NT: IAD publishes Ngaanyatjarra Picture Dictionary (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

14 April 2005

NT: IAD publishes Ngaanyatjarra Picture Dictionary
http://www.abc.net.au/message/news/stories/s1345138.htm

In Alice Springs, Australia's oldest independent Indigenous publishing
house, IAD Press, is continuing its significant contribution to
Australia's cultural wealth and knowledge base by launching the
Ngaanyatjarra Picture Dictionary, the 4th volume in its highly
acclaimed series of Aboriginal language picture dictionaries.

[photo inset - Ngaanyatjarra Picture Dictionary]

Ngaanyatjarra speakers in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands worked with linguist
Kazuko Obata and literacy consultant Inge Kral to compile the
Ngaanyatjarra Picture Dictionary, a language and literacy resource
based on aspects of Ngaanyatjarra culture.

"We feel proud to still hold on to our grandfathers and grandmothers
country. This dictionary is for people, young people, and the young
generation to learn our language, and also for children to rise up and
learn our language so that they will keep holding our language and will
not forget it," says Dorothy Ward, one of the Ngaanyatjarra contributors
to the picture dictionary.

Ngaanyatjarra (approximate pronunciation Nah.na.tha.rra) is a dialect of
the Western Desert Language spoken by around 3000 people who live in the
Ngaanyatjarra Lands in the Central Desert region of Western Australia
near the tri-state border. Other Ngaanyatjarra speakers have migrated
further west to townships such as Laverton, Leonora and Kalgoorlie in
the Eastern Goldfields area of Western Australia. Most of the
contributors to this dictionary live in Warburton, the largest of the
11 communities in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands.

The Ngaanyatjarra Picture Dictionary contains more than 500 entries
accompanied by about 400 pictures. Entries are divided into different
categories including flora and fauna found on the Lands, and there are
other categories reflecting the life and culture of Ngaanyatjarra
people.

The Ngaanyatjarra Picture Dictionary will be a valuable resource for
Ngaanyatjarra school children and adult literacy learners and their
teachers, and also for those who come and live in the Ngaanyatjarra
Lands and anybody interested in Australian Indigenous languages.

LAUNCH DETAILS
The Ngaanyatjarra Picture Dictionary will be launched by Mr Barry Haase
MP at the Tjulyuru Cultural and Civic Centre, Warburton Community,
Western Australia at 4.00 p.m. on Tuesday 19th April 2005.