<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">===========================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 22 October 2009 - Volume 01<br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><a href="mailto:lowlands@lowlands-l.net">lowlands@lowlands-l.net</a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/">http://lowlands-l.net/</a></span><br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">
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===========================================<br></div><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI"><span class="gD" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);"><a href="mailto:clarkedavid8@aol.com">clarkedavid8@aol.com</a></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI">LL-L "Language varieties" 2009.10.21 (03) [EN<br><br></span><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" color="black" face="arial" size="2"><div>
You would surely expect
there to be a high degree of similarity between the indigenous
languages of central Australia because the people were nomadic and the
land is generally flat. Apparently there is more dialectual difference
in Swiss German than in Russian (not counting separate languages such
as Ukrainian and Belorussian) because of the differences in the
topography of the two countries.</div>
<div>Â </div>
<div>David Clarke<br>
</div>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid blue; padding-left: 3px;">It
has been mostly the desert languages of Australia that hung into the
20th and 21th centuries. Compare them -- spread over vast and (to us)
inhospitable tracts of land -- and you'll find lots of similarities,
even where languages seem to be "unrelated". Most of all, there are
phonological similarities such as retroflexion, features that do not
seem to be conditioned by physiological features. This suggests
contacts, even if we assume, as is commonly done, that indigenous
Australian ancestors arrived on the continent in waves and that
language classification ought to reflect this.<br><br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron<br>Seattle, USA </blockquote></font><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI"><span class="gD" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Andrys Onsman</span> <span class="go"><<a href="mailto:Andrys.Onsman@calt.monash.edu.au">Andrys.Onsman@calt.monash.edu.au</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI">LL-L "Language varieties" 2009.10.21 (03) [EN]<br><br></span><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="2"><div>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2009.10.21 (03)<br>From: Andrys Onsman (MEL)<br><br>Adding to Ron's comments<br></div><div class="im"><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">
<br>Well,
Paul, this is where you can run into trouble, at least theoretically.
Whenever you are dealing with landmasses you are also dealing with the
possibility of contacts and "contamination."
<br>
<br>Yes,
due to European settlements it was mostly the coastal Australian
languages that first became threatened and eventually extinct, with the
exception of the northern coast. Furthermore, it seems to be true, by
and large, that after the demise of the theoretical land bridge, the
languages of Australia came to be cut off from the rest of the world --
"by and large" because I have to add that apparently there were
contacts between precolonial Australians and Austronesian travelers
from what are now parts of Indonesia. (This seems to account for canoe
building and non-percussive musical instruments on Australia's northern
coast.)
<br>
<br>It
has been mostly the desert languages of Australia that hung into the
20th and 21th centuries. Compare them -- spread over vast and (to us)
inhospitable tracts of land -- and you'll find lots of similarities,
even where languages seem to be "unrelated". Most of all, there are
phonological similarities such as retroflexion, features that do not
seem to be conditioned by physiological features. This suggests
contacts, even if we assume, as is commonly done, that indigenous
Australian ancestors arrived on the continent in waves and that
language classification ought to reflect this.
<br>
<br></blockquote></div>Especially
in Tasmania - where the land bridge disappeared much later and the
colonisation was more brutal and more nearly complete. Initially it was
thought the seven or eight languages spoken on the island were
unrelated to the mainland languages. Quite recently it has been shown
that they were actually a subgroup of SE Australian languages. The
University of Tasmania holds that thesis.<br><br>There are a few of the
desert language still quite strong (Pintubi,
Bardi and Warlpiri spring to mind) though the government seems
determined to wipe them out by making community primary schools teach
in English. But I would argue, Ron, that nowadays it is the northern
coastal languages that have survived more strongly as functional
languages - Yolgnu, (Check out Gurrumul Yunupingu on Youtube for some
beautiful music sung in that language, or the only full length feature
film in language with English subtitles, "Ten Canoes") Larekea and Tiwi
being still used as mother tongues. And in Queeensland there is Uw
Oykangand and Uw Olkola, as well as the various Torres Strait Islander
languages (and pidgens). <br><br>Cheers<br><font color="#888888">Andrys<br></font></font></font><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: R. F. Hahn <</span><a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="http://uk.mc264.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sassisch@yahoo.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span>sassisch@yahoo.com</span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">><br>
Subject: Language varieties<br><br>Thanks, Andrys.<br><br>I didn't mean to imply that the north coast languages have suffered as badly as have those of the other coastal areas. My hunch is that European settlement in the north happened later and more sparsely due to the tropical climate and often devastating storms (one of which, Cyclone Tracy, practically wiped out the city of Darwin in 1974, which I remember well).</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>The desert languages tend to be spoken over large areas, due to migration, as you said, David. Nonetheless, geographical spread must not be mistaken for large numbers of speakers. What used to be considered related, though separate languages have more recently been declared dialects or dialect groups of a single language: Western Desert Language, spoken in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, which makes for a vast geographical area. However, even the best known among them don't have large speaker communities these days; e.g. Pitjantjatjara (2,500), Ngaanyatjarra (1,200), Ngaatjatjarra (500), Yankunytjatjara (200-300), and Titjikala (250). Happily, however, some communities, though small, put a lot of effort into continuing their varieties. An example is the Kukatja variety of the Western Desert Language, spoken by all in the Wirrumanu Aboriginal Community of Balgo Hills in Northwestern Australia's Kimberley Region. Furthermore, the community is creating language resources on CD and DVD, offers adult education and fosters traditional arts and crafts in a type of cooperative.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.luurnpa.wa.edu.au/">http://www.luurnpa.wa.edu.au/</a></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.adedbalgo.wa.edu.au/">http://www.adedbalgo.wa.edu.au/</a></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.balgoart.org.au/">http://www.balgoart.org.au/</a></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Regards,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Reinhard/Ron</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Seattle, USA</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
•
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