that munanga linguist

The permit system (where you need a permit to be on Aboriginal Land) is under review and submissions are due next Wednesday! (Feb 28). All options are on the table - from no change, to removing the permit system altogether. I don't know a link that provides more info, but maybe email me or leave a comment - I'm trying to get a hold of the NLC newsletter that talks about the matter. I urge everyone to think about making a submission. I'm against changing the system because I worry about taking away power from communities/Traditional Owners. They're oppressed enough as it is. Any individual or organisation can send a submission. Address it to: Greg Roche Assistant Secretary, Land Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination Woden ACT 2606 Fax: 02 6282 3601 Email: greg.roche at facsia dot gov dot au I think the government's trying to rush this through before the election and it's got me very worried.

This one's for you mami . My waawa BW and muluri AP were hanging around a bit today and BW asked about SN. AP translated my reply into Waagilak: (note: i haven't checked my spelling and don't know how to put in Yolngu matha characters either. forgive!) Banggul'yurru ngay ngulbitj dhang, ngarndimuya (She's coming back cold season time, your mother). Then BW and AP told me what to say next: Barri ngay banggul'yurru babang' mirri nu (Might be she's coming back with your father) (That is, she might be bringing back a husband) And we all chuckled. Then the next bit was for my privelege: Ngarra ya yang'ngaraya nhina na baman'nu, birr (I've stayed here for a long time now, shit.) Ngarraya barri matha mirri nu banggul'yurru. (I might go back speaking language.) Too deadly eh? Thanks guys. :-)

[Update (Oct 2012): go here for a more recent post and video about pronouncing Ngukurr] Before I came to Ngukurr, I already had a good idea how ‘Ngukurr’ should be pronounced (because I’m a clever linguist). I remember laughing at a story I heard long before I came here of a white person who called this place ‘Nagooka’. That’s the worst mispronounciation I’ve heard of. Less worse, but still wrong, is what the majority of munanga say, which is ‘Nooka’. I hear some munanga say, ‘oh the g is silent’. The g isn’t silent, it’s there – it goes with the n . The ng is the same ng you get when you say ‘singing’. But in English, you don’t get the ng sound at the beginning of words, so most munanga have a very hard time hearing and saying the ng . Secondly, the two u s in Ngukurr are pronounced the same – like the u in ‘put’. But most munanga turn the second u into an ‘ah’ sound. Lastly – the double r . It’s not silent. It’s a rolled r , we don’t get that in English either...

Here I was starting to wonder if my job here is becoming a bit stale. Today was one of those not so exciting days where our main job was to scour the school roll, sorting kids into language groups and organising where, when and how to run our school classes… not really something I need my linguistic skills for, just a long-winded adminstrative task. But it’s funny how things can just turn around. Old F has been keen to work with these old Marra ladies (the world’s best Marra speakers) who are usually either at their remote outstation, or in Numbulwar (inaccesible this time of year). But she saw those old ladies here in Ngukurr today. And so at the end of the day, sick of my admin tasks, I went to Old F to see if she wanted to sit down with the two old ladies. And she did – she’s been hanging out to check the Marra materials she makes). So we went off to ask them. And it was the best ever! The three of them sat for an hour, speaking Marra 80% of the time. I sat there quietly, rec...

Hey, Has anyone looked into or had a go at contributing to Wikipedia? It looks like there's a bit of a rigmarole, but might be worth doing?

I got back to Ngukurr on Sunday. I actually felt like a real adventurer going deep into the wilds. I had to drive 40kms down a very soggy and muddy unsealed road until I got to 4mile boat ramp, on a very swollen Roper River. From there, a boat made the 1 hour trip up the Roper to get me and take me back to Ngukurr. And now I'm here, and I could be here for a couple of months because the roads will be cut for quite a while. So yes, I feel a bit like I'm in wild depths of Australia. (But not really, because this place is far from foreign for me now). So I'm straight back into work. The last few weeks, some of the language mob have been working with another lady. She's not a qualified linguist, but it was good to have her around to keep things moving along in my absence. And so the language mob had to work a bit more independently. Their task was to make a book about bush medicine. And they did a great job. R and A wrote short stories for about 10 bush medicine...