No detailed description available for "Languages of Australia and Tasmania".

First published in the Journals of the Royal Society of Tasmania.

The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages is a wide-ranging reference work that explores the more than 550 traditional and new Indigenous languages of Australia. Australian languages have long played an important role in diachronic and synchronic linguistics and are a vital testing ground for linguistic theory. Until now, however, there has been no comprehensive and accessible guide to the their vast linguistic diversity. This volume fills that gap, bringing together leading scholars and junior researchers to provide an up-to-date guide to all aspects of the languages of Australia. The chapters in the book explore typology, documentation, and classification; linguistic structures from phonology to pragmatics and discourse; sociolinguistics and language variation; and language in the community. The final part offers grammatical sketches of a selection of languages, sub-groups, and families. At a time when the number of living Australian languages is significantly reduced even compared to twenty year ago, this volume establishes priorities for future linguistic research and contributes to the language expansion and revitalization efforts that are underway.

Macquarie Aboriginal Words is a dictionary of words from a selection of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. This ebook covers the languages of Datiwuy, Eastern Arrernte, Murrinh-Patha from the Northern Territory. For each language, the following information is provided: - a brief history of the language - points on the grammar, spelling and pronunciation - an extensive wordlist organised by categories, such as animals, body parts, kin relationships, placenames, etc - a dual index i.e. English to Language and Language to English. This ebook series is based on Macquarie Aboriginal Words originally published in print in 1994. "The sheer diversity of indigenous languages in Australia must be close to the greatest and richest component of this country's national cultural heritage ... This book is much needed, as it gives a sense of the richness of a heritage which is disappearing in many areas of the country." NOEL PEARSON

A study of aspects of language and culture in different parts of Aboriginal Australia.

Stories and phrases can powerfully shape the ways we experience and manage our environment. What languages have been used to characterise Australian landscapes and how have they influenced the way we see and treat our environment? How do stories take root in particular places? How do we find the right words for those parts of the country that matter to us? "Words for Country" answers these questions while exploring the inter-relationship between Australia's landscape and language. Tim Bonyhady and Tom Griffiths have brought together a collection of essays whose subjects range from the Ord River in the far north-west to Antarctica in the south, from the centre to the coast, the prehistoric to the present. Their terrain is environmental and cultural, political and poetic. Words for Country reveals not just how language grows out of the landscape but how words and stories shape the places in which we live.