Cape York Peninsula Language Documentation

Emergency Documentation Team Pilot Project

The project

In 2004-2005, this project undertook emergency language documentation work on a selection of highly endangered Cape York Peninsula languages. Whilst undertaking this language recording work the project linguist also sought to involve interested community members in recording sessions and training and providing them with the equipment and some of the essential skills needed to undertake community based language work.

The 'Emergency Documentation Team' portion of the project title comes from the idea that the language worker trainees and the speakers will work closely together establishing a 'team' that at first works under the supervision of the linguist but who will hopefully continue work together after the project ends.

The exact nature of the language recording work and training is customised for each of the languages supported by the project. This tailoring responds to the needs and interests of the language experts, language worker trainees and the wider community and is also influenced by other factors, such as, existing language projects in participating communities, timeframes etc.

This project wass funded by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) 'Maintenance of Indigenous Languages and Records Program' (MILRP) and the funding was administered by the Lockhart River Community Arts and Cultural Centre.
 

Project aims

The project had two main general aims:

• Undertake language documentation work on a selection of endangered Cape York languages.

• Train community based language workers with some of the skills they will need to continue language documentation work independent of a linguist.
   

These two aims were related to a variety of other project goals:
 

• Empower community members to become involved in work that is often seen as the domain of non-Indigenous researchers.
   
• Increase language awareness in the communities, and encouraging younger generations to explore their traditional linguistic heritage.
   
• Create a corpus of recordings, and other language materials for a selection of Cape York languages - these materials can then be used to establish language maintenance work and/or language revival projects.
   
• Digitise, assess and transcribe existing language recordings and materials held in archives.
   
• Provide community access to these archived existing recordings and language materials - the existence of which are often unknown to community members.
   
• Actively seek support within participating communities for the continuation of the language trainee's work e.g. funding, access to resources.
   
• Create links to other projects and initiatives already being undertaken in participating communities and the region, providing language worker trainees with additional support networks and employment opportunities.
   
• Develop more of an in depth understanding of the current linguistic situation in Cape York Peninsula.
   
• Create a network of researchers supporting community based language work in Cape York Peninsula.
   
• Evaluate the pros and cons of this style of onsite language specific language worker training.

Kaanju

Kuku Thaypan/ Awu Alaya

Kuuk Thaayorre - and a selection of other languages spoken in Pormpuraaw, including Kugu Muminh, Kugu Uwanh and Kugu Mu'inh.

Umpila and Kuuku Ya'u - Lockhart River "Sandbeach" language

Umpithamu

Umbuygamu

Language worker training

The idea to undertake community-based language specific training came directly from community requests. Many community people in Cape York Peninsula want to work on their traditional language but don't feel like they have the technical skills to do so and don't have access to training or assistance. Communities in particular want to see younger community members spending time working with elderly speakers learning about the language and undertaking language projects.

Training for Indigenous community-based language workers is essential for the creation of sustainable language programs in many Aboriginal communities. Currently most communities only have occasional access to individuals with linguistic skills, and this does not satisfactorily meet the needs of highly endangered language communities of Cape York Peninsula. Many of these languages only have a handful of elderly speakers remaining and limited existing documentation. For such languages it is crucial that regular recording and documentation work is undertaken and continued on a regular basis while the elderly speakers are still able to participate in this work. Providing onsite training to community members increases the opportunities to adequately document these languages and hopefully encourages further language programs in these communities.

The exact nature of the training provided to the language worker trainees is determined by the interests and the needs of trainees and the language experts working in each of the participant communities. However, the training program included the skills necessary for trainees to plan and undertake different types of elicitation/recording sessions, use different types of recording equipment and manipulate data, and aimed to familiarise the trainees with the spelling systems that have been designed for the relevant language and outline the processes involved in transcribing language recordings and creating language resources

Here are links to two training organisations that offer training courses on Indigenous language work:

• Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education - Centre for Australian Languages and Linguistics
• Pundulmurra College - Hedland branch of Pilbara TAFE
• Certificate III in Indigenous Language Work, Pundulmurra College

Other education and training related links:

• Board of Studies NSW Australia - Aboriginal Education Research and Curriculum Resources

Language material and resources

Illustrations of recent language material development for some of the languages supported by the project - samples of the kinds of resources that eventuated from the project's language documentation work:

The front and back covers of the Umpithamu Dictionary CD-ROM


The cover of the Umpila and Kuuku Ya'u Ku'unchikamu: Kuuku Ngampulungku Booklet and CD


CDs produced as part of the projects Umpila and Kuuku Ya'u emergency language documentation work



