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Article In: Historiographia Linguistica: Online-First Articles

The description, documentation and revival of Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay

 | Australian National University
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Abstract
Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay are Australian Indigenous languages which had almost totally fallen out of use, apart from a few words, and which are now being revived. The paper details the records and analyses of the languages and the current efforts to revive them. The most important sources of information include publications from 1860 onwards, and a number of unpublished materials. There are important sources from the 19th century, more detailed information from the first half of the 20th, while the period from 1950 to 1980 saw the most detailed information and analysis, benefiting from the greatly increased understanding of Australian Indigenous languages and the advent of tape recorders. From 1980 on work on the languages has consisted of revisiting the older sources to refine and expand the description of the languages, and more recently also lexical development, so they can be used to talk about new realities.
Résumé
Le gamilaraay et le yuwalaraay sont deux langues autochtones d’Australie qui, mis à part quelques mots, étaient tombées en désuétude, mais sont maintenant revitalisées. L’article examine en détail les matériaux archivés et les analyses relatifs à ces deux langues, ainsi que les efforts consacrés actuellement à leur revitalisation. Les sources d’information les plus importantes sont constituées de publications parues à partir des années 1860 et de matériaux non encore publiés. D’importantes sources datent du 19ème siècle et des informations plus détaillées sont fournies durant la première moitié du 20ème, mais la période de 1950 à 1980 est celle qui nous procure les enseignements et les analyses les plus précis, grâce à une compréhension fortement accrue des langues autochtones d’Australie et à l’apparition du magnétophone. Depuis 1980, le travail accompli a consisté à revisiter les sources plus anciennes afin d’affiner et d’augmenter la description de ces deux langues. On a œuvré aussi à leur enrichissement lexical en vue de leur permettre de parler de réalités nouvelles.
Zusammenfassung
Gamilaraay und Yuwaalaraay sind zwei australische indigene Sprachen, die, von wenigen Wörtern abgesehen, so gut wie nicht mehr gebraucht wurden und neuerdings revitalisiert werden. Der Beitrag beschreibt die Aufzeichnungen und Analysen der beiden Sprachen sowie die aktuellen Bemühungen zu deren Revitalisierung. Die wichtigsten Quellen wurden seit 1860 veröffentlicht, aus dieser Zeit gibt es daneben aber auch bisher unveröffentlichte Materialien. Bedeutende Quellen und ausführlichere Informationen stammen aus dem 19. Jahrhundert und der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Von 1950 bis 1980 wurden die detailliertesten Datensammlungen und Analysen erstellt, wobei man vom stark gewachsenen Verständnis der australischen indigenen Sprachen sowie vom Einsatz von Tonbandgeräten profitieren konnte. Seit 1980 hat man angefangen, ältere Quellen erneut zu untersuchen, um die Beschreibung der Sprachen zu verfeinern und zu erweitern, und in jüngerer Zeit hat man sich darüber hinaus mit lexikalischen Fragen beschäftigt, damit die Sprachen zur Erfassung neuer Realitäten verwendet werden können.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Global and local language revival
    • 1.2Trajectory of the languages
    • 1.3Gamilaraay emphasis
  • 2.Documentation and description
    • 2.1Introduction
    • 2.2Historical sources
      • 2.2.1Milson
      • 2.2.2William Ridley (1819–1878)
      • 2.2.3Charles Capel Greenway (1818–1905)
      • 2.2.4Katherine Langloh-Parker (1856–1940)
      • 2.2.5R. H. Mathews (1841–1918)
      • 2.2.6Norman Tindale (1900–1993)
      • 2.2.7Stephen Wurm (1922–2001)
      • 2.2.8Ian Sim (1931–2021)
      • 2.2.9The Yuwaalaraay tapes
      • 2.2.10Arthur Dodd (1890–1979)
      • 2.2.11Fred Reece (1890–1986)
      • 2.2.12Janet Mathews (1914–1992)
      • 2.2.13Corinne Williams
      • 2.2.14Peter K. Austin (b. 1952)
      • 2.2.15Uncle Ted Fields (1933–2006)
      • 2.2.16Others
    • 2.3Recent analysis
      • 2.3.1Developing new words in Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay
      • 2.3.2Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay Yuwaalayaay Dictionary
      • 2.3.3Yaluu
  • 3.Revival of Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay
    • 3.1Early Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay revival
    • 3.2Principles of revival
    • 3.3Increasing support for revival
    • 3.4GY in the community
    • 3.5The teaching of GY
    • 3.6Standardisation of GY and the need for a central authority
  • 4.Conclusion
  • 5.Positionality Statement
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
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