Skip to main content

Ngukurr Language Centre logos

Over the past 18 months I've been doing a lot of work helping Ngukurr mob to get the Ngukurr Language Centre up and running again. I won't bore you with the details but will say that I'm pleased with lots of promising developments that have happening in 18 months. I'm really hoping that the Language Centre will be in full swing again by the end of the year. (All this is thanks to the dedicated elders and language workers in Ngukurr who are committed and passionate about working on their languages).

The one thing I did want to share are the flash new logos for the Ngukurr Language Centre. They are based on a painting that the Language Centre commissioned Ngukurr Arts to do. The Language Centre committee came up with the idea for the logo/painting: three specific kinds of trees. Mrs B Roberts then did a great little painting of them and then a professional graphic designer turned the painting into a set of three interchangeable logos. I was the middle-man helping make it all happen and am very pleased with the result:



This one is a shade tree called mirnija in Marra (Scientific name: Cathormion umbellatum).

This one is a freshwater mangrove called murrnganawu in Marra. (Scientific name: Barringtonia acutangula)
And this one is very recognisable as pandanus (Pandanus spiralis) aka mugarra (Marra), gunga (Wägilak), ma-gun.ga (Ngandi), maguj (Nunggubuyu), mu-rok (Ngalakgan) and dayarr (Rembarrnga)



What do you reckon? Okay, I know logos and graphic design don't necessarily directly lead to language revitalisation outcomes but hopefully it contributes to building a strong Ngukurr Language Centre which in turn will lead to it running lots of great language programs.

Nice work B, Scott, Ngukurr Arts and the Language Centre committee!

Oh and the Ngukurr Language Centre is on Facebook now too so you can go the page and 'like' it, if you ... well... like it. :-)

Comments

Anonymous said…
These look fantastic!

Popular posts from this blog

A conference, language policy and Aboriginal languages in Federal Parliament

The other day, I was priveleged in attending a TESOL symposium about 'Keeping Language Diversity Alive'. One of the speakers, Joseph Lo Bianco was excellent and discussed Language Policy. He gave a handout at one of his sessions that I'm going to type out in full here, because it was a real eye-opener. It's from the Official Hansard of the Federal Parliament from a debate that happened on 10/12/98. Here's how it went: Mr SNOWDON: My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware of the decision by the Northern Territory government to phase out bilingual education in Aboriginal schools? Is the Prime Minister also aware that his government funds bilingual education programs in Papua New Guinea and Vietnam? Prime Minister, given that article 26(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children, will you take a direct approach to the Norther

The pitiful state of Recommendation 11.6 of the NT Fracking (Pepper) Inquiry

Today the NT Government announced 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.  Most of the recommendations - and you can go through them all here:  Action items | Hydraulic Fracturing in the Northern Territory  - 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.  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: 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 ab

Subtle features of Aboriginal English that I love: agreeing or confirming by copying

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.  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 Aboriginal English(es) dips into some of that discussion - email me if you want a copy). For brevity's sake, let