[RNLD] Language Help for the NCE

Margaret C Sharpe msharpe3 at UNE.EDU.AU
Fri Jan 10 05:52:48 UTC 2014


Dear Sid, This is a curly one to work on. I am prepared to be corrected by
some other linguists, but abstract words are somewhat rare in languages of
fisher-hunter-gatherer communities. The examples you have found illustrate
this. I¹ve wrestled with this for  people in the Lismroe NSW area trying to
choose a name for a similar local organisation. It comes down to choosing a
suitable phrase about teaching or learning  (verbs or processes). You could
choose a phrase like ŒDon¹t bash/hurt women and children¹, or Œwe want to
stop people hurting women and children¹. But you can imagine this is rather
long, whatever langauge you choose.
A possible idea to explore would be an Aboriginal English phrase or a Kriol
phrase. The first would cover much of Australia and if carefully chosen
would fit in the various variations of Aboriginal English enough for most to
understand. With a little tweeking a vrief phrase in Kriol would also be
comprehensible to many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
Your words pinarri and binarri are (as you¹d probably know or guess) just
the variant spellings for the same word ( pronounced much the same) in
different Western Desert (and closely related languages) in the west of
Australia. Very few Australian languages make a contrast between p and b, or
t and d, etc.
Regards,
Margaret Sharpe

On 10/01/14 1:54 PM, "Sid De" <sid.de at bmf.com.au> wrote:

> Hi Felicity,
> 
> These come from a combination of the dictionaries and suggestions from people
> in the community we've been speaking to, but we would not proceed with any
> name unless we had permission from the relevant groups first.
> 
> It's very important to us that we have this permission, and in fact our
> original forerunner (a Gooniyandi word) was discarded because our contacts at
> the KALACC informed us that the were certain sensitivities around the word.
> 
> At the moment, we just wanted to ensure that these words didn't have
> connotations or possibly offensive meanings in other languages, to narrow it
> down and then our next step will be to reach out to the relevant groups.
> 
> That being said, I have already started talking to the Gamilaraay community
> (through a contact provided by Coonabarabran Visitor Information Centre) , but
> was wary of bothering other  communities  at this point in time, when we may
> not proceed with their language in the end.
> 
> Regards,
> Sid De  |  Account Manager
> t 02 8985 7273  |  m 0422 370 094 |  f 02 9552 7060
> Level 2, 63 Miller Street Pyrmont, NSW 2009 Australia
> 
>  <http://www.bmf.com.au/>  <https://twitter.com/BMFAustralia>
> <http://blog.bmfapps.com.au/>
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> 
> From: Felicity Meakins <f.meakins at uq.edu.au>
> Date: Friday, 10 January 2014 1:39 PM
> To: Sid <sid.de at bmf.com.au>, "r-n-l-d at lists.unimelb.edu.au"
> <r-n-l-d at lists.unimelb.edu.au>
> Subject: Re: [RNLD] Language Help for the NCE
> 
> Dear Sid,
> 
> I notice that the words you have suggested are from online dictionaries hosted
> by SIL. Have these words been suggested by the relevant Indigenous groups
> themselves or derived from the online dictionaries? If the latter, it is
> common practice to consult with relevant groups about the use of their words.
> For example, please note the intellectual property statements on the Gurindji
> and Bilinarra dictionary websites.
> 
> Regards, Felicity
> 
> From: Sid De <sid.de at bmf.com.au>
> Date: Friday, 10 January 2014 11:42 AM
> To: "r-n-l-d at lists.unimelb.edu.au" <r-n-l-d at lists.unimelb.edu.au>
> Subject: [RNLD] Language Help for the NCE
> 
> Hi all,
> 
>  
> 
> I've been working with National Centre for Excellence to Reduce Violence
> Against Women and Their Children (NCE) to develop a new organisation name, and
> we were hoping that you might be able to help us with some questions we had.
> 
>  
> 
> To give you some background on the NCE first, they are a not-for-profit NGO
> funded by the Commonwealth and every Australian State and Territory
> Government. The NCE is tasked with undertaking research that will provide a
> better evidence base to help policy makers and those delivering services to
> reduce all forms of violence against women and their children.
>  
> 
> As the NCE's work has a national focus including regional and remote
> Australia, one of the avenues we were investigating was to give the NCE a name
> inspired by our indigenous languages. To that end, Felicity at the Resource
> Network for Linguistic Diversity was kind enough to allow me access to this
> mailing list to ask for your aid. We had some ideas for names which we wanted
> to sense-check and see if any of you anticipated any problems, as we know that
> sometimes words can have very different meanings or connotations across
> languages. We want to ensure that our approach to this project is appropriate
> and that we do not offend anyone. Our shortlist as it stands currently is:
> 
>  
> 
> Mirii ­ star (in Gamilaraay)
> 
> Binarri ­ knowledgeable (in Bilinarra)
> 
> Pinarri ­ knowledgeable, clever person (in Gurindji, Walmajarri and Warlpiri)
> 
> Pinangurru ­ one who is learned, wise (in Walmajarri)
> 
> Kiyarri ­ sun ray (in Gurindji)
> 
>  
> 
> But we were also hoping you might like to be a part of this process, and
> possibly suggest an option as well. We have been trying to find indigenous
> words for 'change', 'transformation' and 'knowledge' that could work as well,
> which are words that capture the NCE's mandate. Before we settle on any word,
> we will of course be seeking permission from the relevant peoples first.
> 
>  
> 
> Any help you might be able to offer would be greatly appreciated, and if you
> have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me via email or on either
> of the phone numbers below.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Sid De  |  Account Manager
> t 02 8985 7273  |  m 0422 370 094 |  f 02 9552 7060
> Level 2, 63 Miller Street Pyrmont, NSW 2009 Australia
> 
>  <http://www.bmf.com.au/>  <https://twitter.com/BMFAustralia>
> <http://blog.bmfapps.com.au/>
> Please consider the environment before printing this email.
> Email message (and attachments) may contain information that is confidential
> to BMF Advertising
> Pty Ltd (BMF).  If you are not intended recipient you cannot use, review,
> disclose, disseminate,
> copy of forward this message or attachments.  If you received this email in
> error please delete it and
> we would appreciate it if you would notify us of the error immediately by
> reply email.  Opinions,
> conclusions and other information in this message are those of the individual
> sender and may 
> not necessarily reflect the views of BMF.
> 
> 

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