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Visisbility boosts strength of northern Indigenous language
There are only 250 residents in the small tropical community of Minjilang on Crocker Island off Australia 's northern coast … but between them they speak at least four languages.
The Iwaidja language, which is one of the four, has been around since the ancestral being, Warramurrungunji, is believed to have reached the Australian mainland and given birth to Indigenous people and their languages.
In fact Iwaidja country is where local elders say Warramurrungunji first reached Australia .
Despite its long history, the Iwaidja language has been spoken less and less in recent times and that's a trend that worries many Iwaidja elders.
English and Indigenous languages like Kunuwinjku and Mawng (which were written down by missionaries in the early 1900 s) are becoming more widely spoken and have been edging Iwaidja into the background.
‘Iwaidja is our first language and English is our second language but our kids come back home from college and they won't listen to us, they just want to speak English,' said Minjilang language consultant Joy Williams Malwagag. ‘They're losing their language, they're losing their culture.'
The community started looking for ways to turn things around and keep the Iwaidja language strong. They were successful, help arrived from several sources and the language has now been recorded on CDs and in print.
The German-based Volkswagen Foundation, which has been supporting endangered languages in Asia, America , New Guinea and Europe for the past six years, provided funds to produce an Iwaidja dictionary and a digital archive of oral texts and music.
Then, in 2004, the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education in Darwin agreed to auspice a Minjilang Endangered Languages Publishing Program. The institute obtained funding from the Australian Government's Maintenance of Indigenous Languages and Records (MILR) program.
Sabine Hoeng, the co-ordinator of the Endangered Languages Publishing Program, says the new project has made the digital recordings of Iwaidja, that were created under the Volkswagen Foundation program, more accessible through CDs, books and posters.
‘Iwaidja had always been a purely oral language and now it is starting to stand up beside stronger written languages, because it has been written down and is readable on computer screens,' Hoeng said.
An equal footing
The Minjilang community is well aware that establishing written records of their language has been an important step in placing Iwaidja on an equal footing with other more dominant languages.
‘The new Iwaidja language resources are supporting the transition of Iwaidja from an oral to a written and oral language,' says Bruce Birch consulting linguist with the Minjilang community.
‘Iwaidja becoming visible through the written word has reinforced the older people's hope for the language … hope that it may gain in strength and recognition.'
‘This is a new start—being able to read their own language—the appreciation is enormous and they are taking these publications around their community with pride.'
The Minjaling community has produced CDs, a poster and three traditional children's story books with MILR program support.
The CD— Jurtbirrk–Love Songs from North West Arnhem Land —has just won the 2005 Northern Territory Traditional Music and Best Artwork and Design Awards.
It is a unique CD of love songs performed by North West Arnhem Land men, unadapted for western ears. It's accompanied by a booklet that talks about the songs, the singers and their country, and provides song texts and music scripts.
The CDs are proudly played in Minjilang and other Arnhem Land communities and are selling well to a burgeoning Japanese tourist market and to other visitors to Iwaidja country.
Skinnyfish Music is distributing the CD in Australia and internationally and Jurtbirrk–Love Songs from North West Arnhem Land can be purchased from their website www.skinnyfishmusic.com.au
All Endangered Languages Publishing Program publications can be purchased through Batchelor Press.
Tel: 08 8939 7352 Email: batchelorpress@batchelor.edu.au
The Australian Government Maintenance of Indigenous Languages and Records program supports Indigenous communities to maintain and revive their languages.
For more information on the program visit www.dcita.gov.au/indig