tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-107198532024-03-14T15:44:04.426+09:30that munanga linguistNon-Indigenous (i.e. munanga) linguist doing a bunch of stuff in the Katherine Region with languages (and more) occasionally sharing his thoughts...Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.comBlogger307125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-40354759606701745172023-05-10T21:02:00.014+09:302023-05-11T08:39:44.237+09:30Subtle features of Aboriginal English that I love: agreeing or confirming by copying<p>Linguists aren't supposed to play favourites, but I love Aboriginal English. Maybe because it's what the love of my life speaks and separating language from people and society isn't a realistic prospect. I'm lucky to regularly be around Aboriginal people speaking English in all sorts of ways and privileged to have insights into some of the more subtle ways in which Aboriginal ways of using English differ from the suburban white English I grew up speaking. </p><p>I want to share some of these more subtle features. Not just because I am fond of them but also because they seem to be features that escape the attention of most academic discussions of Aboriginal English / Aboriginal ways of using English. I'm going to skip over the complexities of what Aboriginal English is (and isn't) and also if/why that label is worth using at all (a chapter I wrote on <a href="https://researchprofiles.anu.edu.au/en/publications/aboriginal-englishes" target="_blank">Aboriginal English(es)</a> dips into some of that discussion - email me if you want a copy). For brevity's sake, let's just say: today I'm talking about Aboriginal English as spoken by Aboriginal people I know (from NT and Queensland).</p><p>The feature I love that I'm going to talk about here is a little discourse thing that I don't know anyone's really noticed before - in the literature or otherwise - but if you have read about it or noticed it before, please share in the comments! </p><p>This particular feature goes like this:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>You're having a good chat with someone and they say something important or surprising</li><li>You say or ask something in reply just to clarify or because you're surprised and want to check the info</li><li>And the storyteller agrees with you or confirms by <b>repeating exactly what you said</b>, matching your lexical choices and even your intonation</li></ol><div>Here's a fictional example:</div><div><br /></div><div><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">A: I was so tired I'm lying there and you know how aunty can talk? Well, I just fell asleep! I had to call her back later to apologise</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">B: You fell asleep while she was still talking?</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">A: I fell asleep while she was still talking!</span></i></div><p></p><p>I first noticed this about 20 years ago as something my housemate in Katherine would do. He was from a small town in central-coast Queensland and part of a family that worked with and supervised the incredible Diana Eades while she did her groundbreaking study on pragmatics of Aboriginal English in South-east Queensland (though my mate was a toddler at the time!). And in the 20 years since, it's something I regularly hear my partner from Townsville do too.</p><p>This repetition-as-confirmation is probably easily overlooked as a feature of Aboriginal English. It's something that any Australian English speaker <i>could</i> do - and possibly many do. My qualitative observation though is that Aboriginal English speakers are <i>more</i> <i>likely</i> to do this and it is part of the rich make-up of what good conversation between Aboriginal English speakers sounds/feels like. As a white suburban English speaker, I feel like if I want to support or confirm a proposition, my go-to response would be an exclamation like 'yeah!', 'exactly', or 'I did!'. I doubt I would repeat the whole proposition; it feels like too many words, too redundant, too inefficient.</p><p>But I love this feature. I feel kinda warm and fuzzy when someone uses it on me. It's like the ultimate in speech accommodation. Speech accommodation is when we tailor our speech - our word choices, intonation, accent - towards who we are talking to if we want foster a positive relationship. But doing speech accommdation in this way - using the exact same sentence, with the same prosody and intonation that was used on you just seconds before - is there a way to feel more agreed with? By taking the time to confirm with not just a full sentence, but <i>your</i> full sentence, how could you not feel good towards your conversation partner?</p><p>I'm not sure that any linguist who has looked into Aboriginal English has said anything about this feature before. I did skim <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:184275" target="_blank">Diana Eades' PhD thesis</a> which would probably be the place most likely to discuss it and didn't find a mention. I skimmed <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781501503368/html" target="_blank">Ian Malcolm's 2018 tome</a> too with no sign of this feature being mentioned. I'm going to go out on a limb and claim that I'm sharing new linguistic analysis here! </p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br />Some recorded data</h4><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBVCcUmUxlKGpyXVgNqgfUU8FS4PsbgcuIFOPAA6ewAk2WyimSO7T1I6Odtt53-LxTN7CcY8hTqWJbWwVzguyX1VCCILubOPGrnn3t89FtkyJbvVG6bGONY5MMhDh6xRCx-ua4c6q-SSZI_Kf5RtU6t5S0IScPYHctTsYI1oJOfLfiTu20EQ/s1186/Screenshot%202023-05-10%20at%208.39.33%20pm.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1182" data-original-width="1186" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBVCcUmUxlKGpyXVgNqgfUU8FS4PsbgcuIFOPAA6ewAk2WyimSO7T1I6Odtt53-LxTN7CcY8hTqWJbWwVzguyX1VCCILubOPGrnn3t89FtkyJbvVG6bGONY5MMhDh6xRCx-ua4c6q-SSZI_Kf5RtU6t5S0IScPYHctTsYI1oJOfLfiTu20EQ/w400-h399/Screenshot%202023-05-10%20at%208.39.33%20pm.png" width="400" /></a></div>But to propose this as a "feature" based on me saying 'hey I've heard two guys I know well do this a lot and here's a made-up convo to demonstrate?'. I mean, academic publication standards are falling and this is just a blog, but still - I should offer some better evidence! <p></p><p>I went back to a really wonderful long-form interview as part of ABC's Conversations program I remember being enthralled by. Wesley Enoch spends a brilliant 50 minutes talking to Mick Gooda, a former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Human Rights Commissioner, about his life and work. Both men are Queenslanders and their chat is genuine, wonderful and unselfconscious. </p><p>Enoch as the interviewer does a beautiful job of gently swinging between direct questions required of the genre that directs the interview to where it needs to go and then more typical Aboriginal English strategies of offering/suggesting information in place of direct questions to keep the chat relaxed and comfortable as an Aboriginal English conversation. Gooda shares stories about his life with candour, humour and care and, as a listener, it's really like we're privileged eavesdroppers.</p><p>As the conversation flows, Gooda responds to Enoch a number of times by simply repeating the last thing Enoch said as a way to confirm and agree with Enoch. I found eight pretty clear examples of the feature I described above. You can access the original audio <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/mick-gooda-and-human-rights/13428084" target="_blank">here</a> and it's pretty easy to skip through to the sections I've timestamped: <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/mick-gooda-and-human-rights/13428084">https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/mick-gooda-and-human-rights/13428084</a></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Example 1 - 11:43</h4><p>At 11:43, Gooda is talking about his family movements in his youth:</p><p><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">Gooda: "We moved as a mob, to Sarina. My uncles were good football players, played in Sarina and Mackay. Um,<br />Enoch: "And Sarina's cane country."<br />Gooda: "Cane country, yeah."</span></i></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Example 2 - 18:00</h4><p>Now talking about life as a young person in Rockhampton, Gooda discusses playing sport and then Enoch continues the discussion into other recreational activities</p><p><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;"><i>Gooda: "You'd cop a bit of abuse, but it was where you sort of were treated as equals to a certain extent."<br />Enoch: "And the Fitzroy River."<br />Gooda" "Ah the Fitzroy River. Love the Fitzroy River."</i></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Example 3 - 22:25</h4><p>Here Gooda talks about a life-changing decision to not getting involved in youth crime and some of his peers took the other path:</p><p><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">Gooda: "and a fair few of them got sent away, to that awful place down here Westbrook"<br />Enoch: "A detention centre?"<br />Gooda: "A detention centre, yeah, um..."</span></i><br /></p><p>This example in particular is one where you can also hear Gooda match Enoch's timing and intonation in the copied phrase as well as the lexical content. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Example 4 - 30:05</h4><p>Gooda is sharing a few stories to depict race relations in the 70s and 80s during his early career:</p><p><i><span style="color: #666666;">Gooda: "These two whitefellas went and hid and when the family left they attacked them" <br />Enoch: "The whole family?"<br />Gooda: "The family. And there was like guns going off..."</span></i></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Example 5 - 32:56</h4><p>Here Gooda is talking about his early career with ATSIC and working for Indigenous leaders who were ATSIC Commissioners:</p><p><span style="color: #666666;"><i>Gooda: "We were supporting the elected members, the commissioners. That was our job, so there was Charlie Perkins, Lowitja, <br />Enoch: "Powerhouses"<br />Gooda: "Powerhouses. Kerry O'Shane. And we had to coordinate and say how are we gonna respond to this."</i></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Example 6 - 39:55</h4><p>Gooda now talks about activism where he publicly criticised the NT Government over their youth justice practices</p><p><span style="color: #666666;"><i>Gooda: "You get overwrought with these things and I tweeted that maybe instead of sacking Aboriginal organisations they should maybe think about sacking the Northern Territory Government"<br />Enoch: "That woulda got a reaction"<br />Gooda: "It got a reaction. And it was basically all the way through the threats of me being disqualified from the Royal Commission."</i></span></p><p>Again in this one, what's noticeable is how Gooda matches Enoch's timing and intonation in his near-copy of Enoch's phrasing.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Example 7 - 44:01</h4><p>Here, Gooda discusses a difficult time where his mother decided not to have dialysis after renal failure</p><p><span style="color: #666666;"><i>Gooda: "I had to sort of work it through with my family, some of whom wanted to insist that she gets taken up to the hospital and put on a dialysis machine"<br />Enoch: "against her will"<br />Gooda: "against her will, and I said no, that's not gonna happen."</i></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Example 8 - 46:55</h4><p>In a very moving part of the interview, Gooda reflects of the impacts of suicide in his immediate family.</p><p><span style="color: #666666;"><i>Gooda: "You know, Australia's the suicide capital of the world."<br />Enoch: "Especially in our communities."<br />Gooda: "In our communities."</i></span></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Discussion</h4><p>So there's a fair bit going on here with this data. Unlike my initial invented example, Gooda doesn't often repeat a full sentence although he does in example (6). Elsewhere, the copied phrase is a noun phrases or prepositional phrase of usually 2-3 words. </p><p>You can see/hear that Gooda's copying is a way of confirming and agreeing with Enoch's interjections or clarifying comments. I mentioned a couple of times above that if you listen to the examples, one of the distinct characteristics of what Gooda does is align not just his words but also his pacing, tone and intonation to Enoch too. It's like the ultimate warm hug in speech accommodation.</p><p>As I also said, this is a subtle feature. It's not one I'm willing to suggest <i>only</i> Aboriginal people do. I reckon non-Indigenous people could read these examples and feel like it's something they could or would do. But I do think it's something that's more <i>prevalent</i> in Aboriginal English conversations (at least between adult men from Queensland which is who all my sources are!). Non-Indigenous Australian English speakers might do this too, but is it a marker for non-Aboriginal people of how to be good conversation partner? I don't think so.</p><p>After 15+ years of hearing my partner do this and never mentioning it to him, I announced the other night that "I have a language question" (I rarely ask him language stuff). It took me a few goes to successfully describe the feature to him (it is subtle after all) and when it clicked, he did recognise it as something he does but he'd never noticed it before. I asked if he felt it's something Aboriginal people do more than white people and his initial thought was yes because white people would be likely to give "proper" answers like 'yes' rather than just repeat what was said. But he didn't really have strong opinions on it - which makes sense given how barely noticeable the feature is.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h4><p>(Look at me adding a conclusion like I'm a real social scientist...)</p><p>Speech accommodation is something we all do in conversation. When we like someone or want someone to like us (which is most of the time!) we adjust our communication to match theirs - we tend to try to use the same words they do, use the same gestures, match their tone or register (casual or formal, for example) and so on.</p><p>But here, I'm suggesting that Aboriginal English speakers - or at least Aboriginal people born in Queensland in the second half the twentieth century - have a distinctive way of accommodating to their interlocutors in a way that non-Aboriginal English speakers don't do as much or do as a 'thing'.</p><p>Listening to Mick Gooda regularly agree and confirm what Wesley Enoch says by using the same phrases as Enoch, I suggest it contributes to the sense of warmth you feel between the two men. It's part of what makes their conversation so lovely, which they both feel themselves, as demonstrated by how they close it:</p><p><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">Enoch: "An amazing story about an amazing man. Thanks Mick, for a wonderful, wonderful journey of a story."<br />Gooda: "Oh, it's been great. Just wish everyone could have a bit of luck like I've had so ... So great to be interviewed by you, my brother."<br />Enoch: "Oh thanks Mick."<br />Gooda: "I love it."</span></i></p><p>Aboriginal English is rich and complex and so much more than a few iconic words like 'deadly' and 'gammon' or some sort of 'Aboriginal accent'. Diana Eades' observations from all those years ago, under the supervision of Michael Williams, is still one of the most inspiring and interesting pieces of linguistic research I've ever read. She went beyond the obvious and carefully thought about what it means for an Aboriginal person to be a good conversation partner with other Aboriginal people. Subtle features like the one I've tried to describe are, I think, part of that. </p>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-85390235098094560112023-05-03T17:03:00.011+09:302023-05-05T09:50:10.725+09:30The pitiful state of Recommendation 11.6 of the NT Fracking (Pepper) Inquiry<p>Today the NT Government <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-03/nt-government-fracking-decision-beetaloo-basin-gas/102295762" target="_blank">announced</a> that it's ok to start fracking the Beetaloo Basin, claiming that all 135 recommendations from the 2018 Pepper Inquiry report have been met and, therefore, fracking can proceed. </p><p>Most of the recommendations - and you can go through them all here: <a href="https://hydraulicfracturing.nt.gov.au/action-items">Action items | Hydraulic Fracturing in the Northern Territory</a> - are outside my field of expertise as a linguist. There's a lot of regulatory stuff, things about the mining industry, stuff about land and water management that others know much more about than me. </p><p>However, as a linguist working in the Katherine Region for 20 years, there is one recommendation that sits in my wheelhouse so, after today's announcement, I wanted to take a look at it. It's Recommendation 11.6, which says:</p><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">That in collaboration with the Government, Land Councils and AAPA, an independent, third-party designs and implements an information program to ensure that reliable, accessible, trusted and accurate information about any onshore shale gas industry is effectively communicated to all Aboriginal people who will be affected by any onshore shale gas industry. That the program be funded by the gas industry.</span></i><p><br />I was already aware that progress towards this recommendation had come under fire back in October 2022 when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/13/facts-take-a-backseat-in-csiro-fracking-fact-sheets-partly-funded-by-the-gas-industry" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a> that the CSIRO had produced factsheets with misleading wording for this recommendation. In particular, one of the factsheets said that methane emissions "may" play a role in climate change, when they are actually a "major contributor". The CSIRO later fixed this "error". </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51mQdPBIaD6iKMzafi0jHyXml_2yd1-NwcLffXlbu8z5gNJ17HreBbISHu_GajTeSUmnrTDiTUOuHHPf2RWF88FEwtdIccZhbnoUICTOkgBnY3IHkvs0xTJNPcpdCKHUHHtR-ZbHiT8l0UBAl25PPd-r_en6Wc8-xieXVp0xC23mFWNSACg/s917/Screenshot%202023-05-03%20165617.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="917" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51mQdPBIaD6iKMzafi0jHyXml_2yd1-NwcLffXlbu8z5gNJ17HreBbISHu_GajTeSUmnrTDiTUOuHHPf2RWF88FEwtdIccZhbnoUICTOkgBnY3IHkvs0xTJNPcpdCKHUHHtR-ZbHiT8l0UBAl25PPd-r_en6Wc8-xieXVp0xC23mFWNSACg/s320/Screenshot%202023-05-03%20165617.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Since then, the NT Government has self-assessed their progress towards Recommendation 11.6 and says it is now complete. You can read their progress report here: <a href="https://hydraulicfracturing.nt.gov.au/action-items/11.6">11.6 | Hydraulic Fracturing in the Northern Territory</a>. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgagxYsDWB7dLUT_pXEXzJN6we3hMDiCQwh8w9j1xdmnMZOBrlKRM6e81LH-llDMVTdFV_8VOD34gluzd7HutHcXDYateqzw_dnCNGlYCvkuEomtFuD-sotKQsNoWYyCIfWc5zOq_5yD3IiaIyvtfF9uHbp9pQelwbc7pAdeZ6mKXPkl2MXDw/s950/Screenshot%202023-05-03%20120903.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="950" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgagxYsDWB7dLUT_pXEXzJN6we3hMDiCQwh8w9j1xdmnMZOBrlKRM6e81LH-llDMVTdFV_8VOD34gluzd7HutHcXDYateqzw_dnCNGlYCvkuEomtFuD-sotKQsNoWYyCIfWc5zOq_5yD3IiaIyvtfF9uHbp9pQelwbc7pAdeZ6mKXPkl2MXDw/w400-h238/Screenshot%202023-05-03%20120903.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>As a remote-based linguist and one who also does translation work, I was interested to delve further into this "100% progress", especially considering that back in January 2022, the Environment Defenders Office (EDO) argued that the NTG's self-reporting was overblown. EDO claimed that 40% of the recommendations marked "complete" were not actually complete (and you can see that full report <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/lockthegate/pages/7600/attachments/original/1643923113/NT_Fracking_Recommendations_-_Implementation_Table.pdf?1643923113" target="_blank">here </a>and summary <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/lockthegate/pages/7600/attachments/original/1643923111/220118_Summary_of_advice_regarding_Pepper_Recommendations.pdf?1643923111" target="_blank">here</a>). </p><p>I've broken down Recommendation 11.6 into its components to have a dig. Here's my breakdown of what the Recommendation calls for:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">An independent third-party designs and implements an information program in collaboration with the Government, Land Councils and AAPA</span></i></li><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">Information is communicated to all Aboriginal people affected by fracking that is:</span></i></li><ul><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">reliable</span></i></li><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">accessible</span></i></li><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">trusted</span></i></li><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">accurate</span></i></li><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">effectively communicated</span></i></li></ul><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">The program is funded by the gas industry</span></i></li></ol><div><b>How did they do - a quick assessment</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Points 1 and 3 are a bit tricky to assess from afar as they deal with internal mechanisms of funding and partnerships. The website says CSIRO was engaged and Land Councils were consulted. (Can't confirm how well CSIRO meets the "independent 3rd party criteria" though and there's no mention of AAPA either. There's also no mention of whether the gas industry is funding the communication efforts or to what extent). </div><div><br /></div><div>Point 2 is the one that I can consider more confidently because it's about creating accessible, effective communications about fracking - meaning it should result in public materials for us to see. </div><div><br /></div><div>So what <i>has</i> been produced for Aboriginal audiences in the five years since the Government accepted Recommendation 11.6 along with the others of the Pepper Inquiry?