that munanga linguist

My recollection of being first taught the Kriol word wangulu 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. The basic definition I learned - orphan - 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... I started thinking about the word wangulu 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 wangulu but the person who 'brought' ...

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!): 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 Nue Dae’s Uncle Tadpole (Kershaw, Isaac & Perkins 2009). The context of (9) is Uncle Tadpole telling his nephew to pursue his crush but ...

I've just finished a little trilogy of videos on Roper Kriol - more specifically on a few words in Roper Kriol that don't come from English. I really like these little videos, although I'm a total novice at video editing (please offers suggestions on how to improve them next time!). Each one describes three words that all Kriol speakers in Ngukurr know, but English speakers wouldn't recognise at all. The two guys on the videos, Kamahl and Dwayne, are just brilliant. They were great at describing and acting out these words and it was all done totally spur-of-the-moment. The poor quality is because I recorded them quickly on my iPhone but luckily Dwayne was using my ZoomH2 digital recorder so at least the sound quality is pretty good. And the words themselves I find really interesting (more on that below). I hope you enjoy the vids: Here's part 1, featuring the words moi , gubarl and ngum : Part 2 features the words ngarra , waranga and dinggal-dinggal : ...

Here's a crazy scene : two guys outside a beachside shopping centre. One guy is harassing the other one for money. The guy being harassed announces he's a cop so the first guy gets spooked, runs off into the bush and subsequently strips off and goes into the water. He eventually gets caught and does what could only be described as the ultimate walk of shame: stark naked, trailing a cop, as you go off to be held in police custody. Now, if you were someone who witnessed this scene, wouldn't it sound a bit odd to describe it like this: "I was laughing to myself because it was the first time I have seen people naked." Why say there were naked people , when there was only one? Why would an adult not have ever seen a person or people naked before, as the quote implies? The answer lies in that the term people  used here is a euphemism for Aboriginal person/ people. What the above quote really means is " ...it was the first time I have seen an Aboriginal per...