Author Archive
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Take that, Microsoft
I just received over the RNLD1 mailing list, a call for papers for the second biennial conference on Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory hosted by SOAS in November (see here for details), and the instructions for abstract submission contain the following (emphasis mine): Abstracts are invited for 20 minute papers followed by 10 minutes of [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Nothing in particular by jangari
Sunday, March 15th, 2009
Slowly but surely
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been working my way through my several hours of Wagiman recordings from my recent fieldtrip, all the time remarking at how excellent they are. It’s a combination of a good recording device; a Roland Edirol R-4, a great microphone with a proven track record in the field; a [...]
4 Comments » - Posted in Endangered Languages,Fieldwork,Languages,Law,Lexicography,Linguistics,The Intervention,Wagiman by jangari
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
In Transit
Well, my time in the Territory has come to an end, almost. I’m sitting in Darwin airport waiting for my flight. Not a lot to do in Darwin, so I pretty much came straight here after getting dinner in town. Luckily, I stumbled upon an ethernet port that was obviously for one of those airport [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Endangered Languages,Fieldwork,Indigenous,Languages,Lexicography,Linguistics,Technology,Wagiman by jangari
Saturday, February 7th, 2009
Relatively cool in the tropics
I reckon I chose about the best time to come to the Northern Territory, given that this weekend in Sydney is meant to be swelteringly hot, 44 degrees odd, while up here it peaks at about 30 degrees before bucketing down with rain in the afternoon. The work is also going relatively well, given the [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Endangered Languages,Indigenous,Languages,Lexicography,Linguistics,Technology by jangari
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
Going North Again
I can now confirm that I’ll be back in the territory in a little over a week’s time. It’s my first time back there in over 18 months, and it’ll be my first experience of a Northern Territory wet season, so I can’t wait. The reason I’m going is to do some work for the [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in Endangered Languages,Fieldwork,Indigenous,Languages,Lexicography,Linguistics,Technology,Wagiman by jangari
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
The future of education?
I read in this morning’s Herald that a school in Victoria has been trialing the use of iPods for facilitating school work. iTouches1 are being used to research and submit assignments, to download music and for students to communicate with their teachers over email. The results so far suggest that students are much more likely [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Education,Endangered Languages,English,Google,Kriol,Languages,Lexicography,Linguistics,Science,Technology by jangari
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
Astrological milestones
At about 11:04 pm yesterday eastern daylight saving time1, the Earth reached the extreme of its latitudinal periodic oscillation2, representing the very middle of geographic summer in the southern hemisphere; the point at which the sun (sol) comes to an apparent stop (stitium). This naturally means it’s time to spend money for the sake of [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Nothing in particular by jangari
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
More media coverage
A couple of months ago, I received a phonecall from a journalist from the Herald, who’d seen my appearance on SBS World News, and was interested in writing an article about the mobile phone dictionary project. A few things have happened between then and now, including conferences, holidays and a didjeridu performance by Nicole Kidman [...]
4 Comments » - Posted in Indigenous,Kaurna,Languages,Law,Lexicography,Linguistics,Media,Translation,Wagiman,Writing by jangari
Saturday, November 29th, 2008
On Tour
I’ve been back in Sydney for almost a week now, having been in Melbourne before that to attend the University of Melbourne Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Postgraduates Conference, where I presented the Kaurna Electronic Dictionary1 to a sell-out crowd. It was the final leg of an epic, two part world wind whirlwind tour that began [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in Endangered Languages,Indigenous,Kaurna,Languages,Lexicography,Linguistics,Politics by jangari
Saturday, November 15th, 2008
One down, one to go
I didn’t get a chance to post this yesterday as I was too busy after the conference having dinner and ‘sampling’ New Zealand’s finest Monteith’s beers1, but I think the presentation was mostly a success. I probably should have refined it a little more on Thursday night instead of heading to the pub and, yes, [...]