</div><div><br /></div><div>Well... it seems, just this: <a href="https://hydraulicfracturing.nt.gov.au/resources/information-in-aboriginal-languages">Information in Aboriginal Languages | Hydraulic Fracturing in the Northern Territory</a></div><div><br /></div><div>It's a single page on the NTG <a href="https://hydraulicfracturing.nt.gov.au/home" target="_blank">Fracking Inquiry website</a> that has three factsheets (on Shale Gas, Groundwater and Methane) and two FAQ sheets (on Groundwater and Methane) and they've all been translated by NTG's Aboriginal Interpreter Service into 17 Indigenous languages and then recorded so that you can download the sound files. </div><div><br /></div><div>And that's about all they've done (as far as I can tell).</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">A closer look</h4>Going back to my Point 2 above, it says that Recommendation 11.6 is supposed to ensure that:<br /><br /><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">2. Information is communicated to all Aboriginal people affected by fracking that is:<br /></span></i><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">reliable</span></i></li><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">accessible</span></i></li><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">trusted</span></i></li><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">accurate</span></i></li><li><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">effectively communicated</span></i></li></ul><br />Let's look closer:<div><br /><div><b>"Information is communicated to all Aboriginal people affected by fracking"</b></div><div><br /></div><div>All that CSIRO appears to have done - as far as I can tell - is create five factsheets and had them translated into various Indigenous languages. It seems that by doing so, they thought it means you can tick off "communicating to all Aboriginal people". </div><div><br /></div><div>Translating a document, however, is just stage one of communication, Having a translation <i>there </i>(and a recording to go with it)<i> </i>doesn't mean anyone has actually read or listened to it. Communication inherently involves the sending <i>and receiving </i>of information. Unless we have evidence that a large number of Aboriginal people have accessed the factsheets <i>and </i>understood them then, no, we cannot say that information has been actually <i>communicated</i>. (More on this below when we talk about accessibility and effective communication)</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Reliable, accurate and trusted information</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The reliability, accuracy and trustworthiness of the info is a little harder for me to judge as someone who knows little of the detail of how fracking works. But the track record of last year's devious "mistake" to say methane "may" play a role climate change is not a great precedent or engenders much trust. I can say though that there is evidence of careful wording on the part of the factsheet creators that reduces my faith in the authors. Take for example, the simple fact that they've carefully avoided using the word 'fracking' in any of the factsheets. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Information is accessible</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The idea that the factsheets and recordings are accessible is where it starts to get interesting. Again, it seems like there's a belief here that "in language" ticks the "accessible" box. While translated recordings certainly help, they are far from sufficient.</div><div><br /></div><div>Accessibility also includes things like: making people aware of something's existence, being able to find it and being able to draw meaning and get use from it.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I hadn't provided the link to the webpage above where all the in-language recordings are hosted, would you know it existed? If you knew it existed, would you know where to find it? If you found it, would you be able to get good info from it? If you're reading this now, you already now how to use to the internet to gain complex information so you're already a step ahead of a lot of the target audience: we cannot at all assume that Aboriginal people affected by fracking are competent in finding and processing what has been posted online for them. </div><div><br /></div><div>Those recordings might exist, but - in my assessment - they are <i>far</i> from accessible. They are buried in a government website. I didn't find any social media posts that provide more info, no videos on YouTube in language, no written materials or public education campaigns that I'm aware of. There are just, well, a few dozen sound files essentially dumped onto a pretty obscure government website. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN-2CdG9w4VxA84XGwF_QdaUKbu0egmg7qtpMo3TjDwLMi5g7jbpujWe_Plq1KLk2LmpQMau6XkOXRup5vCd3h69OM6T4Oj4GJSZcac9lDjA5ccN_VobBegLKE5OW8gKMmgFzTOSV9hwqzN__adPG18fUWQ4MKRlADYoDNEahkvYrTCngsZQ/s1477/Screenshot%202023-05-03%20132935.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1477" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN-2CdG9w4VxA84XGwF_QdaUKbu0egmg7qtpMo3TjDwLMi5g7jbpujWe_Plq1KLk2LmpQMau6XkOXRup5vCd3h69OM6T4Oj4GJSZcac9lDjA5ccN_VobBegLKE5OW8gKMmgFzTOSV9hwqzN__adPG18fUWQ4MKRlADYoDNEahkvYrTCngsZQ/w400-h234/Screenshot%202023-05-03%20132935.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>And even if you find the files, they're not even very accessible. On my browser, they are listenable by download only and they are large, cumbersome files. To listen to all five recordings, that's 100-150 MB of data! If I was in a remote community with limited data and slow download speeds, would I be racing to listen to <a href="https://hydraulicfracturing.nt.gov.au/resources/information-in-aboriginal-languages" target="_blank">these files</a>. Definitely not. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Information is communicated effectively</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Oh dear. This was a doozy. </div><div><br /></div><div>Let's look at the original five factsheets. They are dry, text-only documents with content that is too technical for people to make sense of without a half-decent foundation in Western science. And that's the majority of remote Aboriginal residents (aka the target audience). I'm not saying the English in the documents is too hard (that's part of it though), I'm talking about the concepts and background knowledge assumptions present in them. I help senior students at Ngukurr School with science sometimes and I know about the background level of knowledge we're dealing with. Many students struggle to tell you what a gas is. How would they go negotiating a paragraph like this (which I chose at random) even if it's translated into their mother tongue:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">Methane gas is a greenhouse gas and it can cause a warming of the air and atmosphere. It does this by
absorbing heat from the earth and then sending the heat back into the atmosphere. Methane gas is a more
powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, however, it is in smaller amounts in the atmosphere (about
400 times less abundant).</span></i></div><div><br /></div><div>What is atmosphere? What is a greenhouse gas? What is carbon dioxide? What does "400 times less abundant" mean? What does "absorbing heat" mean"? This document is not plain English. It is too dense, the sentences are too complex and the content assumes way too much background knowledge for it to be meaningful to readers with an average Western science education. </div><div><br /></div><div>What about the 'in-language' versions though? Surely that fixes the issue? </div><div><br /></div><div>Plain English versions of the factsheets were used to then create translated audio versions in Indigenous languages. As a Kriol interpreter, I was interested to listen to the Eastside Kriol versions (that took ages to download, mind you) to assess how effectively they stand up as communicative resources. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here's what the Eastside Kriol translation of the English paragraph I copied above says:</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;"><i>Methein gas, im grinhaus gas. Thei garrim naja gases weya im grinhaus gas tu. Det eya weya im raitaran la werl im gin bi meigim mowa womwan garram tumatj methein gas en najalot grinhaus gas. Det najawan neim bla disan im 'climate change'. </i></span><p>Listening to this as a Kriol speaker, it's quite difficult to parse and<i> </i>really difficult to figure out the point of the paragraph and what relevance it has to fracking. To demonstrate, here's the back-translation (which is when you take a translation and use it to put it back to the original language to assess if the translation is accurate):</p><p><i></i></p><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: times;">Methane gas is a greenhouse gas. They have other gases that are greenhouse gases too. The air that's all around the world it can be make (sic) more warm with too much methane gas and other greenhouse gases too. The other name for this is 'climate change'. </span></i><p></p></div><div>It's not a great Kriol paragraph. It struggles to be clear and grammatical and, well, it just doesn't <b>say </b>much. If we multiply this paragraph by the 30 or so other paragraphs that got translated into Eastside Kriol and then by the 16 other Indigenous languages that are represented in these "resources" then that's a lot of hollow and confusing paragraphs that noone knows exist anyway. </div><div><br /></div><div>Have all Aboriginal people affected by fracking been effectively communicated to, as the government thinks by the checking off of Recommendation 11.6 as "complete". </div><div><br /></div><div>100% no. </div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">So what does an effective public communication campaign for remote Aboriginal people look like? </h4><div><br /></div><div>Creating more effective and accessible resources requires work, but it's doable. There are some really easy strategies that haven't been used here:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Use video and/or visuals - if you want to talk about complex stuff, pictures help! Make a video, use animation, have an actual person talk to you. It's communication 101 really</li><li>Unpack the content - put some thought into what assumptions about background knowledge you've made into your materials and address those gaps. For an issue as important as this one, go out, do some on-the-ground testing, refine your materials, discuss, reconceptualise, share. This sort of stuff as at the core of effective communication for remote Aboriginal people</li><li>Put it somewhere where people can see it - YouTube, social media, print media. Get it out there in ways that make it easy to consume. Not a 20 MB sound file that takes an hour to download!</li></ul><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORkOqo7q8XNf6sNyVLiIkVRIytILjaAKv0htG_d1_5o7e1vBFMST8Q4lkoB5pqXSFjw48F7OZaSfiDIwA8EpiNyXTrCa-TyIKGDrlgpOGjdK3Q_cR_0HCtyavvbQRexvYbDcMKPxDIvi5nUtb__M1P3OFeIPC4jVKvcZtKB0xjb3H9QlBqA/s1231/Hep%20B%20mobail%20skrinshot.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1231" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORkOqo7q8XNf6sNyVLiIkVRIytILjaAKv0htG_d1_5o7e1vBFMST8Q4lkoB5pqXSFjw48F7OZaSfiDIwA8EpiNyXTrCa-TyIKGDrlgpOGjdK3Q_cR_0HCtyavvbQRexvYbDcMKPxDIvi5nUtb__M1P3OFeIPC4jVKvcZtKB0xjb3H9QlBqA/s320/Hep%20B%20mobail%20skrinshot.jpg" width="195" /></a></div>Check these out for some positive examples:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Machado Joseph Disease (MJD) is a neuro-degenerative disease affecting remote populations especially Kriol speakers in Ngukurr and Numbulwar and Anindilyakwa speakers on Groote Eylandt. Understanding what a motor-neuron disorder does to your body is complicated! So they've gone to great length to educate affected families. Check out their raft of resources in English, Kriol and Anindilyakwa <a href="https://mjd.org.au/for-families/" target="_blank">here </a>and for just one good example, <a href="https://ictv.com.au/video/item/3062" target="_blank">this video</a> uses effective animation and narration by a Kriol speaker, who is living with MJD herself, to get into the nuts and bolts of what MJD does to the body. </li><li>Or check out this clear, visually appealing animation in Kriol about protecting Sawfish populations:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u22S1zVwiLE" target="_blank"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u22S1zVwiLE</a></li><li>And while the above two examples are web-based video communications, Menzies School of Health went one step further with a public health campaign about Hepatitis B and created an app (see image). It's also available as a web-version <a href="https://hepbstory.menzies.edu.au/language" target="_blank">here</a> and, like the in-language Fracking worksheets, they've put the same content into a number of NT languages: <a href="https://hepbstory.menzies.edu.au/language">https://hepbstory.menzies.edu.au/language</a></li></ul><div><br />All these examples show that it is possible to communicate in ways that are significantly more effective and accessible than the miserable efforts we see with those Fracking sound files. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>The resources produced that allegedly meet Recommendation 11.6 do not go close to representing effective, accessible communications. They are complex and indecipherable to their target audiences. They are buried on a website no-one knows about. They are only in the form of large and dull sound files that are barely downloadable.</div><div><br /></div><div>If there are other supposedly-complete recommendations of the Pepper Inquiry that are in a similarly pitiful state as Recommendation 11.6 then there is no justification for today's announcement that Fracking is good to go. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sadly, the NT Government is shooting itself in the foot with this recommendation in particular, because if they had managed to ensure the production of effective and educational communications then people may be less worried and outraged because they'd know what fracking was all about. Which was the whole point of Recommendation 11.6!</div><div><div><br /></div><p></p></div></div>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-62993820042294880032022-09-02T16:03:00.013+09:302022-09-02T17:26:16.041+09:30The time Kriol went viral <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijWTb2_K5wOHc96Ip29a1ZDbCLIkXwnXlCB3FplThCm93_Gyj-VZac7hIxY_BVKbD11_007BoZliEUWk1AdrbIK5vHfyoQI7sHkEPiOQqB41Vs1EZxFc4Q-YURb127PClqivix6G3eA18wWBvCFHowIGgszL4qIRQDr-Y8CIdzLTDEwOnsg/s300/images.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijWTb2_K5wOHc96Ip29a1ZDbCLIkXwnXlCB3FplThCm93_Gyj-VZac7hIxY_BVKbD11_007BoZliEUWk1AdrbIK5vHfyoQI7sHkEPiOQqB41Vs1EZxFc4Q-YURb127PClqivix6G3eA18wWBvCFHowIGgszL4qIRQDr-Y8CIdzLTDEwOnsg/s1600/images.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>Early in 2022, while doing my daily doomscroll on Twitter, I noticed Kriol becoming a topic of conversation. Excuse me, what? When part of my day job is trying to get non-Kriol speakers to pay attention to the fact that Kriol exists, I never expected Kriol to organically go viral! But it happened. And it wasn't cute.<p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Kriol goes viral</h4><p>The story starts with Covid. In late 2021, the <a href="https://www.ahcwa.org.au/" target="_blank">Aboriginal Health Council of WA</a> (AHCWA) created a few short Covid vaccination videos in some of WA's main Indigenous languages, nobly wanting to make sure remote Aboriginal residents were as safe from Covid as urban Westralians. </p><p>Made in collaboration with <a href="https://aiwaac.org.au/" target="_blank">AIWA</a> (Aboriginal Interpreting WA), five short videos appear on AHCWA's website - one with <a href="https://video.wixstatic.com/video/49af16_c6a8544bf2ae4b28aad8e1ecfb1ecff2/1080p/mp4/file.mp4" target="_blank">Mark McGowan on his own</a> where he says:</p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>Hello, my name is Mark McGowan. I am the Premier of Western Australia. This is an important message to keep Aboriginal people safe. You can die from the Corona, or get really sick. It's time to get the Corona needle, to keep people and country strong. The Corona needle will protect kids, old people, men and women. Many people around the world have already had the needle. It is free and it's safe. If you're worried, talk to your clinic or medical centre or go to Roll Up For WA on the internet. So go get your needle now and stay strong. Thank you. </i></blockquote><p>AHCWA also produced versions of this video in four of WA's biggest Aboriginal languages: Ngaanyatjarra, Martu, Walmajarri and Kriol. You can see them all <a href="https://www.ahcwa.org.au/watch" target="_blank">here</a>, under "translations". Each video sees the WA Premier standing next to that particular language's interpreter and repeating his English message from above sentence by sentence, allowing the interpreter to interpret consecutively.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPA05_XQE97_nnj3I3u6gns1ULsRg7T3L9XyhNCqXNcLrbbTrX0l1r4sk7h0UNIf9Pwq8HtCEeESIdoXUOjKMDu7yk4J_tNgIPw1ROvSTzV7f-GxWvjTPJxgce50mu8qiLctJ1HiBvdjnJC24lM4P6Egb7yQVLJQXkRn78WmlTb6ahFBUb-w/s1567/Screenshot%202022-09-01%20175621.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Covid Vaccination video still image" border="0" data-original-height="875" data-original-width="1567" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPA05_XQE97_nnj3I3u6gns1ULsRg7T3L9XyhNCqXNcLrbbTrX0l1r4sk7h0UNIf9Pwq8HtCEeESIdoXUOjKMDu7yk4J_tNgIPw1ROvSTzV7f-GxWvjTPJxgce50mu8qiLctJ1HiBvdjnJC24lM4P6Egb7yQVLJQXkRn78WmlTb6ahFBUb-w/w320-h179/Screenshot%202022-09-01%20175621.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">McGowan and a Martu interpreter co-presenting a vaccination health message</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Now, no one seems to have batted an eyelid after the Ngaanyatjarra, Martu and Walmajarri versions came out in late 2021. And the Kriol one had a quiet start too. That is, until a couple of weeks later when it absolutely blew up on Twitter and beyond. When I say that Kriol went viral, I'm not exaggerating. One of the most popular tweets led the video to be seen 1.2 million times! (That's about 100 times per actual Kriol speaker if you want to put in another, scarier way).</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Polarised and ignorant (a typical Twitter debate)</h4><p>Basically, it blew up when some of the worst right-wing trolls in Australia (and beyond) saw the Kriol version and decided it was "racist", essentially arguing that Mark McGowan's speech was just being repeated in English, but said in a different way but by an Aboriginal elder. The argument took hold and swept like wildfire.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">This is the most racist government initiative I’ve ever seen.<a href="https://twitter.com/MarkMcGowanMP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarkMcGowanMP</a> had an indigenous elder translate his message from English to “Aboriginal-English.”<br /><br />The bloke is sick. <a href="https://t.co/VuP7cwPlPe">pic.twitter.com/VuP7cwPlPe</a></p>— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) <a href="https://twitter.com/OzraeliAvi/status/1481012609121882112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p></p><p>The counter-reaction was swift and strong too, with many people quick to add to the Twitter storm by trying to educate people about Kriol, pointing out that it's not just a variety of English and arguing that to not know about Kriol was ignorant in and of itself and likely belied a lack of understanding and care about First Nations people, culture and languages (i.e. kinda bloody racist too!). </p><p>Scrolling through the to-ing and fro-ing, it really was the pits (and a good example of why many people steer clear of Twitter!). If you want a taste of both sides, check these out:<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Here's one of the right-wing posts that helped send the video viral in the first place: <a href="https://www.rebelnews.com/wa_premier_deploys_indigenous_aide_to_translate_english_into_english" target="_blank">WA Premier deploys indigenous (sic) aide to translate English into English</a> (Avi Yemini/Rebel News) </li><li>And this was one of the strongest counter articles attempting to dispel myths and ignorance about Kriol (and Aboriginal English): <a href="https://indigenousx.com.au/aboriginal-english-what-isnt-it/" target="_blank">Aboriginal English - what isn't it?