Veteran linguist's work preserved (fwd link)

[Phil Cash Cash]

23 April, 2014 5:30PM ACST


*Veteran linguist's work preserved*
By Emma Sleath (Online Reporter)

*The decades-old work of a Territory linguist is now providing a vital link
to lost Aboriginal languages*

It all started as a holiday job for the then metallurgist who was studying
at Melbourne University and looking for something interesting to do during
the break.

But the holiday job turned into a vocation.

Beginning in 1967 and continuing for over a decade, linguist Gavan Breen
recorded at least 49 Indigenous languages across three states - work
conducted for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, now the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Studies
(AIATSIS) in Canberra.

Data generated from those recordings will soon be made available online, a
free resource for descendants and part of an overall revival of Indigenous
languages (as reported in
​
this recent Australian Geographic article.)

​Access full article below:
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/04/23/3990567.htm?site=alicesprings
​
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20140423/87973ca7/attachment.htm>