"Ai bin gulijap krai" means 'I nearly cried'. Here at Ngukurr, middle aged and older people all have stories about being banned from speaking Language at school. I don't hear the stories that often, but I know they're there. I don't push them because I worry they might be painful or make people feel no good. But in the press release I sent around a few weeks ago, we approached the issue. Here's what I wrote (it was published in the Koori Mail): Once banned, Elders now teach children language "Older generations of Aboriginal people in the southern Arnhem Land community of Ngukurr were banned from speaking their traditional languages at school when they were children. Decades later, a dedicated group of the same people are putting their languages - now endangered - back into the classroom and teaching new generations. Now in its second year in its current form, the language program at Ngukurr Community Education Centre incorportates five langaug...
Non-Indigenous (i.e. munanga) linguist doing a bunch of stuff in the Katherine Region with languages (and more) occasionally sharing his thoughts...