</a> (Sharon Davis/Indigenous X)</li></ul><div>The video even got onto <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSFmZSNa-As" target="_blank">international right-wing media</a> and eventually even the ABC addressed the issue: <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-05/kriol-aboriginal-english-tranlsation-interpreting/101005782" target="_blank">More than 80pc of Aboriginal people speak Kriol or Aboriginal English — why is it still widely misunderstood?</a></div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Watching it unfold</h4><div><br /></div><div>Then there's me: a long time Twitter user who can be annoyingly opinionated on there myself, and one of the few people on there who actually discusses Kriol regularly. I should have dived headfirst into the sh*tstorm! But I didn't.</div><div><br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Woah, searching 'Kriol' on Twitter atm is making my eyes bleed</p>— munanga linguist (@MunangaLinguist) <a href="https://twitter.com/MunangaLinguist/status/1481218257508249601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div><div><br /></div><div>Firstly, the debate was toxic, polarised, ideological and too viral (very Twitter!) for anything I could say to be of much use. I thought 'this thing is crazy and awful but it will blow over in a few days' (which it did). And while I also considered that the right-wing ignorance on display could actually be creating real harm to First Nations people reading their rubbish, many strong responses like Sharon's article above, demonstrated real strength and I didn't need to try get all saviourey.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I also didn't say much was because, actually, I could see some reasons why right-wing ignorant trolls were reacting to the video. Just not the same reasons they were throwing at the Twitterstorm. </div><div><br /></div><div>To me, the debate about whether it was English or Kriol on the video wasn't the main issue. Or maybe it's just a tiresome issue for someone like me who interfaces between the two languages daily so anyone trying to tell me they're the same language is just, well, denying my existence. Of course Kriol's its own language and different enough to English that English monolinguals don't understand it. To anyone who thinks otherwise, I'd suggest watching the Kriol episodes of Little J & Big Cuz and then try and tell me you understand everything being said: <a href="https://meigimkriolstrongbala.org.au/rop/little-j-big-cuz-in-kriol-now-on-youtube/" target="_blank">Little J & Big Cuz in Kriol - Now on YouTube</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The point being missed by pretty much everyone, I thought, was that no-one really took a critical look at the actual video. Because something about it <i>did </i>look and sound weird. But not related the dominant Twitter debate of: 'it's English (and you're racist)', 'no it's Kriol (and you're racist)', 'what's Kriol', 'see, you <i>are </i>racist'.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rather, it was the representation of interpreting that let the video down and made it - and the people in it - look odd. It wasn't actually a good video. (Note that I am not suggesting that the people <i>in </i>the video - especially the interpreter - are not good at what they do, just that the video didn't succeed in presenting them in a way that made them look good).</div><div><br /></div><div>What went wrong?</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Mistake One - interpreting from plain English</h4><div><br /></div><div>The benefit of having an interpreter is and should be that the speaker (the person using an interpreter) has the freedom to speak how they would normally speak when speaking to a listener or audience who shares the same language. The work of re-coding and reproducing the words and message into another language is done by the interpreter. </div><div><br /></div><div>Premier McGowan's message, however, was already in plain English. Short sentences with simple sentence structures. No jargon. Very clear messaging. This is actually a great way for an English speaker to communicate directly with people who may struggle with English. But, it's <b>not </b>a great way to speak when you have an interpreter. Instead, speak how you want to speak and let the interpreter do the work.</div><div><br /></div><div>By speaking in short, plain English sentences, McGowan gave the interpreter linguistic gravy beef to interpret rather than a juicy ribeye steak. And when the other language is already closely related to English as Kriol is, the result is even more unsatisfying.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Mistake Two - having both languages in the video</h4><div><br /></div><div>Mistake One exacerbates the impact of Mistake Two, which was having McGowan speaking in the video alongside the interpreter. Why was he there? For a sense of authority as WA Premier? That's a questionable choice when a lot of the intended audience (First Nations Westralians) probably don't particularly like or trust non-Indigenous leadership. </div><div><br /></div><div>There certainly was no linguistic reason for him to be there: it was a video for Kriol speakers, so we only needed to hear the Kriol. </div><div><br /></div><div>By having both languages there, English-speaking listeners get to hear the original message first, so that when they hear the Kriol, it's a message that's already been comprehended and you can then easily parse the Kriol and immediately compare and contrast the Kriol and English. With the messaging being not very complex, that comparison again becomes unsatisfying.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Mistake Three - poor production and preparation</h4><div><br /></div><div>The third mistake is more speculative, but watching the video it really doesn't look like the interpreter had the opportunity to be well-prepared and rehearsed. There are extended pauses. The interpreter is at times reading off something out of frame. So is she interpreting (which is oral) or sight translating off text? As a result of all of this her interpreting is not particularly smooth. </div><div><br /></div><div>My heart actually goes out to her. She's obviously a competent interpreter. (She's also the interpreter in the Walmajarri version which, notably, noone has ever publicly questioned its value). And as interpreters, we try to make people forget we are there when we interpret, not be the focus of attention.</div><div><br /></div><div>I feel like the production of the video and (lack of) preparation behind it threw her under the bus and didn't make her look very good. The end result was that she became the centre of a viral Twitter sh*tfight, which I think is really unfortunate.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Ask an interpreter</h4><div><br /></div><div>As the Twitter drama subsided, my main frustration was mostly that despite MANY people having opinions, no-one seemed to bother to ask an interpreter about the video or think about it through the frame of interpreter practice. Through this frame, it's actually easy to find issues with the video. Avoidable ones too. The video isn't great but it's nothing to do with whether Kriol is a language or not. The right-wing turds who tried to mock Kriol were just that - turds. But I also felt that simple counter-arguments of 'Kriol is a language so don't mock it' also didn't address what didn't feel right about the video. </div><div><br /></div><div>So if there are any lessons to be learned from the time Kriol went viral, here's some suggestions:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>If someone thinks Kriol is just English with an accent or has no grammar or some such rubbish, show them some <b>good </b>Kriol videos like <a href="https://meigimkriolstrongbala.org.au/en_au/little-j-big-cuz-in-kriol-now-on-youtube/" target="_blank">these </a>or <a href="https://meigimkriolstrongbala.org.au/en_au/resource-type/videos-in-kriol/" target="_blank">these</a>. </li><li>If you are using an interpreter, do a bit of research and check up on how best to work with one. Working with interpreters successfully is not hard, but there are skills and strategies that help it work really well. One being that if you have a confident interpreter, you can speak more like your normal self, and not how you would speak to L2 English speakers when you don't have an interpreter</li><li>If you're ever making a video with an interpreter, do a better job of it than this one - let the interpreter speak on their own (especially for Kriol) and give them time to practice and appear confident on screen. Make them look good!</li><li>And lastly, Twitter sh*tstorms are possibly best worth avoiding</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-5756515186246557992022-07-10T10:40:00.009+09:302022-09-02T16:19:41.922+09:30Iron Ore mine turning Roper country red in less than two months<p>If you've spent any time on the Stuart Highway north of Mataranka in the last couple of months, you've probably passed some distinctive looking road trains carting iron ore towards Darwin. For the past six weeks, they have been steadily coming out of <a href="https://www.ntio.com.au/" target="_blank">Northern Territory Iron Ore</a>'s mine which is part of something called the <a href="https://ntepa.nt.gov.au/your-business/public-registers/environmental-impact-assessments-register/assessments-in-progress-register/roper-valley-iron-ore-project" target="_blank">Roper Valley Iron Ore Project</a>. What travellers on the Stuart Highway won't see is what those trucks are starting to do to country 150km east of the main highway.</p><p>I travel along this road - the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roper_Highway" target="_blank">Roper Highway</a> - usually twice a week. The reddening of the area near the mine is noticeable. A week ago, I stopped to look at just how much dust was coating the roadside vegetation and the pics I tweeted caught the attention of ABC's Country Hour and the Environment Centre NT. </p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Took a closer look at what iron ore trucking is doing to this section of the Roper Highway. This is after trucks have only been running for six weeks. See sub-tweets for video <a href="https://twitter.com/EnviroCentreNT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EnviroCentreNT</a> <a href="https://t.co/ScoiJwDTKN">pic.twitter.com/ScoiJwDTKN</a></p>— munanga linguist (@MunangaLinguist) <a href="https://twitter.com/MunangaLinguist/status/1543752920025354240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2022</a></blockquote><p>You can hear me interviewed on NT Country Hour <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/nt-country-hour/nt-country-hour/13950588" target="_blank">here</a> (my bit starts at 06:00) and also see the resultant online article <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-07-05/vietnamese-steelmaker-importing-its-own-nt-iron-ore/101199084" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p>With this activity, I ended up in touch with the EPA's <a href="https://nt.gov.au/environment/environment-protection-recycling-waste/report-pollution" target="_blank">pollution hotline</a>. They recommended getting more evidence of dust pollution so that they may have cause to investigate themselves. So the bulk of this post is my first attempt at providing them with more evidence. (Note: anyone passing through this area, please collect your own evidence. Especially if you find red dust getting into waterways. Notify the NT EPA here - <a href="https://nt.gov.au/environment/environment-protection-recycling-waste/report-pollution">https://nt.gov.au/environment/environment-protection-recycling-waste/report-pollution</a>)</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">"Control" Sample</h4><p>The first thing I did was some quick documentation at a site about 15km east of the mine turn-off (about 1km east of the <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/MDZyEncF1APH5t5dA" target="_blank">Badawarrka</a> turn-off). These images should show what dust impacts look like without the effects of iron-ore trucks going past: a "control" sample. Same road, same traffic minus the iron ore road trains. I also made sure I chose a section of country where the soil is quite red so that the dust would be noticeable on vegetation, like it is further down the highway. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8ONrLFKMza8ajRw7MIAp4mPD8HzC-686J11QVyqqRNL9vqMMyzS-IljM3nFAnG5lNqNIOKk4WO6hQYo-K50CoFZY6ip0OqOm-M6CwM9abnm_q6qJ-jsfgr9S3wNNhozQPM7TKeSMncC3RdIblko2SSMyWR89EldyaFfGzhW4x4LqbA3wZg/s4032/IMG_7716.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8ONrLFKMza8ajRw7MIAp4mPD8HzC-686J11QVyqqRNL9vqMMyzS-IljM3nFAnG5lNqNIOKk4WO6hQYo-K50CoFZY6ip0OqOm-M6CwM9abnm_q6qJ-jsfgr9S3wNNhozQPM7TKeSMncC3RdIblko2SSMyWR89EldyaFfGzhW4x4LqbA3wZg/s320/IMG_7716.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lat: 14° 42’ 7.398” S, Long: 134° 26’ 58.89” E</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>Here's the dust on vegetation right on the verge of the road. You can see there is a light covering of dust on it:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-G_5Aph9H1p8lkz3JBOVuh6Hfyl-qYowRXm-pX5Z-QsRXWB7jNHNmEOnAOBh2b41uqkLWWIAR2hdEDL5bvUyiZcbHcd5uorkp5W3ZJ6EnZSKX0uA2qlZDnvzy6QXH1mWmHOQnxDW-CmcMeWhSh7TvXRgwU7gJ93wkplVnIa5QffrFHxUasA/s4032/IMG_7717.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-G_5Aph9H1p8lkz3JBOVuh6Hfyl-qYowRXm-pX5Z-QsRXWB7jNHNmEOnAOBh2b41uqkLWWIAR2hdEDL5bvUyiZcbHcd5uorkp5W3ZJ6EnZSKX0uA2qlZDnvzy6QXH1mWmHOQnxDW-CmcMeWhSh7TvXRgwU7gJ93wkplVnIa5QffrFHxUasA/s320/IMG_7717.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz8vZqsHHYD-dbXdbLrpf_Owh8PstNGBOODjTe61WAYIfodCqf6dXB2yyLbK2bg5mqdTthLQLOXytA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /></div><p>I also made sure to check on impacts further in from the road, so I also walked a few metres (10m?) and checked for dust there. There, I couldn't really detect any dust:<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwPISaRhFviJ3DTLD_4mYnCL_VIvyKilrVHV-ETkEAQeFEHiSq1rhj206sR2OfJF-nOnXLVT6J9L0U' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">"Proximal" Sample</h4><p>The next evidence I got was very close to where iron ore road trains turn onto the Roper Highway. This is where any impacts of dust pollution caused by road trains should be most apparent.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7nrjYEfNpTiN6T173Ar0Aki0R6SVzUdBCywF559t8w9iYS8wvFX4WxUK4xx7WqTw1I-D9SBe3JH-QWy4XD8OhSikwD8oeFSbPSVOxdudLR4cwQGmYYj59GtG1g8BNJVnLb2Xuu0fIRzFVseFDdMwrSccCxf2FPgXkXi4mct71dhShyeDQQ/s4032/IMG_7722.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7nrjYEfNpTiN6T173Ar0Aki0R6SVzUdBCywF559t8w9iYS8wvFX4WxUK4xx7WqTw1I-D9SBe3JH-QWy4XD8OhSikwD8oeFSbPSVOxdudLR4cwQGmYYj59GtG1g8BNJVnLb2Xuu0fIRzFVseFDdMwrSccCxf2FPgXkXi4mct71dhShyeDQQ/s320/IMG_7722.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To the naked eye, you can see how red the roadside vegetation looks:</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQvtp0GG6apIGziay2PaaFR-zq-JifXNolp2sOuOEz8WTfRw4mducEU2F1sAHns6M96rwNdN7kJSRPzcDANfNejBKpXv6oBEHDKrM80r6_vlAVE6-zDTdciR8axvwuwX6qyDg9ilzhEJQ6WU0dZXo4DIbTcuDZPIzlKdyYyTPKJk9YnV2QA/s4032/IMG_7724.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQvtp0GG6apIGziay2PaaFR-zq-JifXNolp2sOuOEz8WTfRw4mducEU2F1sAHns6M96rwNdN7kJSRPzcDANfNejBKpXv6oBEHDKrM80r6_vlAVE6-zDTdciR8axvwuwX6qyDg9ilzhEJQ6WU0dZXo4DIbTcuDZPIzlKdyYyTPKJk9YnV2QA/s320/IMG_7724.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Lat: 14° 43’ 35.862” S, </span>Long: 134° 16’ 18.33” E</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><p>A closer look and the dust covering plants on the verge is thick:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuiVboS_qr-J2nMVcmXR_vUfZrTFcCDdx1Rfhn8N_SL4A51ENefeixqQq8eWbElYSe1wvLftZwn7cP1kZPPSeRcKTJqXTtmsiXygST8x4V-nMRAazEjAdUL2nWy7QSYrN5ZUh-9_9m_ih4kPtg58I-XHU-Si9Op8W7N8rpRsXpxha3ssOMEQ/s4032/IMG_7725.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuiVboS_qr-J2nMVcmXR_vUfZrTFcCDdx1Rfhn8N_SL4A51ENefeixqQq8eWbElYSe1wvLftZwn7cP1kZPPSeRcKTJqXTtmsiXygST8x4V-nMRAazEjAdUL2nWy7QSYrN5ZUh-9_9m_ih4kPtg58I-XHU-Si9Op8W7N8rpRsXpxha3ssOMEQ/s320/IMG_7725.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p>It wasn't particularly easy to reveal the green of the leaf underneath the dust:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyJd0_79XJmBPPBTOVsgH148JW-8ole3O0SbNwvrm1RSHaPNKNurLKL4vNZ_LnEhXtCDK2eW00nu5E' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p>An image showing the contrast after I (tried to) dust off a leaf:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6RbmevS8F1yJrfm8gumnPN13yWqBqpnXro9-sx5pBFAcn86QQNxP9hxnZMwjVkplMNfJcOQBMSTaYo0YomC9IVHLJHZT_SC_T_T0my-UkTJ4sgTqnYZ2T0Tzf9s_3T7e38cM2AZMy97vb6DvQx0cPc6-dOIEqSipG53d_3IVnn6MvIykjLQ/s4032/IMG_7727.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6RbmevS8F1yJrfm8gumnPN13yWqBqpnXro9-sx5pBFAcn86QQNxP9hxnZMwjVkplMNfJcOQBMSTaYo0YomC9IVHLJHZT_SC_T_T0my-UkTJ4sgTqnYZ2T0Tzf9s_3T7e38cM2AZMy97vb6DvQx0cPc6-dOIEqSipG53d_3IVnn6MvIykjLQ/s320/IMG_7727.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p>I then repeated what I'd done at the 'control' site and walked several metres in from the verge. At the control site, I couldn't really detect dust on the leaves. Here, however, there was still obvious dust on vegetation though not the thick coating found on the verge:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzkvAcVtoiC6hVkuGoP97dmu1Y_CqV0rh6lz3tp6LNT7UP7UPpcY3cYe012mqVhwOcic-Cv0sc7nrM' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p>The visible contrast after cleaning dust off a leaf (about 10m in from the road):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWnZB4toIZYlHbBgCD2_S7ycPYA8sXpv-qt8lDiuuqiZz3SEELqWgxL9MFwnaIBQ700z8pxt8fPin0qNPYK6K5AmZcsuptP6iIxU0LGcuxSSSURAtcPut03648aME6jn7tFNsTIcXPokZ6uYrLTdavdEwzAn0ULAWnZDxCEkxP9Wga2kYc7Q/s4032/IMG_7729.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWnZB4toIZYlHbBgCD2_S7ycPYA8sXpv-qt8lDiuuqiZz3SEELqWgxL9MFwnaIBQ700z8pxt8fPin0qNPYK6K5AmZcsuptP6iIxU0LGcuxSSSURAtcPut03648aME6jn7tFNsTIcXPokZ6uYrLTdavdEwzAn0ULAWnZDxCEkxP9Wga2kYc7Q/s320/IMG_7729.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p>As a final sample from this site, I walked further off the road, perhaps a good 30-40m in. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3s5tjMSGX8Ad7EZ7eKdLsPvb6QiZ3a8R4HuZMegOrSqyZrRWydaYridd3J9JkwzmxvQMFOqUrhyzu48mm9eM2IJUtU1cRz9dcU9QhwCJ3VtFSsicKPf46dp6wKpKn3XlxeoAmel14l1UFiXPJz5THXmVu-KGqOdqjMwgaGKL4-6aCG-M4Jg/s4032/IMG_7731.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3s5tjMSGX8Ad7EZ7eKdLsPvb6QiZ3a8R4HuZMegOrSqyZrRWydaYridd3J9JkwzmxvQMFOqUrhyzu48mm9eM2IJUtU1cRz9dcU9QhwCJ3VtFSsicKPf46dp6wKpKn3XlxeoAmel14l1UFiXPJz5THXmVu-KGqOdqjMwgaGKL4-6aCG-M4Jg/s320/IMG_7731.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><p>There, leaves barely showed visible dust but you can notice traces:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLXl7T9C-_q58Wjg6BwVe1LiVTz36986ZNEho2-FZfjVGNpO8Z_KJXoFe95jXxeb_QIjSMva_UrGlvkmfxeaFrlvV1vLLFz2Fjokrwabtk7uQUAboThdO7OibN5Iu1ws9pGDg3ie5vAfB2YsdQmGqzWmaVYgT_7Iq0zu2TkyLxGFiE3wUD1Q/s4032/IMG_7732.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLXl7T9C-_q58Wjg6BwVe1LiVTz36986ZNEho2-FZfjVGNpO8Z_KJXoFe95jXxeb_QIjSMva_UrGlvkmfxeaFrlvV1vLLFz2Fjokrwabtk7uQUAboThdO7OibN5Iu1ws9pGDg3ie5vAfB2YsdQmGqzWmaVYgT_7Iq0zu2TkyLxGFiE3wUD1Q/s320/IMG_7732.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">"Distal" Sample</h4><p>The third thing I did was to stop again another 5mins (about 8km?) down the road to see what the dust impacts look like at some distance from the mine site, where we can assume the road trains have less dust to disperse. (The GPS location for this site is: Latitude: 14° 44’ 56.358” S, Longitude: 134° 13’ 44.85” E).</p><p>Again, vegetation on the verge, had quick a thick covering of dust - certainly more than at the control site:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksbKi7f9vkNi0iFCuLQN_gKxboejyc0EMpxOA4HWOJQljsBDpndmQCnuRoQ4tqPEOG8WBUva8MA9vz3wkw4LkbwdP9ATZyrXQ3rdfDy8l4IsZhoPGVkti_wKgSYY_nklRG0E3k0xP37iGfXa78xiAZEJOUM_o93ev5Y6dpLfip8ZntxJ3Fw/s4032/IMG_7734.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksbKi7f9vkNi0iFCuLQN_gKxboejyc0EMpxOA4HWOJQljsBDpndmQCnuRoQ4tqPEOG8WBUva8MA9vz3wkw4LkbwdP9ATZyrXQ3rdfDy8l4IsZhoPGVkti_wKgSYY_nklRG0E3k0xP37iGfXa78xiAZEJOUM_o93ev5Y6dpLfip8ZntxJ3Fw/s320/IMG_7734.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyhwsskLpQ-le7Jxeap8SpjAeiAzTrARiPqi-hMZzdyOZpeRgYbjUmdBVTRW3nwbOBI1M4KQ9kzoOM' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmKXfV5RZy7lvA5AAQNTuc-f9d6d02InpBImkRMYZi7AtUKODy200Ol-TPUaToQkcI8vRnwOJnkHziQrxwgkechgTT1PxcsadGscP9ud8nXopjNP0e4Wj6y18OrBL31coY0Gc3_HRTMaj578fpIxutr0XJchSxbBghrEr1GQ_toQ1zy3OFw/s4032/IMG_7736.