Project aims to halt loss of Aboriginal languages (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Project aims to halt loss of Aboriginal languages

By Marie Le Moel (AFP) – 16 hours ago
AUS

SYDNEY — Lorraine Injie smiles as she remembers the rich patchwork of
Aboriginal languages used during her childhood in Australia's remote
Pilbara region.

"In my community, it was common to speak 10 languages. Speaking three
wasn't that impressive," she says.

However, use of native tongues has declined at an alarming rate, from
hundreds just 200 years ago, the time of European settlement, to about
20 now.

"There would be less than 50 speakers of Banyjima, less than 10 still
speaking Yinhawangka. As it was forbidden to use our own languages,
they have disappeared. It is very upsetting," Injie says.

Injie, 48, is part of a programme which is trying to stop languages
dying out by training teachers, who can pass them on to
schoolchildren.

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