Jonathan Jones uses Aboriginal shields to create a skeleton of Sydney’s Garden Palace, destroyed by fire in 1882. In song, dance and sculpture, he celebrates what has been lost and rediscovered.
Articles on Indigenous languages
Displaying 61 - 80 of 83 articles
Malcolm Turnbull’s tears have drawn attention to harsh truths about the loss of Indigenous culture. As a nation we should embrace Indigenous languages.
While AFL player Adam Goodes polarised Australians by performing an Indigenous war dance, New Zealanders unite in celebration of the Haka. The difference in approach to Indigenous culture is telling.
About 20% of the Australian population speaks a language other than English. However there is little connection between the languages taught in schools, and the languages spoken in homes.
New Zealand’s relationship with its Indigenous people and knowledge of their language far exceeds Australia’s.
African universities need to boost local languages onto the same exalted platform as English before they can be considered truly transformed.
Most Australians cannot manage the name of a single Indigenous language which is astonishing given there are 250 to choose from
Genetics and linguistics show Aboriginal people spread iconic boab trees around north west Australia.
NSW Nationals’ leader Troy Grant has broken new ground by speaking Wiradjuri in parliament and at his party’s election launch – and it reflects a growing Indigenous language revival in NSW.
By now we know that traditional Indigenous languages are losing speakers rapidly and tragically. Of the 250 languages once spoken in Australia, only 40 remain and just 18 of these are still learnt by children…
Tony Abbott is spending this week in North East Arnhem Land, part of his long-held hope “to be not just the Prime Minister but the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs”. We asked our experts: what stories…
The question of what language(s) to teach Indigenous students, what languages to teach them in, and how to go about it has been generating a little political heat (but not quite so much light) of late…
Some 40 years ago, on any remote island in the Arafura Sea, that stretch of water between Darwin and Papua New Guinea, if a group of Yolŋu were living on country for more than a few days there would be…
Indigenous languages are under attack yet again. The federal budget, released on May 13, includes a substantial reduction of A$9.5 million over four years for the Indigenous Languages Support Programme…
Attitudes and policies relating to Australian Indigenous languages are in a state of flux. The Northern Territory government is reportedly again aiming to banish Aboriginal languages from the classroom…
One of Australia’s biggest Aboriginal language groups, Noongar (spoken in Western Australia’s south-west) is set to be preserved…
More than 90% of Australia’s Indigenous languages are critically endangered and two-thirds of those languages spoken a hundred years ago are now dormant. The seeds of the current situation were sown long…
The village of Akazu’yw lies in the rainforest, a day’s drive from the state capital of Belém, deep in the Brazilian Amazon. Last week I went to Akazu’yw, carrying a dozen Android phones with a specialised…
Arts minister Simon Crean’s newly released cultural policy, Creative Australia, represents a refreshing change. It is underpinned by an understanding that not only are the arts closely linked to each other…
Of the 7,000 languages spoken on the planet, Tembé is at the small end with just 150 speakers left. In a few days, I will head into the Brazilian Amazon to record Tembé – via specially-designed technology…
Top contributors
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Professor of Linguistics, The University of Queensland
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Professor emerita, Australian National University
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Professor of Linguistics, Yale University
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Professor of Education, Charles Darwin University
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PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
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Professor of Elementary Literacy, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, University of Toronto
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Professor and Canada Research Chair in Language Interactions, University of Manitoba
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Associate Professor and Reader, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Research Unit for Indigenous Language, School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne
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Professor, Charles Darwin University
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ARC DECRA Fellow, Australian National University
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Professor of Economics and Public Policy, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University
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Associate professor, University of the Western Cape
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Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National University
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Senior Fellow, National Centre for Indigenous Studies, Australian National University
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Project manager - Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages, Charles Darwin University