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmKXfV5RZy7lvA5AAQNTuc-f9d6d02InpBImkRMYZi7AtUKODy200Ol-TPUaToQkcI8vRnwOJnkHziQrxwgkechgTT1PxcsadGscP9ud8nXopjNP0e4Wj6y18OrBL31coY0Gc3_HRTMaj578fpIxutr0XJchSxbBghrEr1GQ_toQ1zy3OFw/s320/IMG_7736.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p>As with the other site, I also checked dust levels about 10m in from the verge:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWqz1ckyLiKMc49LrhJxiwf6LmBLvudM-IIQJKFBV4wDa1yzH95g6_BgkUQ3H7_zpnBYznJNCczyLr3VmYO1XE6tuEHEuu8O_BwkxV0J1l22kG_TFBkaBfkQollAbEqGMxFyAMS5GlmI5MaPoQoNrrYrfAZWaEYHxdhk3bpNxFhdgDEPoUow/s4032/IMG_7737.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWqz1ckyLiKMc49LrhJxiwf6LmBLvudM-IIQJKFBV4wDa1yzH95g6_BgkUQ3H7_zpnBYznJNCczyLr3VmYO1XE6tuEHEuu8O_BwkxV0J1l22kG_TFBkaBfkQollAbEqGMxFyAMS5GlmI5MaPoQoNrrYrfAZWaEYHxdhk3bpNxFhdgDEPoUow/s320/IMG_7737.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Again, unlike the first (control) site where there really was no detectable dust, here, there was a light but definitely visible coating. You can see a contrast between the leaf I cleaned with my finger and the leaf below it that is as-I-found-it:<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXTpAXgZMjEjWW4hf0wk0NHzM5j1kaL9y2l06KYWzlrTzvyvajqbCc0eMjRXHTb3vIVPzccGPh2PseaQ76hA0LnB8rFASeg2cCVpJhhYMuYPyuizcqfQ7SVn3uJIJHmMfnR1n8kwogX-HYWTVbNoKFz364EqmcBF0q3g9LlOuaS8mKyQfdQ/s4032/IMG_7738.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXTpAXgZMjEjWW4hf0wk0NHzM5j1kaL9y2l06KYWzlrTzvyvajqbCc0eMjRXHTb3vIVPzccGPh2PseaQ76hA0LnB8rFASeg2cCVpJhhYMuYPyuizcqfQ7SVn3uJIJHmMfnR1n8kwogX-HYWTVbNoKFz364EqmcBF0q3g9LlOuaS8mKyQfdQ/s320/IMG_7738.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Just the beginning</h4><p>A reminder: this is just the beginning of this story. Firstly, the iron ore trucks have only been running for around six weeks. Secondly, the mine <i>isn't even operational</i>. The ore being transported is apparently only the stockpile left over from the failed previous operators of the mine, Sherwin Iron. Yet the dust pollution is already obvious.</p><p>If/when the mine does start operation, the volume of ore being transported will increase and over time the dust pollution will increase and its effects compound. The evidence I'm sharing here is really just a red flag of what is likely to come. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Other issues with the mine</h4><p>While this post is specifically to document the start of dust pollution created by the NTIO operation, it is not the only issue I am aware of with this mine.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">What does NTIO have approval for?</h4><p>As you can hear in the interview I did with ABC, there was a point of confusion: the mine where this ore and trucks are coming from is (I learned after tweeting pics of the dust-coated plants) not yet through its environmental approval process. A staff member at the EPA told me "they shouldn't be doing anything", but then it seems the iron being transported at the moment is from a stockpile from the previous failed operators, Sherwin, and so approvals to move it relates to Sherwin's pre-existing approvals.</p><p>But those approvals are apparently with Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade (not with the EPA) and I'm not sure how to access them. Note that neither Sherwin's old operations or the present NTIO operations have a publicly available Mining Management Plan on the NT Government site: <a href="https://industry.nt.gov.au/publications/mining-and-energy/public-environmental-reports/mining/public-mining-environmental-reports/mines">https://industry.nt.gov.au/publications/mining-and-energy/public-environmental-reports/mining/public-mining-environmental-reports/mines</a> </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">No approval to recommence operations</h4><p>NTIO doesn't have approval to restart operations. The advice I received from the EPA seems to say that not only does NTIO need to go through its own Environment Impact approval process, it sounds like they've been too slow and need to start again. That's my take anyway. This is what I was emailed:</p><blockquote><i>The NT EPA required a new EIS to cover the new activities. The assessment process was started in 2017 but only limited steps were taken. The NT EPA is in consultation with the new owners of the mine about terminating the assessment process due to the amount of time that has lapsed since the process started. A new referral to the NT EPA would be required if the activities are proposed in future.</i></blockquote><h4 style="text-align: left;">No communication in or benefit to Ngukurr</h4></div><div><br /></div><div>I work in Ngukurr which is the largest community in the vicinity of the mine, just 60km to the east. With 1,000 residents and low employment and a small economy, Ngukurr is exactly the sort of place that should reap the benefits of having mining activity so close. </div><div><br /></div><div>As far as I know, no one has been told a thing about this mine in Ngukurr and no moves by the mine's owners have been made to set up anything in Ngukurr - employment, training, community benefit scheme, nothing. Ngukurr residents are required to share the highway with these trucks and watch as nearby country gets destroyed for nil benefit.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is why I become cynical when I hear governments and politicians tell us how mines bring jobs and benefit the economy, because I don't see any evidence of benefits now or in the near future coming to Ngukurr.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Traffic issues</h4><div><br /></div><div>The road trains do more than create dust pollution. They are a hazard to other users of the Roper Highway, which includes many residents of the remote communities of Ngukurr, Numbulwar, Urapunga, Minyerri and Jilkminggan. The Roper Highway is largely a single-lane highway with a number of narrow bridges. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6wQixclEdYspPPp-b1UCsK8JzC7EfU6gt_bSBwTUZKaN7SZsF2QWUswVSRisOh0a4zHasu04Q7DEtsnY_6PhaYyhdHHn-C8VBJEi6cmd6Gmm0o6e3HgnCcUaDr9wBzD_BIe5Ih_Ou8-jSRRSdPAuoLNmDP46dR7_6dvgulK1JNqWRI4oBQ/s763/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-10%20at%2010.09.19%20am.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="763" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6wQixclEdYspPPp-b1UCsK8JzC7EfU6gt_bSBwTUZKaN7SZsF2QWUswVSRisOh0a4zHasu04Q7DEtsnY_6PhaYyhdHHn-C8VBJEi6cmd6Gmm0o6e3HgnCcUaDr9wBzD_BIe5Ih_Ou8-jSRRSdPAuoLNmDP46dR7_6dvgulK1JNqWRI4oBQ/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-10%20at%2010.09.19%20am.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The single-lane Territory
highway has been put under
intense pressure by three
mining projects" (NT News, 11/9/13)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>The area recently had unseasonal wet weather in June and along the highway you can still see numerous spots where smaller vehicles were forced on to soggy dirt to make way for road trains, leaving deep tyre tracks in the road shoulders.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Who even owns the mine? (And how does anyone contact them?)</h4><div><br /></div><div>Another thing that isn't quite clear to me is who is in charge. The sign near the mine says it's NTIO (Northern Territory Iron Ore) and they still have a <a href="https://www.ntio.com.au/" target="_blank">website</a> that says it's their mine. When you contact NTIO via their website, the reply comes from <a href="https://www.hoaphat.com.vn/en">Hoa Phat</a> - a Vietnamese steel company. The recent <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-07-05/vietnamese-steelmaker-importing-its-own-nt-iron-ore/101199084" target="_blank">ABC story</a> says Hoa Phat bought the mine last year. Assuming they are now the owners, it still seems unclear and no-one at ABC was able to speak to anyone from the company for their story. (If ABC can't get a hold of anyone from the company, it doesn't give me confidence that anyone from Ngukurr would be able to either).</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7nrjYEfNpTiN6T173Ar0Aki0R6SVzUdBCywF559t8w9iYS8wvFX4WxUK4xx7WqTw1I-D9SBe3JH-QWy4XD8OhSikwD8oeFSbPSVOxdudLR4cwQGmYYj59GtG1g8BNJVnLb2Xuu0fIRzFVseFDdMwrSccCxf2FPgXkXi4mct71dhShyeDQQ/s4032/IMG_7722.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7nrjYEfNpTiN6T173Ar0Aki0R6SVzUdBCywF559t8w9iYS8wvFX4WxUK4xx7WqTw1I-D9SBe3JH-QWy4XD8OhSikwD8oeFSbPSVOxdudLR4cwQGmYYj59GtG1g8BNJVnLb2Xuu0fIRzFVseFDdMwrSccCxf2FPgXkXi4mct71dhShyeDQQ/s320/IMG_7722.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still trying to suss out if the mine operated by NTIO or Hoa Phat</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">It's not the only mine in the area</h4><div><br /></div><div>There is another iron ore mine in the vicinity, currently operated by <a href="https://www.nathan-river.com/" target="_blank">Nathan River Resources</a> (formerly run by Western Desert Resources). Its activities are far more out of sight to Ngukurr residents so it's hard to see any impacts, although iron ore dust pollution has historically been a problem with that mine too, as reported in this <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2014-09-02/territory-fishers-call-for-action-on-gulf-port-dust-issues/5710368" target="_blank">2014 ABC article</a>. More recently, Nathan River Resources were taken to court by the NT Government, for allegedly <a href="https://www.ntnews.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-nt/nathan-river-resources-in-court-over-alleged-breach-of-waste-discharge-licence/news-story/9557c189c8e6b2bdee6002f89aba77f5" target="_blank">illegally discharging toxic waste water into the Towns River</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then to the immediate west of the NTIO/Hoa Phat mine is an ilmenite mining operation, run by <a href="http://www.ilmenite.com.au/" target="_blank">Australian Ilmenite Resources </a>(AIR). They were <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-08/indigenous-owners-call-for-nt-government-to-reject-water-licence/100812012" target="_blank">in the news</a> in late 2021/early 2022 after <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-08/indigenous-owners-call-for-nt-government-to-reject-water-licence/100812012" target="_blank">strong community concerns were voiced</a> about an application for a licence to take 3.3 billion litres of water out of the Roper River. That license application is still with the water controller. </div><div><br /></div><div>As with NTIO/Hoa Phat, none of these mines have publicly available <a href="https://industry.nt.gov.au/publications/mining-and-energy/public-environmental-reports/mining/public-mining-environmental-reports/mines" target="_blank">Mining Management Plans listed on the NT Government website</a>, nor do they have any meaningful communication with the Ngukurr community (if any at all). Collectively, these three mines paint a picture of activity that threatens the local environment and does nothing for local Indigenous communities. </div><div><br /></div><div>And that's my story (for now), about what I'm seeing with the old-Sherwin-then-NTIO-now-Hoa-Phat iron ore mine near Ngukurr. The main reason I put this post together is to document the emerging dust pollution issue to forward on to the EPA Pollution Hotline, but I hope it's been of interest of others. Please add further comments if you have more info and if you have any other documentation of pollution please share!</div>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-53498511845034691662022-04-03T16:05:00.013+09:302022-09-02T16:20:25.598+09:30The Oscar-winning Coda and its (mis)representation of interpreting (or, why I almost walked out of the cinema)<p>Ok so I'm a linguist not a movie critic but I am an avid movie-goer - part of the generation of Australians raised by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZbxhVwE_p8" target="_blank">Margaret and David</a> to appreciate cinema and think critically about it. (I've even reviewed a few things on this blog: Short-doco <a href="http://munanga.blogspot.com/2012/11/queen-of-desert.html" target="_blank">Queen of the Desert</a>, short film <a href="http://munanga.blogspot.com/2020/09/larr-gentle-film-revealing-gently.html">Lärr</a> and some discussion of the brilliant <a href="http://munanga.blogspot.com/2016/01/survival-stories.html">Croker Island Exodus here</a>). </p><p>At this years Oscars, the film Coda surprised many by taking out Best Picture. It seems like few people have even had a chance to see it. Here in little ol' Katherine, we have a brilliant <a href="https://www.facebook.com/katherinefilmsociety/" target="_blank">film society</a> at our local <a href="https://www.katherinecinema3.com/" target="_blank">Katherine 3</a> cinema, where each fortnight we get to watch something a bit different. In late 2021, I had the chance to see Coda there, long before it was thought of as an Oscar contender. Now that Coda is being talked about more than ever before, I wanted to share my experience of watching the film - especially because in one scene in particular, I was so angry that I genuinely considered walking out of the cinema - which would have been a first for me!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozl40xWoJMaphS2qfw7xRFtXbulBb4V2er1cwrDKs3uahzLj_R6qcyjGgLl6wX0aYN0nyqVVaaMiN5pQqfOfZciDTJzMsTwiXJXIdYoedpbkRLrR3sJkUHQ3um1vmEy4CMECo2EXFA925N45XjIVUE_boZrF1W9yZXeiJiRWDxIi0khnrjg/s387/Coda_poster.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="258" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozl40xWoJMaphS2qfw7xRFtXbulBb4V2er1cwrDKs3uahzLj_R6qcyjGgLl6wX0aYN0nyqVVaaMiN5pQqfOfZciDTJzMsTwiXJXIdYoedpbkRLrR3sJkUHQ3um1vmEy4CMECo2EXFA925N45XjIVUE_boZrF1W9yZXeiJiRWDxIi0khnrjg/s320/Coda_poster.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div>Overall, Coda (an acronym for Child/ren of Deaf Adults) has a lot going for it: excellent performances including by some inexperienced actors who bring authenticity to their roles as deaf users of American Sign Language. The film gives hearing non-signers a window into the lives of deaf people that most of us won't otherwise experience. And as a linguist, it's pretty cool to see linguistic minorities represented on the big screen and have issues like language discrimination touched upon in cinema.<p></p><p>I actually liked the film overall. So what happened to make me nearly walk out?</p><p>Well, something in the film hit me hard as a Kriol-English interpreter who has spent years in and around courts, providing linguistic assistance to Kriol speakers as they attempt to negotiate the bizarre, foreign world of the Australian justice system. Note also that in discussing this, I'm not trying to act appalled on behalf of the deaf community. I don't need to. I am within my rights to be aggrieved as an experienced court interpreter. </p><p>So what happened? Early on in Coda, one scene shows the deaf parents at the doctors, and their daughter acts as their interpreter. This is often labelled 'ad-hoc interpreting', where no qualified or professional interpreter is used, but instead a family member or someone nearby fills the language gap as best they can. It happens a lot and differs from the use of a trained interpreter (the academic literature often calls us 'professional interpreters' and I will use this term here too but with a big asterisk pointing out that for Indigenous Australian language interpreters, it is generally impossible to get officially accredited to a "professional" level - there just isn't the testing available). </p><p>The issues with ad-hoc interpreting are that the doctor and patients risk experiencing bias and personal involvement on behalf of the interpreter and the clear, accurate flow of information is typically jeopardised. It can also be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2167/le645.0">traumatic and stressful for children</a> to be obligated to perform such roles (and you'd think especially when you have to interpret stuff about your parents sex life like in Coda!). The advantages of ad-hoc interpreting are obviously convenience, so there does seem to be debate on how and where both types of interpreting (ad-hoc and professional) can be utilised in health settings. (Here's an example of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0738399107003771" target="_blank">further research</a> on this topic). </p><p>Back to Coda though - this doctor-patient-adhoc-interpreter scene is early on in the film and, while it irked me a little, it's not the scene that really bothered me. The function of this scene seems more to contextualise the characters - the internal dynamics of the family and the external dynamics of how they interface with hearing-dominant society. And it's used for comedic value too which you can see in this partial clip here: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pVTvW6-s4nc" width="320" youtube-src-id="pVTvW6-s4nc"></iframe></div><br /><p>But again, this scene didn't worry me too much because despite its problems I could see its function as a scene-setting device.</p><p>Skip through to the film's dramatic climax though and we arrive at a scene that <i>really</i> made me bristle. I've never walked out of a cinema before but boy did I have a visceral urge to storm out in disgust. Instead, I think I just sighed really loudly and annoyingly and waited til my blood stopped boiling and could settle down enough to somewhat enjoy the film's conclusion. </p><p>This scene was during the dramatic peak of the film, when the family's fishing business is threatened over losing their licence for not meeting maritime regulations. The father appears in a local court over the matter. But again, we see the daughter acting as her father's ad-hoc interpreter but this time, in court, interpreting for the judge. If I was able to somewhat accept the doctor scene... this one? Absolutely no way.</p><p>Courts and judges know that people appearing before them have the absolute right to understand their court matter. Lawyers know this too. I would also suggest that most if not all deaf people know this too. It is enshrined in the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights" target="_blank">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights</a> (Article 14) which forms part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bill_of_Human_Rights" target="_blank">International Bill of Human Rights</a>. Without an interpreter, a defendant who doesn't speak the language of the court is not receiving the fair trial they are entitled to. </p><p>But in the scene in Coda, there was an interpreter there: the daughter. And yes she is clearly bilingual in English and American Sign Language and does interpret. What's the issue? The issue is there is NO WAY a court should be allowing an ad-hoc interpreter to act as the court's interpreter and interpret for a family member. The daughter character is untrained and has a clear conflict of interest. The judge has no quality assurance that justice is being served and no assurance that the rights of the defendant to a fair trial are being met. I can't believe the makers of this movie decided this scene - offered with no critical discourse around it - was in any way acceptable.</p><p>But what does it matter? <span></span></p><a name='more'></a>Well, it's incredibly frustrating because as a court interpreter, I've witnessed many many instances of a judge or a lawyer or a police prosecutor not working with or providing an interpreter appropriately. The number of times I've seen a Kriol speaker clearly struggle to understand and no-one has thought to get them an interpreter. The number of times I've seen a judge or a prosecutor do things like speak too fast for the interpreter to interpret, dismiss the need for the interpreter to interpret certain parts of the court matter or a thousand other tiny little practices that attest to how poorly courts and the justice system often deal with people who need linguistic support to appropriately engage. (Dima Rusho's <a href="https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/thesis/Cross-currents_Indigenous_language_interpreting_in_Australia_s_justice_system_Public_Version_pdf/18133667" target="_blank">2021 thesis</a> is an exceptional read covering this topic (among others) in relation to Kriol speakers specifically. And don't get me wrong - I've seen plenty of judges and legal professionals do the right thing too). <p></p><p>For years, I've watched cheap-shot reality TV shows like Border Security show Australians that it's acceptable practice to <a href="https://youtu.be/eRPKK3cNcto?t=59" target="_blank">leave people with language needs high and dry</a> when they deserve and are entitled to interpreters. For Coda - a film carefully composed and designed to offer real insights and empathy to lives of deaf signers - to also show audiences how *not* to use interpreters appropriately I found appalling and lowkey negligent. I've spent too much energy over the years justifying my own existence as an interpreter to legal professionals to consider Coda's portrayal of court interpreting acceptable. </p><p>Lastly, I'd like to point out that I'm certainly not the only person to have noticed some of these issues. Several <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/movies/deaf-viewers-coda.