People

Project Coordinator: Clair Hill

Linguists: Alice Gaby, Clair Hill, Erica Schmidt, Jean-Christophe Verstraete,

Project Advisors: Patrick McConvell, Bruce Rigsby

Clair Hill

Clair Hill started work in Lockhart River on Umpila and Kuuku Ya'u in 2002 as part of her honours year research. This research resulted in a descriptive account of the linguistic coding of space in the Umpila and Kuuku Ya'u nominal system, particularly focusing on inherently locative subclass of nominals and the case system. This work on Umpila/Kuuku Ya'u continued in 2004 after she held an AIATSIS research grant (G2003/6763) to undertake the 'Oral Histories and Stories of the Umpila and Kuuku Ya'u people of Lockhart River' project. This work involved a three-month fieldtrip to Lockhart River where Clair worked closely with Umpila/Kuuku Ya;u speakers Maria Butcher, Winnie Claudie, Elizabeth Giblet, Minnie Pascoe, Suzie Pascoe, Molly Moses and Dorothy Short. This project focused on creating a corpus of current textual language recordings in Umpila and Kuuku Ya'u that can be used to produce language maintenance materials as well as further the investigation of the grammar of the languages. This work resulted in a compilation of the stories being produced into a language story booklet and accompanying CD titled Ku'unchikamu: Kuuku Ngampulungku.

Unfortunately, Lockhart River children no longer learn their traditional language as their first language and there are fewer and fewer people left who can fluently speak the traditional languages of the region. The Lockhart River community is very concerned about this language loss and Clair became interested in coordinating this sort of project after both the Lockhart River Aboriginal Community Council and the language experts expressed their desire to have younger community members actively working with the remaining language speakers and involved in community based language projects.

In her work under the project, Clair undertook a combination of word, sentence and textual elicitation recording work with Umpila/Kuuku Ya’u speakers Maria Butcher, Winnie Claudie, Elizabeth Giblet, Minnie Pascoe, Suzie Pascoe, Molly Moses and Dorothy Short. This work for the most part focused on recording stories – a combination of traditional ‘before time’ stories, personal narratives and reminiscences from old times and mission days, and short descriptions in language on traditional methods of preparing foods, medicines, utensils, baskets and weapons. Clair worked with language worker trainees to transcribe these recordings and produce language material for the Lockhart River State School Culture Program. She also provided the language workers with training on equipment use, dictionary and resource production, data manipulation and information on the grammar of the language etc. Clair also initiated work on Kaanju with two speakers living in Yarrabah Aboriginal Community 37km south of the City of Cairns.

In particular Clair Hill worked quite closely with two language worker trainees, Vince Temple (Kaanju and Angkum elder) and Lucy Hobson (Kuuku Ya’u elder).

Vince Temple:
“When I was first training with RATEP (Remote Area Teaching Education Program) to be a teacher at the Lockhart school, I didn’t really want to do it but the principal put my name down and really encouraged me. So I decided to do it because I saw that a lot of culture stuff didn’t happen in Lockhart and I was worried about my culture dying out. So I became a teacher so that I can teach the kids culture - traditional crafts, about their totems and land, and their language. I spent six years teaching at the school in Lockhart. I’m taking some time off from full time teaching and am working on my language and a couple of hours a week I am teaching culture and language classes at the school. I want to continue my language work so that I can teach the kids about their traditional language."

Jean-Christophe Verstraete

Jean-Christophe Verstraete has been working on Umpithamu since 2003. He is learning the language from Mrs Florrie Bassani, continuing the work started in the 1970s by Bruce Rigsby, who learned Umpithamu from her sister Ms Joan Liddy. On the basis of his own work and that of Bruce Rigsby, he is writing a grammar of the language, and he has finished a first version of an Umpithamu dictionary, which is available in electronic form using the Kirrkirr interface.

In his work with the Cape York Peninsula Language Documentation Project, Jean-Christophe continued his work on Umpithamu, and he started learning Umbuygamu, another language spoken by the Lamalama people. For both languages, he recorded stories (using pictures taken by Donald Thomson in the late 1920s), transcribed them, and provided information on spelling. For Umpithamu, he also refined the dictionary, adding more examples and making it more user-friendly.

A screenshot of the Umpithamu dictionary, and more information about the Kirrkirr interface, can be found at the following sites:
http://www-nlp.stanford.edu/kirrkirr/images/Umpithamu-Kirrkirr.gif
http://www-nlp.stanford.edu/kirrkirr/

Jean-Christophe's homepage can be found here: http://wwwling.arts.kuleuven.be/fll/jcverstraete/

 

Associated projects and work

Lockhart River State School Culture Program
Umpithamu multimedia dictionary project
 

Contact

Emergency Documentation Team Pilot
Cape York Peninsula Language Documentation Project
Lockhart River Aboriginal Community Arts & Cultural Centre
Lockhart River QLD 4871

Email: cylp@idx.com.au