Master-Apprentice summary

[Margaret Florey]

Dear RNLDers,

Thank you to all of the people who responded to my query about whether
there are places in which the Master-Apprentice program is running in
Australia. Here's a summary of the responses. 

In this sample, there weren't any instances of Master-Apprentice
programs which have been established following the US model. However,
several people reported on projects which, whilst not formal
Master-Apprentice programs, paired older and younger people to transmit
language and cultural knowledge. Pat McConvell reported on a case in
which a Girramay woman (N. Qld) worked intensively and independently to
teach the language to a younger woman. Myf Turpin and Robert Hoogenraad
described a case in which a young Kaytetye woman was in a traineeship
which involved learning the language with two older speakers and
studying Kaytetye linguistics. Robert noted that there have been several
other instances of younger people working with older community members
to learn about their culture and language. Christina Eira reported on
her work with the Narungga project in South Australia in which she
worked on the reclamation of Narungga and provided intensive training in
all aspects of ling
uistics to language worker Tania Wanganeen as well as a second language
worker and community members. The training kept a focus on the language
authority of the Narungga people and built skills necessary for the
language workers to be able to undertake all language work themselves.
(There's also a transcript of a nice interview about this project
between Jill Kitson and Tania Wanganeen at
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/stories/s1433360.htm). Sally Dixon
talked about the pilot Master-Apprentice project with Yinhawangka people
in WA which was run in 2007, and reported that it hasn't yet developed
into a full program. 

Sarah Cutfield and Salome Harris reported that Indigenous students and
language workers have been learning about the method in the Batchelor
College certificate in Own Language Work and at the WA state language
conference in Port Hedland in May 2007.

Alice Taff sent an apprentice's report of the experience of learning
Unangam Tunuu / Aleut with an Elder Mentor. Alice also suggested that a
website (open but sheltered) would greatly support mentor/ apprentice
programs and teams in communicating with each other and sharing experiences.

I'm going to be sharing these examples with my students, and any further
contributions are very welcome.

best wishes,
Margaret


-- 
Dr Margaret Florey
Senior Lecturer
Linguistics Program
School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics
Monash University
Victoria 3800
Australia
Tel: +61 (0)3 9905-2237
Fax: +61 (0)3 9905-5437
Email: Margaret.Florey at arts.monash.edu.au
Home page: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/linguistics/staff/mflorey.php

Studies in Language Endangerment
Web Site: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ling/pglangen/

Maluku Endangered Languages Project
Email: Maluku at arts.monash.edu.au
Fax: +61 (0)3 9905-8492
Web Site http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ling/maluku/