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DODm0aiOESHYmN4ADBaKNtIsUy0iuWXsQEO7gjTbpy0upbdQRLejWfn6Glyt4DMjln7sW6RH831JbAGugzrjPhYjmwbbkuzrD64h6KYX3hCqHfzXckcFpmo5BvcF763GcahfuQSp4D0dZ-3_klBJx7VG1AMHHM56-0fk04bNaWbRjc6R00WfVYWVzRnd2b6bEDd2ZCGA6MDSM_sStntoQqaJ5AN73_LhUgZMP4nb8Tb2VrJ4uoDJU1LJPGFoMPsvyGGkIZs8LrPon1hA&smid=url-share">media articles</a> and individuals have pointed out that in America, the deaf characters in Coda would be required to have qualified interpreters under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_with_Disabilities_Act_of_1990#Auxiliary_aids" target="_blank">Americans with Disabilities Act</a>. This <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/coda-deaf-actors-supporting-roles/627609/" target="_blank">article from The Atlantic</a> spoke to a deaf writer, Sarah Katz, who said that she "found the Rossi family’s reliance on Ruby unrealistic at times, specifically during a legal hearing" and that "in such a setting, the family would have had access to a professional interpreter". According to that article, Katz said she wasn’t sure whether she’d endorse the movie for a fellow deaf person. This post-Oscars <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/movies/deaf-viewers-coda.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DODm0aiOESHYmN4ADBaKNtIsUy0iuWXsQEO7gjTbpy0upbdQRLejWfn6Glyt4DMjln7sW6RH831JbAGugzrjPhYjmwbbkuzrD64h6KYX3hCqHfzXckcFpmo5BvcF763GcahfuQSp4D0dZ-3_klBJx7VG1AMHHM56-0fk04bNaWbRjc6R00WfVYWVzRnd2b6bEDd2ZCGA6MDSM_sStntoQqaJ5AN73_LhUgZMP4nb8Tb2VrJ4uoDJU1LJPGFoMPsvyGGkIZs8LrPon1hA&smid=url-share" target="_blank">article from the New York Times</a> is another piece doing a good job of exploring the interpreting issue and other problems some people are having with Coda. (Hat tip to Ludmila Stern and the Law Linguistics Network for that link).</p><p>So yeah. Give Coda a watch. I think there's lots of interesting stuff in there. But please view with the interpreting scenes through a critical lens. The court interpreting scene in particular is one that should never have made its way on to cinema screens.</p>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-43134804138072830382022-03-11T15:38:00.007+09:302022-03-11T17:10:27.520+09:30"It's all good. He had scissors": a brief linguistic analysis of the moment Kumanjayi Walker was shot<p>In late 2019, Zachary Rolfe entered a Yuendumu home and not long after, a teenager now known as Kumanjayi Walker had been shot three times and died soon after. </p><p>The body-worn footage captured the moments of the shooting and what the two police officers, Rolfe and Eberl, said at the time. </p><p>Pragmatics is a part of linguistics that lets you analyse the intentions of what people say. This definition works well:</p><blockquote><i>Pragmatics is a field of linguistics concerned with what a speaker implies and a listener infers based on contributing factors like the situational context, the individuals’ mental states, the preceding dialogue, and other elements. (<a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/pragmatics-in-linguistics-guide" target="_blank">source</a>)</i></blockquote><p>However, it doesn't really require a linguistics degree to get insights into what was happening when Walker was shot, based on what the two officers said (as reported <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/04/zachary-rolfe-denies-making-up-parts-of-his-story-of-the-shooting-of-kumanjayi-walker">here</a>).</p><p>Immediately after shooting Walker three times, Eberl, who was the officer in physical contact with Walker (rather than Rolfe who had shot Walker), said:</p><blockquote>“Did you-? Fuck”.</blockquote><p>It's apparent to anyone that for someone to say this, they need to be surprised. They are taking time to comprehend. The swear word used as an exclamation also indicates it’s a serious matter. </p><p>Would Eberl have said this if he instead felt his safety or life was threatened by Walker? No. There would be relief or acknowledgement, perhaps regret. But not surprise and lack of comprehension.</p><p>Rolfe's words that come next are also telling:</p><blockquote>“It’s all good, he had scissors in his hand, he was stabbing me, he was stabbing you”</blockquote><p> Firstly, "it's all good" is an utterance of reassurance. In direct response to Eberl's "fuck", it shows that Eberl had felt something bad had happened and Rolfe's immediate response was to reassure. However, it's worth noting the subject of the reassurance: it was Eberl and probably Rolfe himself. But not Walker. Walker had been (ultimately) fatally shot but Rolfe's reaction and concern was directed to Eberl, evidenced by the "it's all good". </p><p>The other noteworthy part of what Rolfe said was: "he was stabbing me, he was stabbing you". The reality was (I believe) that Walker had attempted to stab Rolfe in the shoulder once. Firstly, Rolfe re-interprets this event as an iterative one (stabbing more than once, rather than a single event). Rolfe then projects an event onto Eberl's own experience ("he was stabbing you") which is an odd thing to do because Eberl had every reason to be as, if not more, aware of what he himself was experiencing than what Rolfe might believe Eberl was experiencing. </p><p>So then the utterance "he was stabbing me, he was stabbing you" becomes a kind of verbal floundering, a seeking out of an interpretation of events that might add support to the "it's all good" reassurance. But the statement was inaccurate and included projections onto Eberl's own experience. So ultimately, it's not convincing as an interpretation of facts. It can really only be understood as representing a desire to explain and reassure. </p><p>So basically what happened was shock/surprise/disbelief from Eberl, concern/reassurance from Rolfe towards only Eberl (and not the deceased) and then Rolfe's inaccurate verbal scan/search for justifications of his own actions.</p><p>To me, all of this indicates that in the moment of the shooting, then and there, Eberl and Rolfe knew it shouldn't have happened.</p><p>Rolfe was cleared of all charges related to his killing of Kumanjayi Walker on March 11, 2022.</p><p><br /></p>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-34814781871756245062020-09-26T17:52:00.203+09:302020-10-19T11:07:47.967+09:30Lärr: a gentle film revealing a gently evaporating world [short-film review]<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZTqaWMiyd8T1e2XCXgirzpV4g3203fBfbeTxmoDVizPvdbJIqcQb-W9BerwLk_2N-ybSLQIRNsBe-MwUdAkL865dFTGIks2fy9b466NQtiqT4SJkBxdxVP-Xs8ZxC8a3VBzi/s1246/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.13.00+pm.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="1246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZTqaWMiyd8T1e2XCXgirzpV4g3203fBfbeTxmoDVizPvdbJIqcQb-W9BerwLk_2N-ybSLQIRNsBe-MwUdAkL865dFTGIks2fy9b466NQtiqT4SJkBxdxVP-Xs8ZxC8a3VBzi/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.13.00+pm.png" width="320" /></a></div>Shorts films about endangered languages and culture form a small niche genre but there are quite a few out there. I've never seen one as gentle and beautiful as <u>L</u>ärr.<p></p><p>Films in this micro-genre tend to do a few familiar things. They may be pedagogical videos, focusing on cultural practices that aren't being maintained well enough, and explicitly ask audiences to watch, learn and remember. There might be expressions of serious concern for the language and cultural shifts taking place and we see rhetoric from elders and cultural champions urging for action. Then there are ethnographic films - more 'fly on the wall' views of everyday life where constructing narrative or organising scenes to shoot are not primary concerns. </p><p><u>L</u>ärr is a 16-minute look at life with some of the last few speakers of Wägilak in the world, on their country, doing very Wägilak things. But the beauty of <u>L</u>ärr is its softness. The four men in the film let you gently into their world, on the remote outstation of Ŋilipidji. Gorgeously narrated by Natilma (Roy) Wilfred, he quietly ushers viewers in and slows us down, so we can walk and sit with him and the other men as they fish, make things (spears, lettersticks, bush string and more) and talk and sing. The pace of <u>L</u>ärr is a wonderful reflection of the pace of outstation life where, somewhat paradoxically, not much happens but there is always something happening. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3xyoD4eiXhGTPchcJs9197pUXvP__indOhDeGuyayRrxfsIzLR5PWsxCNVVymKaigh9u3NjCBm3r10ECYkNCgHOc9aUNdHY1r4tgDWGXzgDMlACbLIyn3ufguMvuBj9dQ8op/s1240/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.25.57+pm.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3xyoD4eiXhGTPchcJs9197pUXvP__indOhDeGuyayRrxfsIzLR5PWsxCNVVymKaigh9u3NjCBm3r10ECYkNCgHOc9aUNdHY1r4tgDWGXzgDMlACbLIyn3ufguMvuBj9dQ8op/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.25.57+pm.png" width="320" /></a></div>And what I really like about <u>L</u>ärr is that its messages are not overt. The men simply show us what they know and do and the beauty and value of it comes through intrinsically. Their skill and confidence and love for their own culture and language shines. We value it not because we are told it's important but because we see, through them, the beauty and treasures of the land they walk and interact with. <p></p><p>Credit must then also go to the producers: the Ngukurr Language Centre, Nicola Bell - who filmed, directed and edited <u>L</u>ärr - and Salome Harris who worked on the narration and translations. The film reflects a deft touch and gentle nature and an eye for craft and detail. On the linguistic side, the Wägilak content and English translations reveal a mindfulness and depth of understanding and are quite beautiful in some places. </p><p>Translating from Indigenous languages to English is really rather hard. Well, it's hard to do well. It can be fairly easy to arrive at clunky sounding sentences, sentences that omit nuance and sentences that, well, just aren't pleasant to read. Salome and the team's knowledge and translation gifts come through here, again elevating <u>L</u>ärr above similar films. </p><p>When Natilma shows us how bush string is made, he says "<i>mel-guḻiny muka wiripuwatjtja yolŋuwatjtja ŋalapaḻwatjtja</i>" and the subtitling is just lovely: "the old people were fastidious, you know, about how it was done". We see Lukuman trying to light fire the old way and calling on help from afar: <br /></p><blockquote><i>Brrrrrr! Gatjpu! Wäŋaŋara dhawalŋara nhe dhul'yurru!</i><br />(Come on, give it to us! Help us ancestors! On this country you'll light!)</blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_yOHuT_d5ToUXsiybMEtz2sK_GAVMZl26IfyM-c6z4z-1xM0O6SMOA2lHeHpBoRwXIOC-u5e6FwyTO-BFbtxcE4xkPid1ijcGXzmFSCqmqkiD1TVzyCJ0nveUR6H3j2ZnGUz/s1240/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.28.33+pm.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1240" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_yOHuT_d5ToUXsiybMEtz2sK_GAVMZl26IfyM-c6z4z-1xM0O6SMOA2lHeHpBoRwXIOC-u5e6FwyTO-BFbtxcE4xkPid1ijcGXzmFSCqmqkiD1TVzyCJ0nveUR6H3j2ZnGUz/w400-h220/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.28.33+pm.png" width="400" /></a></div> <br />But the bit that really made my eyes water and jaw drop was in the final scenes. I don't want to spoil it here, but there's an expression I'd never heard before that I found just so profound that it made me emotional. It's where Natilma tells us: <p></p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>Yurru ḻuku napu ŋayathama yaŋanh'thu gathaṉdja napu, Djalkiridhu, ḻukudhu.</i></blockquote>And, well, if you don't know Wägilak you'll just have to watch. I don't think you'll be disappointed by <u>L</u>ärr, and it's freely available on ICTV: <a href="https://ictv.com.au/video/item/7980">https://ictv.com.au/video/item/7980</a> (That it hasn't yet reached film festivals or NITV/ABC/SBS is a shame). <br /><p></p><p><u>L</u>ärr is so gently and beautifully created that it's easy to forget that we're actually listening to a critically endangered language. Keeping that in mind, it makes the film even more beautiful and the men we see and hear walking us through Wägilak worlds even more special. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9gsRAw56NNtdbMVuWgjwK9zspdxXXI12nltwT0d4FELpVekBI7h5xojK8vdZzvkZecLo5Hkz_uVu2fo9jd0tnZr1eN1kOB6b6hPB3hab3ktepRbkVc1UdD5oYqmeLulTsSfo/s1232/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.33.50+pm.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1232" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9gsRAw56NNtdbMVuWgjwK9zspdxXXI12nltwT0d4FELpVekBI7h5xojK8vdZzvkZecLo5Hkz_uVu2fo9jd0tnZr1eN1kOB6b6hPB3hab3ktepRbkVc1UdD5oYqmeLulTsSfo/w400-h221/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.33.50+pm.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />Postcript for some trivia and acknowledgement of the living legend that is Natilma (Roy) Wilfred: if you're a linguist you may be familiar with the American linguist Jeffrey Heath who, in the 1970s, spent time in Southern Arnhem Land and did quite amazing descriptions of five different languages, including Wägilak. Natilma, as a young man, actually appears in Heath's archived recordings from the 1970s and, to my knowledge, he is the very last person still with us who Jeffrey Heath recorded. Natilma is a legend. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE07riobpcLQdZ5R8HVqahcLADax2ua0ltSKvVL5-xzWagQmb0YE2T7mlHdH1T-YW2wgKOhl34BNrokqNWrUm_Qg52Kx4IpMaQgbwr1xljT4HffAu7RQhNqhht-sB4uk6maX2n/s1242/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.13.28+pm.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="1242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE07riobpcLQdZ5R8HVqahcLADax2ua0ltSKvVL5-xzWagQmb0YE2T7mlHdH1T-YW2wgKOhl34BNrokqNWrUm_Qg52Kx4IpMaQgbwr1xljT4HffAu7RQhNqhht-sB4uk6maX2n/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-09-26+at+5.13.28+pm.png" width="320" /></a></div>This year, he has helped deliver Wägilak lessons for all the kids at Ngukurr School, spending two days a week there, fully committed and only absent when required elsewhere for other cultural obligations. I walk past the Ngukurr Language Centre on my way to work at 8am and nearly every morning, I wave hello to Natilma who is waiting there, with his dog, for the Language Centre to open. The other day, I heard that on (at least) one occasion, he had been sitting there waiting for Language Centre to open from before dawn. <p></p><p><u>L</u>ärr is available now on ICTV; <a href="https://ictv.com.au/video/item/7980">https://ictv.com.au/video/item/7980</a></p><p><i><u>L</u>ärr</i>. 16 minutes. Wägilak with English subtitles. Filmed on location at Ŋilipidji Outstation. Featuring Roy Natilma, Andy Lukuman Peters, Peter Djudja Wilfred, Bruce Liyamunyan Wilfred. Produced by Ngukurr Language Centre. Directed, filmed and edited by Nicola Bell.</p><p>Big thank you the Ngukurr Language Centre and Salome Harris for help with the Wägilak text used in this article. <br /></p><p><br /><i></i></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Tune in to <a href="https://twitter.com/ICTVaustralia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ICTVaustralia</a> for a very special Saturday Night Feature playlist thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/NgukurrLC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NgukurrLC</a> <br /><br />ICTV will have a playlist of videos starting from 7pm including: <br />1. Ḻärr<br />2. Blanga Mela Langgus<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ICTV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ICTV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShowingOurWay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ShowingOurWay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaturdayNight?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SaturdayNight</a> <a href="https://t.co/slMTpyDKIh">pic.twitter.com/slMTpyDKIh</a></p>— ICTV (@ICTVaustralia) <a href="https://twitter.com/ICTVaustralia/status/1304698334662230016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-73870095528484996852020-09-20T13:00:00.002+09:302020-09-20T13:00:19.022+09:30A new domain for Kriol? Kriol as a language of economics and business<p>Bible translators translated the bible into Kriol because they thought it would be the best way for Kriol speakers to learn about Christianity. When Barunga School started a Kriol literacy program, it was because people thought Kriol speakers would learn to read and write faster if they learned literacy in their first language. When Kriol interpreters interpret in court, it's so Kriol speakers can get (marginally more) equal access to the justice system. I could go on...</p><p>All the reasons I could cite for choosing Kriol over English tend to have foundations of social justice, communicative efficiency, or other social/cultural reasons related to education, spirituality and more. One domain that is absent is economy and business. English remains the language of wealth and business; Kriol is for 'not-for-profit' purposes.</p><p>Well so I thought until I saw these work vehicles around Ngukurr recently. A plumbing and gas fitting company in Ngukurr helping with the new housing developments (I'm guessing):</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRdYPwQVw-p5RYMANcPmol4BiWg4BwZwJWkB0jkLBdE9nEUjB5ryJ20YKJrCKAOJc4setsKHWR2ESCp7knjSfocnpfHF8874hq3w7VKavPfjXyiPDhYDalMczqnOrAboTT-qUU/s960/119734151_10157241228470966_3344055680559348801_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRdYPwQVw-p5RYMANcPmol4BiWg4BwZwJWkB0jkLBdE9nEUjB5ryJ20YKJrCKAOJc4setsKHWR2ESCp7knjSfocnpfHF8874hq3w7VKavPfjXyiPDhYDalMczqnOrAboTT-qUU/w400-h300/119734151_10157241228470966_3344055680559348801_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>I was pretty surprised to see that the company name was clearly a Kriol name - and a well-spelled Kriol name at that! <i>Ai sabi</i> means 'I know'. And not because it's a business coming out of a Kriol-dominant community. Trade and works companies like this are all based in towns like Katherine and service remote communities on an as-needs basis.</p><p>What I find very interesting about this is that the use of Kriol in a business name is not to do with symbolism, communication or social justice. It's surely primarly and economic decision. This company has decided that using Kriol for their name is a <b>good business decision</b>. And that's pretty huge really - Kriol stepping into a new domain. </p><p>Ma... kipgon! 😎</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_w34FR6OW_klPdf-9nywBLdLra2HDXY5HrODjtwm3qHBjSzOoZ76rcm644GPHsq0SDtDzykXi57V9eOEB_79s9g_X5Xc1o1JmP5dR42n-ZisgEWPffs1KoG0tjcgJzmJKA9P/s960/119463132_10157241228500966_1364663860578587174_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_w34FR6OW_klPdf-9nywBLdLra2HDXY5HrODjtwm3qHBjSzOoZ76rcm644GPHsq0SDtDzykXi57V9eOEB_79s9g_X5Xc1o1JmP5dR42n-ZisgEWPffs1KoG0tjcgJzmJKA9P/w150-h200/119463132_10157241228500966_1364663860578587174_n.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuwWR7V5JQXUbgMuWs0Wxo2dlDdkD7VS5BX_t7xXYCZ7HmilsSONAes_SRB2MjmKuYS3-ac5Y4oENWQMbPlbxJyYq2aSzRWYyjOs9afwoTzSEw8MpXIuqluV_C1OSrXvSTqhzz/s960/119600600_10157241228535966_8244829820576956136_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuwWR7V5JQXUbgMuWs0Wxo2dlDdkD7VS5BX_t7xXYCZ7HmilsSONAes_SRB2MjmKuYS3-ac5Y4oENWQMbPlbxJyYq2aSzRWYyjOs9afwoTzSEw8MpXIuqluV_C1OSrXvSTqhzz/w150-h200/119600600_10157241228535966_8244829820576956136_n.jpg" width="150" /></a><br /></div><p><br /></p>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-43090945184755174422020-06-06T13:43:00.002+09:302020-06-06T13:43:22.389+09:30Aboriginal Lives Matter (a GIFset) - Kwementyate Briscoe (d. 2012, Alice Springs Police Station)<div style="text-align: left;">Kwementyaye Briscoe, 27, died in police custody in Alice Springs in 2012. The Coroner found that some police were immature and utterly derelict in their duties. He said the death was preventable and should not have occurred. Briscoe had committed no crime. He was taken into custody for being intoxicated and was dead 5 hours later. No police officer was sacked and no criminal charges were laid. More info on the case: <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/aboriginal-death-custody-inquest-begins-kwementyaye-briscoe</a> <br /><br />432 Indigenous people have died in custody since the 1991 Australian Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.<br /><br />“This should never happen” - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">Trisha Morton-Thomas</a>, Australian Actor (Radiance, Redfern Now, 8MMM) and Kwementyate Briscoe’s aunty. <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXHfgwsTVmphgvPyijeLPwCK2A65QI65zpTW1RYyVBWQiB8xuM7UX-bS-vX5F8WoK_Olp1i24KK_CsUF9c5gpbELm8cM7DO1tPJCuW_xmZ48qpWZicbR0eeBUHJO0bsx4OnRMW/w400-h225/KB1.gif" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho36dX2pFCCr-NfqzeWlzXX7yiC1nlFRueuJimPKFzmOveNK0-UpDtnGXUEb2O1SL7g5cHKFb7GRAZwacrLLrZuXHYN3tFFFHUNuJndFGuMgm3DxZYoScz8tnI2siHdGEXlEks/w400-h225/KB2.gif" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Go3gtK5xjuOAezLjYxbBjDnY69zH-e3GqjjipE8lbhUaFsnrNhvRvAH3IdhI4miH00sO6bbnnE7oXfnbvDQlalAC3rAT7IWFvNb1b8Ajpb-z8L0Oqiy3A9wy5TLh40mf5IU_/w400-h225/KB3.gif" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpoD6un4YOPn1IpPkM4xXWjEwLYPzX-VRT8cdPtyrjWDP9VXX0Z3OaPPPFfjO5kcw2ouPMnvnrahgLRb9ONCQRb8RixlnEhmXy2Fj2rQZZYRqlGiakdgOeVPHESGOdVxQ-RoSq/w400-h225/KB4.gif" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj97-RI5hyphenhyphenh1upTSoQtw5P0zoQwCq8DgY6rwXdbRPxjTJhvNSVvG735QQgUCD_w4zCy7OJJ7ybvYrn29ti20RXkMHREiZwRfmX-8PG5_pmgpCVAnuZOcg0OhtDx0zhMeTAKqkst/w400-h225/KB5.gif" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpwMNWUzwhoZGSSLLlnGbX1H0nUkrVRe1qfPQ55yIHL4Uipz9oV9TGPLRCkClfPfuKCEfEJh6wPDVHV4EOtwjmI_EOY0SD-mUO7cTqb5_TO2Z1sIb1agBC_z3bIqbLx6sVcDgv/w400-h225/KB6.gif" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr78lBWhP8Y3t4LlW9r70PgHyvuEWv6GHFm-qSNrrK_nEfUdgCAJTw-VgDrX3vvl0r44EX6XuR40VnhWowLp52O_xVm3iYwZNHTe1jEnOfcRH_arwy5bgJNbPbO8LjI3XHpDum/w400-h225/KB7.gif" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmg4RdMbATjak95r01Cx1zeNvZFBiI3FpiK5IJvPTpRBVNnINeroP2lBj-fyGgjW9Q98lIOvxFYZUTXzutoQuqtF7IvefWGygfVmuH9rLD1KsDKQ4hUQ8wc4cf5MyYuv_YdWwK/w400-h225/KB8.gif" /></a> </div><div><br /></div><div>Source video: ABC - <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/2/#">https://youtu.be/mVAzY5Bqn_o </a></div>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-13271284465421228732020-04-28T17:06:00.003+09:302020-04-28T18:07:46.181+09:30Bless me and my amazing etymological discovery (well, not quite)Like many I have spent much of the Coronavirus situation working from home, with all of its highs and lows. One highlight of my Covid experience is being stuck at home with a housemate who grew up in Côte d'Ivoire and speaks French. Not only that, but he's been quite open and willing to teach me some French and use it patiently with me as I struggle to move beyond beginner's level. (in case you're wondering: my French is still not great, but I am amazed how much I have learned in a few weeks and how much I can actually use it with my housemate now. So cool!).<br />
