Archive for January, 2008
Friday, January 25th, 2008
Sovereignty Day
Today, Friday January 25th 2008, marks the 219th anniversary of the last day that Australia’s indigenous population had full and unchallenged sovereignty over their lands, and is therefore the day that I think should be celebrated as Sovereignty Day. Tomorrow, Australia Day, marks 220 years since Arthur Philip, by mere speech act, decreed that the [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in Culture, Indigenous, Land, Music, Politics by jangari
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
My do it
A discussion tonight about my nephew and his linguistic development at 1 year and 11 months, gradually turned to the broader issue of child language acquisition. Apparently, and this is new knowledge to me, infants learning English (we didn’t discuss any other languages and I’m not enough of a Chomsky to presume to speak for [...]
4 Comments » - Posted in English, Language Acquisition, Languages, Linguistics by jangari
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
The Nuclear Madness
Last night on The Cutting Edge, a documentary entitled The Nuclear Comeback investigated the nuclear power option with respect to its costs, its benefits in terms of lowered carbon emissions, its safety, especially with terrorists attacks – infrequent as they are – at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and long-term effects such as waste storage. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Energy, Environment, Nuclear Power, Technology by jangari
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Note to self
When lodging tax returns, especially using the online eTax method, remember to meticulousy check the numbers, lest you miss an entire digit from your principle income and find yourself in debt to the Australian Tax Office 18 months later.
1 Comment » - Posted in Nothing in particular by jangari
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Stolen, not Separated
It seems that Gerard Henderson, former culture warrior, has coined a new euphemism in relation to Australia’s indigenous history. Henderson has always disputed the term stolen generation, because the population of stolen aboriginal people hardly comprised an entire generation, so it’s odd that this new euphemism of his retains this word.
Here’s an excerpt from Henderson’s [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in Euphemism, History, Indigenous, Land, Linguistics, Politics, Stolen Generation, Syntax by jangari
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
Arts in the South-East
It’s a busy time for indigenous arts and culture, as long as you live in the South-East of the country, that is.
In Sydney, as part of the Sydney Festival, the Belvoir St Theatre in Surrey Hills is showing Ngapartji Ngapartji, a story about a Pitjantjatjara man’s life that doubles as a language and culture course. [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Art, Culture, Film, Indigenous by jangari
Saturday, January 12th, 2008
Some linguistic curios
Maybe it’s my less-than-prime cognitive state right now, but I’m beginning to notice little grammatical quirks and ambiguities that I’d normally have overseen (that was silly of me – thanks for pointing it out, David) overlooked completely.
This web page popped up when I opted out of a frankly unsolicited email advertising list:
You have been opted [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in Ambiguity, Corpus analysis, English, Languages, Linguistics, Semantics, Syntax by jangari
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
I’m not (Obs.) yet
In blogging, if you haven’t posted for a week, there’s a slim chance someone might consider you defunct. If you were a word, the OED might feel inclined to put an innocent looking (Arch.) next to you, or worse, (Obs.).
I feel then, that I should post something to keep the bloggospheric undertaker at bay and, quite fortuitously, [...]
4 Comments » - Posted in Culture, Endangered Languages, Indigenous, Languages, Lexicography, Linguistics, Politics, Technology, The Intervention by jangari
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
2008 – International Year of Languages
This is a piece that Phil Cash Cash wrote for the Indigenous Languages and Technology list (ILAT). With his permission I am posting it here in full.
As we enter 2008, we are reminded to reflect on the unique status of human languages in the world. Never before has our humanity witnessed such a dramatic decline [...]
