OLAC Record
oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0009-8410-7

Metadata
Title:introduction to the session
CS07_a078_01
Jaminjungan and Eastern Ngumpin - A documentation of the linguistic and cultural knowledge of speakers in a multilingual setting in the Victoria River District, Northern Australia
Contributor (consultant):Nawurla
Nanagu
Nangala
Namirra
MR
Contributor (researcher):Candide Simard
Glenn Wightman
Coverage:Australia
Date:2007-10-02
Description:introduction to the session
This project is funded by the Endangered Languages Programme (DOBES) of the VW Foundation for a period of three years (August 2005-July 2008). The aim of the project is a documentation of the linguistic and cultural knowledge of the remaining speakers of several language varieties belonging to two language groups. The Jaminjungan group consists of Jaminjung and Ngaliwurru (which are closely related) as well as Nungali (now no longer spoken). Languages of the Eastern Ngumpin group are Gurindji, Ngarinyman, Bilinarra, and Mudburra, as well as a mixed language, Gurindji Kriol. These varieties (and in addition English and Kriol, an English-lexified creole), constitute part of a single network of multilingual communicative practice in the region, since their speakers have been in close contact for a long time, and since they now share the same settlements distributed throughout the Victoria River District. One aim of the project therefore is to carefully document variation. The lexical databases are set up to facilitate cross-referencing between the different varieties, for example to identify borrowings and translation equivalents. Focal areas for the text collection are topics such as significant sites, knowledge about plants and animals, and oral history, which are likely to be of particular interest to the speakers and their descendants as well as to linguists, anthropologists, biologists, ecologists, and historians. Two PhD students within the projects focus on the topics of Jaminjung prosody (Candide Simard) and spatial expressions in Ngarinyman (Kristina Henschke), respectively. The project was administered by the University of Graz from August 2005 to March 2007, and by the University of Manchester from April 2007 to July 2008. It is conducted in collaboration with the Diwurruwurru-Jaru Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal Language Centre based in Katherine (N.T.), and includes community members as trainees and co-investigators. The members of the core project team are: Eva Schultze-Berndt (Manchester; project director; Jaminjungan languages and some Ngarinyman), Patrick McConvell (Canberra; Principal Investigator; Ngumpin languages and Gurindji Kriol; anthropology); Felicity Meakins (Melbourne/Manchester; Postdoctoral Fellow; Ngumpin languages and Gurindji Kriol), Kristina Henschke (Graz, PhD student, Ngarinyman); Candide Simard (Manchester, PhD student, Jaminjung/Ngaliwurru). The core project team is supported by Glenn Wightman (Darwin) as ethnobiologist and Alan Marett and Linda Barwick (Sydney) as ethnomusicologists, by Erika Charola (Paris) as a linguistic consultant working on Gurindji, as well as by Nikolaus Himmelmann (Bochum) as and Mark Harvey (Newcastle) as cooperation partners.
JoJ has only contributed to the project as a consultant occasionally. She is Jaminjung by descent and a fluent speaker of Jaminjung/Ngaliwurru, and today mainly lives in Myatt, near Timber Creek., where she is married to JJ.
DR has been one of the main consultants on this and previous projects for Ngaliwurru, but also speaks some Ngarinyman, and is married to a Ngarinyman man, LR.
CS began work on Jaminjung and Ngaliwurru with the start of the DOBES-VRD project in August 2005. The focus of the PhD thesis is prosody in Jaminjung, but she has also been involved in work other areas of grammar and lexicographical documentation. CS is based in London and Manchester.
GW is the ethnobiological consultant on the project with a long-term experience of working with many language groups in the area. He is based in Darwin/Palmerston.
DB is a respected elder and has been one of the main consultants on this and previous projects for Jaminjung. She speaks Jaminjung fluently since she acquired it at a very young age, although she is Gajirrabeng by descent. She also spoke Ngarinyman with her late husband, RB. DB is a friend and classificatory sister of ER.
JM, a respected elder, is of Ngarinyman and Nungali descent from her mother, MW, and father, respectively, and is the sister of JJ and ERay. Her main languages, however, are Ngaliwurru and Kriol, and she has been one of the main consultants on this and previous projects for Ngaliwurru. She has contributed a lot especially to stories about the local history.
ERay is the sister of JJ and JM, and has been involved with the project as a Ngaliwurru speaker. Her contribution to the documentation of the flora/fauna knowledge has been invaluable. She lives in Myatt, near Timber Creek.
MR is the daughter of Dr and LR. They live in Timber Creek and Barrak Barrak. She has participed intermitently in language work and is considering training as an interpeter at the Katherine Language Centre. She speaks Ngarinyman, and has some knoledge of Ngaliwurru.
Identifier:oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0009-8410-7
Jaminjungan and Eastern Ngumpin
Publisher:Eva Schultze-Berndt
University of Manchester, School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures
Subject:Discourse
Conversation
Unspecified
Nungali language
Ngarinman language
Kriol language
Djamindjung language
Ngaliwurru
Subject (ISO639):nug
nbj
rop
djd

OLAC Info

Archive:  The Language Archive at the MPI for Psycholinguistics
Description:  http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl
GetRecord:  OAI-PMH request for OLAC format
GetRecord:  Pre-generated XML file

OAI Info

OaiIdentifier:  oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0009-8410-7
DateStamp:  2017-02-14
GetRecord:  OAI-PMH request for simple DC format

Search Info

Citation: Nawurla (consultant); Nanagu (consultant); Candide Simard (researcher); Glenn Wightman (researcher); Nangala (consultant); Namirra (consultant); Namirra (consultant); MR (consultant). 2007-10-02. Eva Schultze-Berndt.
Terms: area_Pacific country_AU iso639_djd iso639_nbj iso639_nug iso639_rop

Inferred Metadata

Country: Australia
Area: Pacific


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Up-to-date as of: Wed Apr 12 1:22:21 EDT 2017