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I am often asking questions of him to improve my knowledge. The other day when he sneezed and I asked (as any good linguist would) 'what do you say in French when someone sneezes?'. <i>À tes souhaits</i> he said, pronouncing it as something like /ˈatɛˌswɛ/.<br />
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Immediately a lightbulb went off! That's the word 'atishoo' from that song we did in Kindy! I started raving:<br />
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<i>Ohmygodtheresthiskidssongthatweallusedtosingwhenwewerelittleandithadthisweirdwordinit"atishoo"anditdoesntmeananythingbutitslikethesoundofasneezeandnowIknowwhereitcomesfromohmygodI'mgoingtotweetaboutthisrightnowIlearnedthatsong40yearsagoandonlynowdoIfindoutwherethatwordcomesfrom</i></blockquote>
And my housemate humoured me kindheartedly and went back to playing a game on his phone while I excitedly started to Tweet something along the lines of:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was today years old when I found out that the word 'atishoo' we used to sing in Ring-a-ring-a-rosie actually comes from the French way of saying 'bless you' after you sneeze</span></blockquote>
But before sharing my *amazing revelation* to the Twittersphere, I decided to check on my discovery. I Googled 'Atishoo'.<br />
<br />
Here's the <a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/atishoo">Collins Dictionary entry</a>:<br />
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<i>Meaning: a representation of the sound of a sneeze</i> </blockquote>
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me: what?! no, it's an Anglicisation of a French phrase meaning bless you</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Origin: C19. Of imitative origin</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
me: what?! no! it's not imitative!</blockquote>
And Merriam-Webster and Cambridge online dictionaries were basically the same! Maybe <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atishoo" target="_blank">Wiktionary</a> is a bit more dynamic and has more to say?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Alternative form of 'achoo'. </i></blockquote>
Ok, nope.<br />
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At this point, I was falling off my chair. Two bombshells in the space of 10 minutes! And me thinking that I had made the most amazing etymological discovery of the century. "<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Noone has ever made the link between 'atishoo' and 'à tes souhaits' before!"</span> (And also "which dictionary do I contact about this and how much glory will be showered upon me!?!").<br />
<br />
But luckily I Googled further and learned that I was not, in fact, the Neil Armstrong of sneeze-related vocab etymologies, but that there were plenty who had observed the link. The Wiktionary entry has a short discussion in the back-end user commentary:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Is this the anglicised version of what the French say after someone has sneezed which is:- "A tes souhaits" or God Bless you? If this is said quickly sounds like atishoo and the French do say it quickly after someone has sneezed.</i> (me: Yes, der., but the one reply dismissed it as 'plausible, but unprovable')</blockquote>
Looking around, the link is made many times over in comments and blogs. Another example: language learning app Duolingo (which has been very helpful in my French development) has discussion boards and one commenter also <a href="https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/2618775?comment_id=2755682" target="_blank">noted the <i>atishoo</i>/<i><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">à</span> tes souhaits</i> link</a> when discussing a list of handy phrases:<br />
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By this stage, I was beginning to calm my farm. Plenty of people of recognised that the weird word 'atishoo' we all sang in Kindy had wriggled its way there from the French phrase meaning 'bless you'. And it makes perfect sense in the context of the song <i>Ring a Ring o Rosie</i> too:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Ring-a-ring o' rosie,<br />A pocket full of posies,<br />A-tishoo! A-tishoo!<br />We all fall down</i></blockquote>
The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses" target="_blank">Wikipedia page about the song</a> points out that 'rosie' (which doesn't exist in my English lexicon) is borrowed directly from the French word for rosebush: <i>rosier</i>. It makes perfect sense that the third line of the song would also be a French borrowing. I 100% stand by my etymology of 'atishoo'.<br />
<br />
I accept that I am no expert lexicographer or etymologist, but surely me and many others who have noted the <i>atishoo/à tes souhaits</i> link have a convincing argument based not just on phonology but also looking at context of the song in which it occurs (which is I'm sure how most people come to know the word). It seems like a real gap if dictionaries are not making the etymological link and to me it's quite insufficient to just say its 'of imitative origin'. <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<br />
Now who's gonna show this to a lexicographer for me? I'd love to hear more thoughts on this if you have any.<br />
<br />Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-37745932965740157492020-04-18T17:57:00.002+09:302020-04-18T18:37:54.009+09:30Speaking four, five or *even six* languages: some musings on English discourse on multilingualismI have read phrases such as "so'n'so speaks English as a third, fourth even fifth language" enough times that it has started to strike me as rather odd:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>For many on the desert, like elder Reggie Uluru, English is a foreign language, or used as a <b>third, fourth or even fifth language</b>. </i></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: Sydney Morning Herald "The end of Uluru's long quiet conflict which baffled both sides" (November 1, 2019) [<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-end-of-uluru-s-long-quiet-conflict-which-baffled-both-sides-20191030-p535r2.html" target="_blank">link</a>]</span></blockquote>
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While this expression is not particularly common it seems to be a minor trope. It comes in different guises; it can be used with cardinal instead of ordinal numbers:<br />
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<i>However Chaoke noted more than a decade later that the usage rate of Evenki remained quite high, and that it was still common to find Evenki speakers who were proficient in <b>three, four or even five languages</b>. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: Wikipedia "Evenki language" [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evenki_language" target="_blank">link</a>]</span></div>
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Or with a different series of numbers:<br />
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<i>The main language groups living in these communities are Jawoyn, Mielli (sic), Ngalkpon, and Rembarrnga, and Elders generally speak several languages, with English as a <b>fourth, fifth, or even sixth language</b>. </i></blockquote>
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: Smith, Clare & Gary Jackson. 2008. "The Ethics of Collaboration: whose culture? whose intellectual property? who benefits?" in <i>Collaboration in Archaeological Practice: engaging descendant communities</i> [citation from p174]</span></div>
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And while my own experience is that I've come across this trope mostly in reference to Aboriginal Australia, this is subjective and likely due to the stuff I come across naturally. It certainly exists in other discourses:<br />
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<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
My first advice to my kid(s) when they reach their teens would be to pick up a third, fourth or even fifth language.</div>
— Kenn (@kennleandre) <a href="https://twitter.com/kennleandre/status/495133390891266049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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The reason this phrase has started to stick in my mind is because it is odd.<br />
<br />
Firstly, the number sequence is bizarrely specific yet also arbitrary: why is the 3-5 range of language abilities sometimes apparently important and other times the 4-6 range? Try Googling variants of the phrase using different number ranges and see what you get. I particularly like expanded ranges like this one that has a two-to-five range:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Reporting news is an important aspect of Aboriginal life particularly in remote communities, but what benefit does it serve broadcasting in English when members of these communities speak English as a <b>second, third, fourth or even fifth language</b>?</i></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: CAAMA "Utilising Aboriginal Language in Remote Media" (October 2, 2017) [<a href="https://caama.com.au/news/2017/utilising-aboriginal-language-in-remote-media" target="_blank">link</a>]</span></blockquote>
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Secondly, the use of the emphatic adverb <i>even</i> reflects the arbitrariness of the phrase further. The function of <i>even</i> in discourse like this is to convey surprise, something unexpected or something extreme as in my made-up example:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>Even Bette Midler</b> criticised Scott Morrison's handling of the bushfire crisis</i> </blockquote>
So why would one writer apparently find it extreme for someone to speak "<i>even</i> five" languages while another writer feels that speaking "<i>even</i> six" languages is extreme. Here's an example from the Australian Senate Hansard from October 26, 1955 that marks the 'surprising' level at <i>"even</i> nine" languages:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Some of those immigrants are friends of mine, and they are highly cultured people. Many of them can speak <b>six, seven, eight, and even nine languages</b>...</i></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: Senator Grant (NSW), Australian Senate Hansard, October 26, 1955 [<a href="http://historichansard.net/senate/1955/19551026_senate_21_s6/" target="_blank">link</a>]</span></blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
No particular reason seems to exist why the various number ranges are selected and no particular reason to select a number and mark it as surprising with the use of <i>even</i>. Additionally, there is actually no semantic reason to use the phrase at all, as all examples can be reworded using the widely understood term and more precise 'multilingual'. (If the emphasis of <i>even</i> is needed, just modify it to something like 'highly multilingual'). <br />
<br />
So what <i>is</i> going on with the use of this "N, N+1 or even N+2 languages" structure when it is actually not necessary semantically, arbitrary and possibly unnecessarily verbose. Here are my two theories:<br />
<br />
Most of the examples I've cited are Australian and Australia is well known for having the Monolingual Mindset that affects countries like ours that are heavily English-dominant. Multilingualism is seen as exceptional and so under Monolingual Mindset discourses, it may not be enough to use a more clinical term like 'multilingual'. We need to make some sort of dramatic flourish out of multilingualism. My theory here can be easily debunked if I looked at discourse in more multilingual societies and found this structure exists there too, but I do think that in the Australian context this is a reasonable theory. <br />
<br />
The other thing I think going on is it is used as a rhetorical device; a stylistic turn to persuade audiences to appreciate or be impressed by multilingualism. In countries with Monolingual Mindsets like Australia this can be quite relevant. But is it a successful rhetorical device? I'd argue yes. Despite me writing about the phrase here in a way that is problematising it, the phrase is not so incredibly common that it has become an eyeroll inducing cliche. I would say that to most people who read/hear it, it does have the desired persuasive effect.<br />
<br />
So what's my overall point? None really. I just liked thinking about this phrase that on the one hand seems so specific and informative but on the other hand is so weirdly arbitrary. And the sort of public dialogue we have about language and multilingualism in Australia always interests me. I thought I'd throw my musings out there because sometimes others have equally interesting thoughts and ideas they sometimes share. Comments welcome!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkV-UhP3r6YunAe0XtKG6oeGdfOt7YF70jCRFytMc938DmanH9kPFQvZZNehyV-bDo3v2J24I-Ev6ucte0-GG3x-xXSqbWmQDVZdX4FxVXR3qqW7YV4UVJ0hr1yseQJIgSiCII/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-04-18+at+4.10.36+pm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="82" data-original-width="569" height="57" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkV-UhP3r6YunAe0XtKG6oeGdfOt7YF70jCRFytMc938DmanH9kPFQvZZNehyV-bDo3v2J24I-Ev6ucte0-GG3x-xXSqbWmQDVZdX4FxVXR3qqW7YV4UVJ0hr1yseQJIgSiCII/s400/Screen+Shot+2020-04-18+at+4.10.36+pm.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Excerpt from: Smith, Clare & Gary Jackson. 2008. "The Ethics of Collaboration: whose culture? whose intellectual property? who benefits?" in <i>Collaboration in Archaeological Practice: engaging descendant communities</i> [citation from p174]</span></blockquote>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-47604238033032129762019-10-24T17:38:00.000+09:302019-10-24T18:43:30.745+09:30What's in a word: wanguluMy recollection of being first taught the Kriol word <i>wangulu</i> was that it means 'orphan'. It's an interesting word in that it is a very common word (in Ngukurr at least) but part of the relatively smaller set of Kriol words that come from Indigenous languages rather than English. But it's the semantics of it that I find more interesting, particularly when faced with trying to translate it into English. <br />
<br />
The basic definition I learned - <i>orphan</i> - is a quick, shorthand definition. What linguists call a gloss. But, like all words, there's a fuller and more subtle range of English translations if you delve deeper...<br />
<br />
I started thinking about the word <i>wangulu</i> again recently because of fortnightly 'advanced beginner' Kriol lessons I've started running for munanga in Ngukurr. At each session, I ask students for a 'word of the week' - a Kriol word they like or want to know more about. One of the words was <i>wangulu</i> but the person who 'brought' it had a different semantic frame to what I was first told: he had been taught the word <i>wangulu</i> after telling Kriol speaking co-workers that he is an only child.<br />
<br />
So there's a second meaning in English: <br />
<ol>
<li>Orphan (no parents)</li>
<li>No siblings </li>
</ol>
So perhaps <i>wangulu</i> is a more generic adjective translating as something like 'without family'?<br />
<br />
Then in our Kriol sessions, we were going over a text, to build students Kriol comprehension, Kriol-English translation skills and more. It's a really neat text written by a former local teacher and principal, Holly Daniels (nee Joshua) who passed away too young and so I only ever heard about her (and how smart and good of an educator she was). Holly wrote about her upbringing in a story written with Ngukurr schoolchildren in mind and uses the word <i>wangulu </i>again: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Wen melabat bin lilwan, melabat nomo bin abum ebrijing laik yumob, melabat bin brabli <b>wanguluwan</b> blanga abum detmatj ebrijing laik yumob sabi laik, reidiyo, telabishin, teiprikoda, toyota, enimo yu gin jinggabat. </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[Translation: when we were small, we didn't have all the things like you have, we were really <i>wangulu</i> about having heaps of things that you know of such as radios, television, stereos, 4WDs, and other things you can think of.] </blockquote>
In this passage, <i>wangulu</i> is used in reference to not having things, rather than being without parents or family. We struggled to translate <i>wangulu</i> in class. My offering was that it just means 'to be lacking' or 'to be without something that everyone else has'. But perhaps the core meaning is family-related and Holly's usage in relation to 'stuff' is a nice poetic extension of that meaning.<br />
<br />
We can look for other clues, such as the useful-but-imperfect Kriol Dictionary. There, the definition offered for <i>wangulu</i> is 'widow, orphan, poor person'. I did a quick look of my own Kriol corpus and there was one example sentence:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>bala imin loktap en im jidanabat <b>wangulu</b> na kraikraibat jinggibat wani ba du </i>[poor thing he was locked up en he's sitting around alone/without anyone now, crying (and) thinking what to do]</blockquote>
(The context of the sentence was describing an illustration of a man alone in a jail cell).<br />
<br />
Bringing together all these examples, we can build a picture of what a word like <i>wangulu</i> means. We can see there is no perfect direct translation, although one (such as 'orphan') may be given in early stages of learning Kriol. Rather, it takes more examples, experience and thinking to get a better understanding of the word's semantics. And even then it's still a work-in-progress.<br />
<br />
For now, if I tried to be a lexicographer, I would say <i>wangulu</i> means:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(adjective) to be lacking in something most people have (typically family, parents); orphan.</i></blockquote>
And yeah, if you still had misgivings about Kriol being a straightforward language, it's not. Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-46419063689070341432019-08-01T16:48:00.000+09:302019-08-01T17:01:04.888+09:30Pop culture as linguistic data, social justice in linguistics, Aboriginal English and the semantics of 'grab'I was pleased with myself that I got to take a bunch of things I like and wrap them up in a single section of academic writing I was working on the other day: pop culture as linguistic data, social justice in linguistics, Aboriginal English and the semantics of 'grab'. I was particularly pleased with the bit that I wrote so I thought I'd share it. (Let's see what happens when I get feedback on my work though!):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In some cases, differences in semantic ranges [between Aboriginal
English varieties and how white people talk] can have serious
consequences. Across Englishes, the verb ‘grab’ can have more physical,
forceful meanings (‘grab someone by the collar’) as well as senses that
are synonymous with ‘obtain’ (‘grab some lunch’). Aboriginal people
appear to use ‘obtain’ senses more widely, as in (9) - another quote
from Bran <span style="background-color: white;">Nue Dae’s Uncle Tadpole (Kershaw, Isaac & Perkins 2009).
