Digital lifeline for Aboriginal languages facing extinction (fwd link)

[Phil Cash Cash]

Digital lifeline for Aboriginal languages facing extinction

Thomas Oriti reported this story on Tuesday, April 22,
2014<http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/archives.html>
 12:34:00
ASHLEY HALL: At the time of European colonisation, there were more than 200
Indigenous languages across Australia; there are far fewer now.

Nonetheless, linguists are working to preserve what's left in a digital
archive.

Documents from the 1960s and 70s are being scanned to ensure Aboriginal
communities retain a core part of their identity.

Thomas Oriti reports.

THOMAS ORITI: This is the Yandruwandha language from the north-east corner
of South Australia, spoken by Benny Kerwin.

(Sound of Benny Kerwin speaking Yandruwandha language)

He died in 1976 and was the last living speaker of the language.

Gavan Breen began documenting Aboriginal languages like Yandruwandha across
South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland in the 1960s.

GAVAN BREEN: Pretty well all of the languages I worked on have no speakers
left now. People in some places are trying to learn a bit. Some of them
were already gone before I started. It was 1967 I did my first field trip.

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