginal
words in English : their origin and meaning, by
R. Dixon, W. Ramson & M. Thomas. Oxford University Press, 1992
Q: I think the word X comes from
an Australian language (/the Aboriginal language/...) - can you tell me
which one / what it means?
A: If English dictionaries near to hand do not answer this for you,
look the word up in the Australian
National Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1988) or Australian Aboriginal words in English :
their origin and meaning, by Dixon, Ramson & Thomas (OUP
1992). If it isn't in these books, then it is probably difficult
to answer your query, since many of Australia's 300 plus
Indigenous languages have not been well documented. Step one is
to find out where the word is supposed to have come from. then
find out the language or languages spoken in that area. Then look
up dictionaries of those languages. For particular languages,
check out the AIATSIS
Indigenous Languages Bibliographies
Otherwise, if you don't know the region the word is supposed to have
come from, the task is probably hopeless. You could check out
the horrible little Aboriginal words books (Kenyon, Cooper and
Reed) mentioned above, since they were once popular and people
used to pick words out of these for all sorts of
purposes.
Q: I would like to know the Aboriginal
word for X
A: There are over 300 Australian languages (not dialects) so the
question needs to be more specific. If you think X is a concept
likely to be lexicalised (expressed by a word) in Australian languages
generally (or of a particular region), for a start, you could try the
English index to Macquarie
Aboriginal Words, ed Thieberger & McGregor, a paperback
published by Macquarie Library, 1994.
Q: I would like an Aboriginal word
meaning 'rain forest' / 'fearless' /... for my house/boat/dog/a new
variety of beetle.
A: If you are in Australia, try contacting your local Aboriginal
language or culture centre, such as listed in FATSIL's National
Indigenous Languages Directory. Some communities are prepared
to help think of good names - in Adelaide Kaurna Warra Pintyandi
regularly deals with such requests.
Q: A friend of mine is looking for an
indigenous language that can cover the translation of "Preserving the
Dreaming" / "Don't smoke" /"scarcity" / "Come and visit Australia"/
"Happy Christmas" -- can you help?
A: See previous answer.
Q: (a) How do I find out what language
is spoken in my area?
(b) How do I find a speaker of X language?
A: One way to start is by contacting a local language organisation in
your area. A good list of contacts is in FATSIL's National
Indigenous Languages Directory Another possibility is to try
a geographic search in the AIATSIS
Library catalogue.
Q: I want to know more about
endangered Australian languages.
(I am writing a magazine article /
preparing a documentary proposal / writing a school report / a novel
...) I want information about the language, brief historical summary
and, most importantly, information about preservation work and what, if
any, the native speakers themselves are doing to record and preserve
their language, and names of the main campaigners.
A: Basic information is available in various publications and to some
extent on the WWW. The best place to start is with the "WWWVL - Aboriginal
Languages of Australia" and for Central Australia and some other
areas, http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/aust/
Q: I'd like to know the meaning of
placename X.
A: Here are some hints for doing it yourself, but be warned that it is
time consuming tracking down the meanings of placenames, especially
those of indigenous origin, and calls for some linguistic
expertise. First, check the official records of the relevant
State or Territory -- the information there may be sufficient for your
purpose. If you want to take the inquiry further, the important
starting point is to find out the circumstances of the first written
record of the name: who wrote down the name, what (s)he thought the
name referred to, and who told him/her the name. Then you can start to
look for meanings. However, beware! Most people who record words
given to them by indigenous people don't transcribe sounds precisely,
so that it is hard to work out what word was actually given to them.
Moreover, early recorders often either did not ask for, or did not
understand, the meanings of place-names. For tips for dealing with
historical manuscripts see the handbook
Paper and Talk: A manual for reconstituting Australian indigenous
languages from historical sources, AIATSIS,1995. [Aboriginal
Studies Press listing]
The next step is to find out what languages are spoken in the area
where the placename was recorded, then consult a dictionary of that
language and see if there is any information about the word. There's a
reasonable chance that there won't be any -- some placenames are simply
that, names, without necessarily having a 'meaning'.
Some Australian placenames from Indigenous languages are discussed in
Richard and Barbara Appleton's The
Cambridge dictionary of Australian places,Cambridge University
Press, 1992. The Australian
National Placenames Survey may be able to help.
Q: I want copies of digital
dictionaries and texts of Australian Indigenous languages.
A: Try ASEDA: the
Aboriginal Studies Electronic Data Archive at the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Studies.
Q: I'd like to learn an Indigenous
language.
A: The Koori Centre at
Sydney has some information on this. The first ever on-line
Pitjantjatjara course started in 2006: http://www.ngapartji.org/.
Some language learning materials are available from the Institute for
Aboriginal Development in Alice Springs. Kaurna Warra Pintyandi in
Adelaide runs courses on Kaurna. Charles Darwin University offers
courses in Yolngu,
including a Graduate Certificate in Yolngu Studies.
Updated 2/7/06