The context of (9) is Uncle Tadpole telling his nephew to pursue his
crush but is not suggesting the use of physical force. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"> (9) Ay you been find ‘im. You wanna get up there an’ grab ‘im. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">
Eades (2012) details a controversial courtcase</span> referred to as the
‘Pinkenba Six’ in which six police officers were charged with
‘depravation of liberty’ of three Aboriginal teenagers. One of the boys
in an interview with lawyers had said that police had ‘grabbed the three
of us’ but in court said they were ‘told to get into police cars’. This
became an “inconsistency” in cross-examination, weakening the
Aboriginal teenagers prosecution case after defence counsel pursued the
matter enough to make the court believe the teenager had lied by using
the verb ‘grab’.</blockquote>
I'd heard Diana Eades talk about that Pinkenba case and her musings over the word 'grab' and vaguely remember her having intuitions but not strong evidence that Aboriginal people use the verb in distinctive ways to how non-Aboriginal people use it. But when I heard that example from Bran Nue Dae, I thought it was a pretty good one!<br />
<br />
If/when this thing gets published, I'll let youse know! <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">References</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Eades, Diana. 2012. The social consequences of language ideologies in courtroom cross-examination. Language in Society. 41:4. 471-497.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Kershaw, Robin, Graeme Isaac (Producers) and Rachel Perkins (Director). 2009. Bran Nue Dae [Motion Picture]. Roadshow Films: Australia. </span>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-79736196733625531432019-04-04T21:32:00.001+09:302019-04-04T21:32:35.852+09:30Tonight's trip to Woolies. Or: who sits in a 4WD looking at a woman motionless in the middle of the road and beeps at them?Tonight, like many nights, I got on my scooter to go to Woolies to get food for dinner. I scoot down one of Katherine's roads with a steady flow of traffic, the Victoria Highway. Halfway there, near Dominos, the usually mundane trip looked different. I saw 2 big 4WDs stopped on the road in front of me. A split second later I saw why they were stationary...<br /><br />Someone was sprawled flat in the middle of the road in front them. They were dark-skinned. Aboriginal, likely. I was still approaching. I heard one of the 4WDs beep. My brain kicked into instinctual assessment mode. What was this scene I was scooting towards?<br />
<br />
My greatest fears: this person may be dead. It may have been a hit and run. Less bad: she was flat on the road as a victim of violence. Less bad again: she was out of it and relatively okay but a major hazard. Regardless of which scenario it was this woman needed assistance. Fast.<br />
<br />
I was in instinct mode. I zoomed past the two 4WDs, parked my scooter near her and with zero hesitation, went to her. She was breathing. Thank god. She wasn’t obviously seriously injured. Again, thank god. The situation didn’t seem critical.<br />
<br />
I was the first to go to her assistance. But I was, at best, the FIFTH person to see her. Knowing she was okay, I started to get mad. WHY WAS I THE FIRST PERSON TO ASSIST WHEN I WAS AT LEAST THE FIFTH TO ARRIVE?? <br />
<br />
An older white couple that I'd earlier noticed had seen the scene as I was arriving came over shortly after they'd seen me go to her. They were helpful and started calling an ambulance. An Aboriginal man in another 4WD drove AROUND the two 4WDs that were there before me and he got out, started helping me and also directed traffic. He seemed to be the only person apart from me who helped without hesitation.<br />
<br />
The guy from the first 4WD (I assume the one that beeped when I was arriving, but I can't be sure) finally got out and told us that she fell. I was glad to learn it wasn’t a hit and run. <br /><br />She started coming to. She seemed drunk. She said she wanted to harm herself. Police arrived not long after and helped her to the roadside.<br />
<br />
I made sure I told the police that she was at risk of self-harm. Twice.<br />
<br />
An ambulance was on its way and I felt okay to resume my trip to Woolies. An upsetting experience though. I hope the woman is being cared for properly.<br />
<br />
I hope everyone who didn’t act as instinctively as I did is at home seriously reflecting on whether they should have acted with more compassion. Seriously. What the fuck. Who sits in a 4WD looking at a woman motionless in the middle of the road and beeps at them?<br />
<br />
But all worked out relatively fine. However it also all reminded me of a much more intense incident that a friend was involved with in Darwin. She wrote about it very powerfully here: <a href="https://fieldnotesandfootnotes.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/a-fieldnote-from-home/">https://fieldnotesandfootnotes.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/a-fieldnote-from-home/</a><br />
<br />
It's never possible to be sure about what role racism plays in incidents like these. And I don't know what was going on with the other people who were witness to all of this - there could well be good reasons why they didn't help as quickly as me. But I think the question my friend asks in her story, when she saw bystanders offering no assistance to an Aboriginal man who was drowning, is also relevant to the less-serious incident I helped with tonight:<br />
<br />
<i>"How has it come to this? How is it that Aboriginal people have become so dehumanised in the eyes and minds of white Australia?" </i>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-75261559246688133462019-03-23T17:30:00.000+09:302019-03-23T17:30:44.375+09:30Unofficial Kriol translation of Tropical Cyclone Advice Number 50 (Cyclone Trevor)<b>Note and Disclaimer</b><br />
<br />
Dijan Saikloun Stori im
“unofficial translation” burru Greg Dickson (Wamut). If yu lugunat dijan
en im afta 8pm Sadadei, im olwan na. Gu la <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/warnings/">http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/warnings/</a> bla det nyuwan Saikloun Stori. Dijan im laswan trensleishin ai garra duwum, dumaji det saikloun im guweiguwei na.<br />
<br />
This is an unofficial translation of <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDD65011.shtml" target="_blank">Tropical Cyclone Advice 50 </a>(5:00pm Saturday March 23). It was written by an accredited
Kriol-English interpreter and second-language Kriol speaker who is
most proficient in the dialect of Kriol spoken in Ngukurr. It was done
quickly and will likely contain some errors. Please do not use in lieu
of the official Tropical Cyclone Advice from the Bureau of Meteorology. <br />
<br />
*If you are reading this after 8pm Saturday, it is out of date. Please go to <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/warnings/">http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/warnings/</a> for the latest Cyclone Advice. This is the last Kriol translation that will be done because the cyclone is weakening and moving away from Kriol-speaking areas.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Saikloun Woning - Saikloun Stori Namba 50 </b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i>5:17pm, Sadadei Matj 23</i> </div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>Mein stori</b></div>
<br />
Det
midul pat bla Saikloun
Treba im antap la len hafwei from Burrulula la Kwinslen Boda. Im bigiswan saikloun (gulum 'severe'). Im garra bi deinjeris du tunait wen im kipgon mubmub la inlen eriya. <br />
<br />
<b>Bla Witj Kantri?</b><br />
<br />
Det
Kantri gada det brabili woning - From Neithin Riba raitoba la Moningtin Ailen en lorra kantri la det eriya, laik la Golf Kantri en la Bakli: Burrulula, Robinsin Riba, Wollogorang, Mikatha Riba Main, Keip Krofid,
Creswel Dauns en Brunet Dauns. <br />
<br />
From det laswan Saikloun Stori, thei bin kensilim woning bla kantri from Pot Ropa la Neithin Riba en from Monington Ailen la Bektaun (la Kwinslen).<br />
<br />
<b>Ola diteils</b><br />
<i><br />Hau strong det Saikloun? </i><br />
<br />
Im Namba 3 saikloun (1 im wikeswan, 5 im stronggeswan). If det saikloun im
antap la yu, det win im blo 120 kilomita per awa raitap la 165 kilomita
per awa
<br />
<br />
<i>Weya det Saikloun na? </i><br />
<br />
Im antap la woda gulijap la len na, la Burrulula eriya. <br />
<br />
<i>Weya det Saikloun heding? </i><br />
<br />
Im gulijap la Burrulula bat tharrai Kwinslenwei lilbit. Im mub 21 kilomita eberri wan awa. <br />
<br />
Saikloun
Treba im im bigwan (gulum 'severe'). Im antap la len na, sanrais from Mikatha Main. Det brabili deinjiris midul pat garra kipgon lusim pawa wen im kipgon mub tharrai la Bakli eriya tunait. Sandei moning im garra bi
wikwan en nomo saikloun na, wen im sangudansaid from Brunet Dauns. <br />
<br />
<b>Lukat bla ol dismob</b><br />
<br />
Det
midul pat bla Saikloun Treba, garra bi brabili deinjeriswan (gulum
'very destructive core') en im mub antap la len hafwei from Burrulula la Kwinslen Boda. Gulijap la det midul pat, det win im blo raitap la 165 kilomita per awa, bat det win stat gudangudan dumaji det saikloun im antap la len na.<br />
<br />
Brabili
strongwan win (gulum 'destructive winds') weya det win im blo raitap la 130 kilomita per awa, im hepining na gulijap la det midul pat bla det saikloun. Detkain strongwan win stat kamat la Keip Krofid tunait.<br />
<br />
If
yu jidan la solwada eniweya from Pot Atha la Kwinslen Boda, yu garra lugat
brabiliwei ba bigiswan deinjeriswan taid wen det saikloun kipgon.
Tunait en alibala tumorra, det taib garra bi mowa biga then det nomul taid, gada bigis weib weya
im gin demijim enijing en pudum solwada la len eriya. <br />
<br />
Wen
det saikloun kipgon mubmub, bigiswan taid garra hepin la Kwinslen du la det eriya
from NT Boda raitap la Bektaun. Bigwan weib garra gaman en maitbi pushum
solwada antap la len. Enibodi weya thei jidan la det eriya shud sodimat
bi meigim alabat kemp seif en bi redi bla album najalot du. <br />
<br />
Strongwan
Win
(gulum 'gales') weya im blo raitap la 100 kilomita per awa bloblo rait nau la kous eriya from Neithin Riba la NT rait oba la Monington Ailen en la inlen eriya du la Golf Kantri.<br />
<br />
Detkain Strongwin Win (gulum
'gales') garra stat bloblo la noth pat la Bakli tunait.
Tunait en alibala Sandei, yu garra lugat ba detkain strongwan win if yu la Creswel Dauns, Keip Krofid, Robinson Riba,
Mikatha Riba Main, Wollogorang en Brunet Dauns. <br />
<br />
Bigis
rein garra kaman en from alibala Sadadei ola krik en riba garra raning
ol oba dis Golf Kantri. Thei bin tok ola riba la Golf Kantri en la Bakli
eriya maibti garra fladwoda bambai (gulum 'flood watch'). <br />
<br />
Bigis
Rein garra stat buldanbuldan tharrai la Golt Kantri la Kwinslen said
wen det saikloun mub antap la len tumorra. Thei bin pudum woning ba
Deintri Riba en Mosmin Riba ba bigis warajarra (flood warning) en thei
bin tok ba lugat ba detkain fladwada bambai (gulum 'flood watch') if yu
eniweya from Kens la Kowanyama o eniweya la Golf Kantri la Kwinslen.<br />
<br />
<b>Wani mela regen yu shud du</b><br />
<br />
<u>Bla NT said:</u><br />
<br />
If yu jidan eniweya from Alyangula raitdan la Kwinslen Boda - dijan im ba enibodi la Grut en Burrulula du en la Bakli eriya:<br />
- Irrim wanim blijimen en gabmen dalim yu bla du<br />
-
Bi redi bla brabili nogud wetha en ba det win ba get mowa biga en ba
mowa rein. Jidan la seifwan bilding wen det wetha im brabili nogud. <br />
<br />
<u>Bla Kwinslensaid:</u><br />
<br />
If
yu jidan eniweya from NT Boda raitap la Bektaun, en la Monington Ailen en Sweers Ailen, yumob shud jidan insaid antil det saikloun bin guwei en den lisin la nekswan stori from gabmen bla wanim bla du. <br />
- Yu gin gajim mowa infameishim from yu kaunsil. <br />
- Bla sabi hau bla hendlim saikloun, yu gin luk la dis Kwinslen websait: <a href="http://www.disaster.qld.gov.au/">www.disaster.qld.gov.au</a> <br />
<br />
<b>Nekswan Saikloun Stori</b><br />
<br />
Nekswan Saikloun Stori garra Inggalish garra kamat 8:00pm Sadadei<br />
<br />
<b>Note and Disclaimer</b><br />
<br />
Dijan Saikloun Stori im “unofficial translation” burru Greg Dickson (Wamut). This is an unofficial translation of <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDD65011.shtml" target="_blank">Tropical Cyclone Advice 50</a>
(5:00pm Saturday March 23). It was written by an accredited
Kriol-English interpreter and second-language Kriol speaker who is
most proficient in the dialect of Kriol spoken in Ngukurr. It was done
quickly and will likely contain some errors. Please do not use in lieu
of the official Tropical Cyclone Advice from the Bureau of Meteorology.<br />
<br />
*If you are reading this after 8pm Saturday, it is out of date. Please go to <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/warnings/">http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/warnings/</a> for the latest Cyclone Advice. This is the last Kriol translation that will be done because the cyclone is weakening and moving away from Kriol-speaking areas.Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-24274702745523566842019-03-23T08:34:00.000+09:302019-03-23T17:32:18.273+09:30Unofficial Kriol translation of Tropical Cyclone Advice Number 46 (Cyclone Trevor)Ai bin digimat dis woning dumaji im olwan na. Det nyuwan yu gin faindim iya: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a><br />
<br />
This
warning has been removed as it is no longer current. You can find the
latest unofficial translation (of Cyclone Advice 50) here: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html" target="_blank">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-5915123549496926232019-03-22T14:56:00.000+09:302019-03-23T17:31:58.121+09:30Unofficial Kriol translation of Tropical Cyclone Advice Number 42 (Cyclone Trevor)Ai bin digimat dis woning dumaji im olwan na. Det nyuwan yu gin faindim iya: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a><br />
<br />
This
warning has been removed as it is no longer current. You can find the
latest unofficial translation (of Cyclone Advice 50) here: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html" target="_blank">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-29193704579532007302019-03-22T08:42:00.001+09:302019-03-23T17:31:48.073+09:30Unofficial Kriol translation of Tropical Cyclone Advice Number 38 (Cyclone Trevor)Ai bin digimat dis woning dumaji im olwan na. Det nyuwan yu gin faindim iya: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a><br />
<br />
This
warning has been removed as it is no longer current. You can find the
latest unofficial translation (of Cyclone Advice 50) here: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html" target="_blank">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-4113194369926081822019-03-21T20:43:00.004+09:302019-03-23T17:31:36.914+09:30Unofficial Kriol translation of Tropical Cyclone Advice Number 35 (Cyclone Trevor) Ai bin digimat dis woning dumaji im olwan na. Det nyuwan yu gin faindim iya: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a><br />
<br />
This
warning has been removed as it is no longer current. You can find the
latest unofficial translation (of Cyclone Advice 50) here: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html" target="_blank">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-13910879607041158232019-03-21T09:37:00.000+09:302019-03-23T17:31:28.096+09:30Unofficial Kriol translation of Tropical Cyclone Advice Number 31 (Cyclone Trevor)Ai bin digimat dis woning dumaji im olwan na. Det nyuwan yu gin faindim iya: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a><br />
<br />
This warning has been removed as it is no longer current. You can find the latest unofficial translation (of Cyclone Advice 50) here: <a href="https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html" target="_blank">https://munanga.blogspot.com/2019/03/unofficial-kriol-translation-of_26.html</a><br />
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</style> Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-9124130129711572772018-08-22T16:46:00.002+09:302018-08-22T17:28:55.969+09:30Sociolinguistic concepts through popular culture, Part 4: Mojo Juju and the effects of language lossThe high rate of language loss and endangerment across the world is becoming more widely known. In the sociolinguistics course I am teaching, we discuss this as a follow on from topics such as multilingualism and looking at what happens when languages come into contact with each other. Sometimes you get stable multilingual societies. Sometimes pidgins and creoles arise. Sometimes you see code-switching phenomena. And sometimes, languages become weaker, become threatened, endangered and may cease to be spoken and known at all. (None of these are mutually exclusive, by the way).<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When we consider language loss, we talk about why we should care (and whether we should care it all). When I asked students to think of reasons to care, the more immediate responses seem to relate to knowledge systems: that each language represents something valuable to humanity in terms of knowledge systems encoded in that language, and that that knowledge is of great value to the speech community too. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This comes through in the lovely quote I shared in class from Nick Evans' awesome book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6387743-dying-words" target="_blank"><i>Dying Word</i>s</a>:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“No-one’s mind will again travel the thought-paths that its ancestral speakers once blazed. No-one will hear its sounds again except from a recording, and no-one can go back to check a translation, or ask a new question about how the language works.<br /> </i><i><br /></i><i>Each language has a different story to tell us. … for certain riddles of humanity, just one language holds the key.” (Evans 2010; xviii)</i></blockquote>
For lingusitics students, I think it's also important to share Krauss' well-known quote, that is directed internally at linguists and the field we belong to. It's not something that I think has occurred to students before:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“We [linguistics] must do some serious rethinking of our priorities, lest linguistics go down in history as the only science that presided obliviously over the disappearance of 90% of the very field to which it is dedicated” (Krauss 1992: 10)</i></blockquote>
<!--EndFragment-->But another aspect to why we should care about language loss is a little harder to convey: the personal feelings of loss and even grief that individuals can feel when they do not speak the language of their own heritage. It's really not very typical for us to talk about <i>feelings</i> in a linguistics class, despite their centrality.<br />
<br />
Enter Australian singer and musician Mojo Juju. Only a few months ago, she released a song (and great video) called "Native Tongue".<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JLQ4by3lUJo?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></div>
<br />
Through her music and lyrics, you get a powerful sense of the personal impacts that not knowing the languages of your heritage (in her case, Wiradjuri and Filipino) can have: difficulties in finding a sense of belonging that others take for granted; anger at that not being understood (<i>"It's easy enough for you to say, it ain't no thing. But I'm the one, you ain't the one, living in this skin"</i>); and the resilience required to stake your place in society. The anger and hurt related to those feelings are also conveyed by her tone and music, not just the lyrics.<br />
<br />
It's the first time I've seen issues of language loss represented in popular music. And Mojo Juju has captured it stunningly with a powerful track and video.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBC19Pa81_FuPFIaAXyWGT2BAKRFthZIe7CebSZyzxGGvSCIM1HTyBhIIkENmcuEO-oTQ88O-BF0SOhK8miuh8Tiov4AtAG97J-Y_bbB7sXnNTHtsvZ-JC3wCUfNUU0RsivCL/s1600/MojoJuju.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="620" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBC19Pa81_FuPFIaAXyWGT2BAKRFthZIe7CebSZyzxGGvSCIM1HTyBhIIkENmcuEO-oTQ88O-BF0SOhK8miuh8Tiov4AtAG97J-Y_bbB7sXnNTHtsvZ-JC3wCUfNUU0RsivCL/s320/MojoJuju.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Photograph by Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore, reproduced <br />from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/21/mojo-juju-fights-back-i-was-too-queer-too-brown-or-not-attractive-enough-to-sell-records" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> without permission</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Also on this blog in "Sociolinguistic concepts through popular culture"</i><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><i><a href="http://munanga.blogspot.com/2017/09/sociolinguistic-concepts-through.html" target="_blank">Drag queens and how no two speakers are identical</a></i></li>
<li><a href="http://munanga.blogspot.com/2017/10/sociolinguistic-concepts-through.html" target="_blank"><i>Mean Girls and social networks</i></a></li>
<li><i><a href="http://munanga.blogspot.com/2017/12/sociolinguistic-concepts-through.html" target="_blank">Bernie Sanders and factors that drive language change</a></i></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">References</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: -24.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Evans, Nicholas. 2010. <i>Dying words : endangered languages and what they have to tell us</i>. <i>The language library</i>. Chichester, U.K. ; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 24pt; text-indent: -24.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Krauss, Michael. 1992. The world’s languages in crisis. <i>Language</i>, <i>68</i>(1), 4–10.</span></div>
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Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-2406973328488927392018-08-01T17:22:00.000+09:302018-08-01T17:36:22.157+09:30Fet footish: a spoonerism caught in the wild (thanks Gogglebox!)Spoonerisms are awesome linguistic anomalies. It's a speech error you make when you accidentally swap two sounds around in words that are next to or near each other and end up saying words that make zero sense (or maybe the sound-swap results in words that actually still make sense but far from the intended meaning).<br />
<br />
