Guwal

Language and Culture

Guwal: everyday Dyirbal language style

Language is the key to interaction between humans. One's language is a mark of identity, a symbol of belonging to a group and to a country, and of intrinsic connection with the land. Having a language of one’s own provides confidence and strength, and helps people feel better. Conversely, losing one’s language and letting go of one’s traditions and roots will have detrimental effect on well-being in its every aspect. The world over, minority indigenous languages of First Nations are succumbing under pressure from languages of larger groups.

Guwal Language and Culture Research Cluster aims to counteract these destructive tendencies, by undertaking ground-breaking community-informed documentation and maintenance of endangered First Nations languages in the tropics, focusing on Northern Australia, New Guinea, and Amazonia. We create pedagogical and community materials, grammars, primers, and dictionaries, and practical and theoretical work on how languages work. Our aim is to enhance ethnic identities and socio-cultural well-being through language maintenance, survival and reclamation, creating lasting legacy for future generations.

Our vision is to ensure the survival and revival of First Nations languages, many belonging to underserved and oftentimes neglected minorities, working towards people’s equality and empowerment, so as to expiate the evils of the colonial past boosting peoples' well-being, resilience, and sense of self-worth.

Cluster Leads

Cluster Projects

Beyond lingua franca – Sanskrit, Classical Arabic, Latin and now English: COSMO-SHIFT

Studying languages that has evolved for worldwide communication ‘lingua cosmopolitanta’ and the use of the English language in these terms.

Documentation and Maintenance of the Languages of the Sepik Province of PNG

Documenting and creating theoretically informed grammars and comparative studies for the languages of the Sepik, PNG, and investigating linguistic diversity in New Guinea and generally.

Indigenous Language Loss Among Papua New Guinea’s Young People: Scope and Ramifications

A study of the current state of Papua New Guinea’s Indigenous language knowledge amongst youth, what the ramifications of this are, and how effective language revitalisation programs are?

Information Source and Evidentiality: Focus on the Indigenous Languages of China

Studying the grammatical marking of a source of information in the indigenous languages of China.

Relative Clauses Across the Indigenous languages of China

The project explores how relative clauses and clause types are used across Indigenous languages of the Mainland China.

The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland: Documentation and Maintenance

Investigating Dyirbal, a major language of North Queensland, and working towards its maintenance and implementation with school system and other avenues.

The Integration of Language and Society

Investigating how languages bear the imprint of the society that speaks them, focus on Indigenous languages and diversity.