Some examples? When I searched online for examples of spoonerisms, they were mostly examples where the sound-swap resulted in a sentence that still <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/spoonerisms-best-spooner-lines/" target="_blank">made sense but resulted in an unintended meaning</a> or examples that were <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/nuckin-futs-set-to-go-on-sale-after-lawyer-argues-f-word-wont-offend/news-story/0711ec8f56d474855eddf688d1afebff?sv=79c7b17eea65528a32b4dca879ccdc" target="_blank">curated artificially</a>. Not much looked like spoonerisms that were genuine speech errors.<br />
<br />
We'd all be familiar with spoonerisms and can probably remember hearing them or recall one slipping out of our own mouths. But, in my experience at least, they're rare. Maybe once I year I'd remember hearing one... maybe every couple of years I'd remember doing one accidentally? Would it be about the same for you?<br />
<br />
The apparent rarity of <i>genuine</i> spoonerisms is why I love this short Gogglebox clip featuring <a href="https://www.lifestyle.com.au/cast/angie-and-yvie/" target="_blank">Angie and Yvie</a> so much. I've publicly <a href="https://theconversation.com/gogglebox-and-what-it-tells-us-about-english-in-australia-75295" target="_blank">espoused my love of Gogglebox</a> as linguistic data quite a few times, and this clip adds a new element to that. A spoonerism caught in the wild! Check it out:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwt-sCDlPNrpSIoQPeesq1ANYdCVAyQ1OkPa5cVW-5iQ5PEdQIM7RrxefDtaaGSKaIlgNHW85VvsA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://bcove.me/x60t4lck" target="_blank">You can also click through to original 35 sec video</a></span></div>
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<br />It is just so great to see the sequence of events unfold in the clip:<br />
<ul>
<li>The spoonerism coming out of Angie's mouth ("fet footish" instead of "foot fetish") without any hint of realisation</li>
<li>Yvie's subtle reaction when noticing the speech error and her ability to instantly give Angie rope to hang herself with by 'innocently' repeating it back to her</li>
<li>Angie still not realising the error even after hearing it said back to her and continuing on in ignorant bliss</li>
<li>Yvie's absolutely glorious wheeze-laugh (if someone can tell me how that would be transcribed in a careful linguistic transcription, I'd love to know!)</li>
<li>Yvie's more clearly signalled repetition of the spoonerism which finally alerts Angie that a speech error has been made</li>
<li>Angie <i>still</i> not really realising what the error was and trying to self-correct but failing ("oh, a feet footish... wait...") </li>
<li>Then Angie finally getting corrected by Yvie and them both having a good laugh, culminating in Angie's full cackle (at 0:31) when it all finally dawns on her what has just unfolded.</li>
</ul>
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So yeah, a spoonerism caught in the wild. I absolutely love it, and I'm pretty sure it's quite rare: a fantastic beast but where to find it... Gogglebox, that's where!<br />
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<br />Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-18260564300221986072017-12-24T11:53:00.002+09:302017-12-24T18:35:26.528+09:30English-only health alert for Ngukurr, now with draft Kriol translation (cos there really should be one)If a government body wants to tell a community of 1000 people to boil water before drinking it because of health concerns, and pretty much everyone in the community speaks the same Language Other Than English (LOTE), why would you issue the alert only in bureaucratic/dense/formal English?<br />
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The community being alerted here is chock full of Kriol speakers. If you want to communicate with them, doing it only in formal English is only going to get you so far. While NT Health and Power and Water are serving the community well in terms of their warning, the language it is communicated in is lacking. It's kinda like a cinema screening a movie onto the curtains, instead of projecting it onto a flat screen.<br />
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To be fair, translation services for Indigenous languages are really lacking in the NT. There is no government agency to go to. Getting a quick turn around on translations is probably near-impossible. (See also last year's Kriol signage debacle I discussed <a href="http://munanga.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/when-kriol-signs-go-right-and-when-they.html" target="_blank">here</a>). But government could have long-term strategies and lead by example. With better acknowledgement that delivering information in constituents first languages is important, they could work to create a better Indigenous language translation industry in the NT.<br />
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In lieu of zero Kriol translation being provided for the current, rather important, 'alert', I thought I'd have a go at translating it myself, in case it's of use to someone... but I certainly wouldn't want to promote the idea further that translations should be handed out free-of-charge. Caution: the following translation is unchecked and unofficial. I am not a qualified Kriol-English translator (although I do have qualifications and experience in interpreting i.e. oral translations).<br />
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<b>Guyu! Stori bla boilim wada la Ropa!</b><br />
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21 Disemba 2017<br />
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Didei, NT Gabmen (det Helth Depatment en Pawa en Wada) dalimbat Ropamob bla maindim det wada weya im gamat burrum tep. Pawa en Wada mob bin switjimoba det wada. Im nomo gamat from bo na. Im gaman burru riba na, dumaji Ropamob bin yusumbat tu matj wada. Bat det riba wada im maidi nomo brabili klin wada.<br />
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Pawa en Wada trai sotimatbat na so im gin gubek la bo wada, maitbi afta Krismis. Bat bifo im gubek la bo wada Ropamob garra maindim det wada weya im gamat burru tep, dumaji im riba wada.<br />
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Det Helth Dipatment wandi Ropamob bla boilim det tep wada bifo yu:<br />
<ul>
<li>dringgim</li>
<li>yusum wada ba kukum enijing</li>
<li>brashim tuth</li>
</ul>
O najawei, yu gin baiyim wada burrum shop.<br />
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Dijan woning im oni antil Pawa en Wada tjeinjimbek yumob wada la bo wada. Mela garra jandim natha stori wen yumob wada gubek la bo wada.<br />
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Bunjum yu wari ba enijing ba dis problem, yu gin kol la Helth Dipatment wen im oupin. Det namba im 1800 095 646.Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-89487633597530757202017-12-09T12:25:00.003+09:302017-12-09T14:26:51.973+09:30Sociolinguistic concepts through popular culture, Part 3: Bernie Sanders and factors that drive language variationPart three of my examples linking sociolinguistics to popular culture kinda follows up on Part 1 which showed (via drag queens) how <a href="http://munanga.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/sociolinguistic-concepts-through.html" target="_blank">no two speakers are identical</a>. (Part 2 skipped over to <a href="http://munanga.blogspot.com.au/2017/10/sociolinguistic-concepts-through.html" target="_blank">communities of practice in Mean Girls</a>).<br />
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I have to confess, this episode is less about my own creativity and more about finding a pretty perfect video on YouTube that did the job of linking sociolinguistics to the real world for me. Worth sharing all the same... <br />
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<b>Key concept</b>: Variability in language (which exists everywhere) is caused by geographic and social factors.<br />
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<b>Concept in more detail:</b> The subfield of sociolinguistics makes no bones about the fact that language varies everywhere, all the time. No two individuals speak exactly the same way and no individual speaks the same way all the time either. Many sociolinguists are concerned with not just <i>describing</i> this ubiquitous variability but figuring out the <i>causes</i> of variation. <br />
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For a long time, where someone is from (i.e. geography) was investigated as the main cause of variation. Then sociolinguists got cleverer and saw how variability can be explained by factors like age, gender, ethnicity and class - factors that are social rather than geographical.<br />
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<b>Exemplifying the concept:</b> If you can remember back to the wonderful days <i>before</i> Donald <a href="https://youtu.be/DnpO_RTSNmQ" target="_blank">Drumpf</a> ruled America, you might recall a nerdy old dude called Bernie Sanders who had quite different ideas about what an American president should do. While Bernie was in the presidential candidacy spotlight, people noticed he talked funny. <br />
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As a result, the American news site <a href="https://www.vox.com/" target="_blank">Vox</a> put together a clever, entertaining and brilliantly edited video explaining key features of Bernie Sanders' speech. It proved to be the perfect explainer of how social and geographic factors can explain linguistic variation:<br />
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<iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" gesture="media" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/waeXBCUkuL8" width="560"></iframe>
When we looked at this video in class, students were able to appreciate the ways in which Sanders' speech deviates from what most people consider to be a typical American English accent. The video also gives enough information so that students can easily connect the dots and, based on the excellent explanations in the video, describe the factors causing variation. After a quick in-class Q&A, students can summarise Sanders' variable features (called variants) and the correlating geographic and social factors:<br />
<ul>
<li>'Thought' vowel: </li>
<ul>
<li>geography factor - New York English </li>
<li>age factor - used less by younger New "Yawkers </li>
<li>ethnicity factor - the age-based change is more obvious among white people</li>
</ul>
<li>Lack of 'r's (non-rhotic accent): </li>
<ul>
<li>geography factor - New York, Boston, Savannah English</li>
<li>age + class factors - seen as prestigious in early-mid 1900s, non-prestigious in late 1900s</li>
<li>ethnicity factor - associated with Jewish community</li>
</ul>
<li>Final 't' sounds released:</li>
<ul>
<li> ethnicity factor - associated with Jewish community</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Thanks Vox for making this great video linking sociolinguistics to popular culture. It made for a very useful learning tool!<br />
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<br />Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10719853.post-41737153177550564042017-11-06T11:32:00.000+09:302017-11-09T08:06:31.739+09:30Roper Gulf Regional Council and the awkwardness of local government investing outside their jurisdiction<i>"...Council is part of the Katherine community..."
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<i>"... we have a social responsibility to contribute to the growth of the town..."</i><br />
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Positive rhetoric like the above is par for the course for any Australian local government. The above quotes come from Roper Gulf Regional Council's CEO Michael Berto. Great messages? Definitely. One major problem though: the town they refer to - Katherine - isn't part of the council's area.<br />
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<a href="http://ropergulf.nt.gov.au/" target="_blank">Roper Gulf Regional Council</a> covers a massive, sparsely populated area reaching from east of Katherine right out to the Gulf of Carpentaria coast. It came into being 10 years ago when the NT Government oversaw the establishment of 'Super Shires' - amalgamations that subsumed a stack of community government councils which were often local government areas with only a few hundred constituents.<br />
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The creation of 11 'Super Shires' a decade ago was an <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-31/20120131-mick-gooda-on-super-shires/3802586" target="_blank">unpopular move</a>. Poorly consulted and hastily done, some say it caused Labor to lose the next election, which then brought in the <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/what-is-going-on?utm_term=.fmJ57ZrN5#.hq320aAk2" target="_blank">resoundingly ridiculous</a> Country Liberals' effort. I was living in Ngukurr when the council amalgamations happened. At the time, the locally-based Yugul Mangi Government Council oversaw the communities of Ngukurr, Urapunga and Minyerri. It seemed like a small, inefficient and challenging local government to run. What Yugul Mangi and other mini-councils did have in their favour was the ability to foster local decision making and create local leaders. The counter-argument was that small government authorities like Yugul Mangi have tiny economies of scale and little bargaining power. Amalgamation will bring muscle. A reasonable point.<br />
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What worried me at the planning phase wasn't the likely watering down of local input and authority. I was more surprised to learn that administrative headquarters of the new shire weren't even going to be within the shire. It created a bizarre contradiction: create a new shire because it makes economic (rather than social) sense, but administer it from outside the area therefore sending all related economic activity to a different council.<br />
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But again: practicalities. The amalgamations were rushed. Katherine was the only decent sized town in the vicinity that was ready to handle Roper Gulf administration. But it didn't make sense - certainly not in the long term. "What about Mataranka?" I asked when we were briefly 'consulted' at the Language Centre back in 2006 or 07. My question was dismissed.<br />
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Mataranka is a much smaller town - about 500 people - and an hour down the road from Katherine. It had its own community government council back in 2006, meaning there was at least some capacity to administer local government. Mataranka is hardly a metropolis, but it has decent accommodation and places to eat, some facilities and infrastructure, Elsey National Park is right there and Katherine not far away. If running Roper Gulf from Mataranka wasn't immediately viable a decade ago, it would have been an entirely appropriate strategy to aim for in the future.<br />
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But what happens in real terms when a local government bases itself outside its own area? In day-to-day terms, it is inevitable that you are less aware and less invested in your own service provision. When council workers live and work in their council area, they notice what happens immediately beyond their front door: what are the roads like, waste removal, recreation facilities, what sort of community and local cultures are fostered in your neighbourhood? When there are problems, they are noticed. And hopefully addressed.<br />
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However, when the front doors of key Roper Gulf staff open on to Katherine Town Council's area and vote in Katherine Town Council elecdtions, how can you be personally invested in ensuring your council is the best it can be? Instead, Roper Gulf residents - who are mostly Indigenous and non-native English speakers - find themselves reporting to staff in Katherine about the realities of life in the council region. That hardly seems efficient, or fair.<br />
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Yet this awkward, unfortunate state of affairs is not something that seems to cause embarrassment. As the quotes at the top show, Roper Gulf Regional Council is proud to be "part of the Katherine Community". That quote was in the Katherine Times in October 2017 following Roper Gulf <a href="http://ropergulf.nt.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/1551-Council-announces-1.42m-Katherine-commitment-for-October-Business-Month-web.pdf" target="_blank">publicising a $1.14million infrastructure investment and $1.42million in tenders</a> going to Katherine businesses. That is, investments going <i>outside</i> Roper Gulf towns and communities. If the decision ten years ago to base Roper Gulf in Katherine was due to practicalities and time pressure, a $2.5million spend 10 years later is a side-swipe to its own constituents. And far from acknowledging this as regrettable, it is something Roper Gulf are proud of:<br />
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But what's the alternative? Could Mataranka be the administrative centre of Roper Gulf? Right now, probably not. Because no-one has tried to make it happen. But if strategies had been implemented 10 years to transition Roper Gulf's administration to within its own area, it could have happened. I used to work at <a href="https://www.batchelor.edu.au/" target="_blank">Batchelor Institute</a>: a large tertiary institution an hour south of Darwin, in a town of only a few hundred. The parallels between Batchelor/Darwin and Mataranka/Katherine are obvious. Some Batchelor Institute staff live in quiet Batchelor, nestled next to Litchfield National Park. Others live in Darwin. Darwin-based staff are provided with a daily shuttle bus commuter service and it works effectively enough. The same could absolutely be done for Roper Gulf employees who live in Katherine but had their workplace in Mataranka. And for Roper Gulf residents - especially those in Mataranka - they have a better chance of working at and accessing their administrative centre.<br />
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If the commute seems inefficient, there is an efficiency benefit: most places in the council region are an hour closer to Mataranka than Katherine. More than half the region would have two hours cut off round trip travel times between headquarters and community. Imagine being a Robinson River resident with your local government authorities a 20 hour round trip away and not even in your region. Would you feel like your council staff have your best interests in mind?<br />
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If Mataranka as Roper Gulf's administrative centre is logistically possible, it requires motivation, vision and long-term strategy. The benefits would be significant. More Roper Gulf staff would know first-hand what their service provision is like. Roper Gulf Council would be considerably building the economy of Roper Gulf itself, rather than investing in someone else's Council area. The inconvenience of Katherine-based staff having to work from Mataranka rather than Katherine? If Roper Gulf demonstrated that developing its own area was a core part of its vision, it could be possible to motivate its staff that a Mataranka base was for the greater good. Such motivation just doesn't seem to exist.<br />
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If Roper Gulf constituents are worried about the benefits their local government pours into Katherine, their concerns are largely voiceless (unless you consider <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/pm-congratulates-nts-new-leader/news-story/78a378bc7dbf62fe56b1dc409a9eabc5" target="_blank">Labor's 2012 election loss to have been a voicing of such concerns</a>). Geographic, cultural and linguistic boundaries mean that most Roper Gulf residents have difficulties speaking up. However, a recent semi-public Facebook discussion (following the recent news story shown above) shows that for some it is a cause of disappointment or concern:<br />
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Apart from a few murmurs, there is not a lot of obvious discontent about the current state of affairs. Katherine residents and council certainly aren't going to speak against the economic boost generated from having Roper Gulf as "part of the Katherine Community". Katherine-based Roper Gulf staff (generally the most powerful players in the entity) aren't going to volunteer to uproot themselves or their workplace. And Roper Gulf constituents have never been told that an alternative to the status quo is possible. But I argue that it <i>is</i> possible. It's just easier for Roper Gulf Regional Council to bizarrely stay as one of the only local government councils in Australia to be administered from outside their bounds. "Defeatist"? "Short-sighted"? Weak? Insulting? Take your pick.<br />
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<i>Note: I am focussing on Roper Gulf Regional Council in this blogpost, only because of my ties to the region and my experience of living in Ngukurr when Roper Gulf was established. There are other Regional Councils in the NT that also have the awkward situation of being administered from outside their region: <a href="http://www.victoriadaly.nt.gov.au/" target="_blank">Victoria Daly Regional Council</a> is also administered from Katherine. <a href="http://www.centraldesert.nt.gov.au/" target="_blank">Central Desert Regional Council </a>and <a href="https://www.macdonnell.nt.gov.au/" target="_blank">Macdonnell Regional Council</a> are administered from Alice Springs. <a href="http://www.eastarnhem.nt.gov.au/" target="_blank">East Arnhem Regional Council</a> is administered from Nhulunbuy while <a href="http://tiwiislands.org.au/" target="_blank">Tiwi Islands Shire</a> is administered from Darwin. As far as I'm aware, this does not occur anywhere else in Australia apart from the Northern Territory.</i><br />
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<i>A further note: </i><i>I know plenty of great people who work for Roper Gulf and it is not my intention to disparage any individuals. I am writing about the overall vision and strategy of the entity which is larger than any individual. </i>Greg Dicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07615277580306011754noreply@blogger.com0