LSA

I'll be at the LSA in Albuquerque from Wednesday evening to Sunday. It looks like it'll be a great program this year. Lots of endangered language programs, for example, including sessions on documentation, audio/video recording tips, transcription, a film screening, and a session with community representatives and their views of revitalisation.

The obligatory Happy Year Post

Happy New Year to all!

Actions of Linguists

My field methods book includes a section on linguist/community relations, and I am in the process of compiling a list of the most common actions which lead to tensions between the linguist and consultant. Please help me add to it!

This section was written on the basis of things I have been told by my consultants. There are some things that linguistic consultants tend to be annoyed by, and things that make them uncomfortable. I would argue that these are actually things that everyone gets annoyed by. No one likes being disbelieved, or constantly being interrupted, or patronised.

• Not being given time to answer. It’s important, once you’ve asked a question, to give the consultant time to answer it. Rephrasing the question if it’s unclear is worth doing, but don’t keep talking. If you move onto another question, be clear you’re doing so, it can be confusing if you have gone to ask another question but the consultant thinks you are still talking about the previous topic.
• Not being believed, or being contradicted. If you are going to the trouble to answer the question, it’s because you don’t know the answer and you think the consultant does. Therefore be careful that you do not contradict the consultant, even if you think they have said something for which you have evidence to the contrary. You may want to follow up on what they say, and ask more questions if you think you are not getting the full story, but there are ways to do this without being objectionable.
• The linguist not making the effort to listen to the consultant and understand what’s going on (e.g. not writing things down that are important – cf Mithun (2001) and Rice (2001).
• Broken promises. This is part of a wider problem, I suspect, of race relations in Australia. People of European descent have a widespread reputation of breaking promises or not meaning what they say. This can be a bit of a minefield, but it’s therefore especially important that you follow through with all promises to the best of your ability, and don’t promise things you can’t deliver. This is also applicable to promises regarding confidentiality of data and anonymity of consultants.
• Being patronised. This is particularly an issue when there is a big difference in education levels between the linguist and the consultant (e.g. university faculty versus someone who’s never been to school). You’re on familiar ground with recorders, writing and linguistic analysis, but it might be very foreign to the consultant. Don’t be patronising.
• Being bored. Don’t assume that things that you find fascinating will hold the same level of interest for your consultant. You can avoid this by working with several different people and working on topics that suit the different people, by not working for too long in any particular session, by being sensitive to what your consultants want to work on, and so on (all the things that we have discussed in the previous chapters).
• Not seeing results. The linguist does all this work and then goes away and the people who worked with the linguist never see any of it. That’s a point that came up over and over again with a few researchers some of the ladies had worked with, and it was a point of praise for several others who had worked on Bardi in the past.
• Having decisions made by the linguist which are not theirs to make. For example, questions about orthographies, publication of materials, and the like are not ultimately up to the linguist - it's not their language. As a linguist you have training in documentation. This should let you to provide the community with information about various alternatives (e.g. the advantages and disadvantages of choosing one type of orthography over another) but it isn't the linguist's job to make the final decision.

[I have other sections on cultural theft.]

Other blog is down

As you can see, someone's turned off the power to the server running the sql database for blogs.rice.edu. So I guess we're back here for the near future (or more permanently if I decide that blog.rice.edu has gone down just once too often).

CDU Library - Libraries and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Protocols

back to other blog

This version of anggarrgoon is going back to hiatus now, since the Rice site is up.

All fine

William and I are fine, the main force of the hurricane passed considerably east of here and our local area (aka what we can see from the window) has only minor damage - some branches down, some branches stripped of leaves, and some wet carpet where the windows leaked. We lost power a few times briefly, but all in all we were very lucky. It's still very windy so we aren't going anywhere for the moment, given the angle of the power lines we can see.

I'll be moving back to blogs.rice.edu/bowern when the server's back up, although it might take a while for things to get back to normal (I packed up most of my apartment and moved lots of things in my office), and the time has come to make high-quality digital photographs or scans of all my fieldnotes so that "next time" I can pack up without the 3 days of stress about what might happen to the originals and whether the current backups are adequate.

ah Houston

The weather's great, pollution's down, just a few whispy clouds. A few people were out running yesterday, and the Houston Chronicle mentioned in passing in a story that someone was boarding up windows while his friend was wielding a leaf-blower. Yes, 24 hours before land-fall of a category 4 hurricane with 100 miles, someone is leaf-blowing.

In honour of the occasion, a cyclone story from North Australia. One is from N. Isaac, about her father. I don't have time for a detailed explanation, but it's tied up with her father's status as a doctor man (kind of similar to "shaman", mutatis mutandis). This is the prose version of some of the events which are the subject of Blly Ah Choo's ilma. There are some pictures of the dance paraphernalia and a brief explanation here.

Ngay moorrooloomarr ngay. Arroodoo irrjarmilj inalabanamoorda ngay, Roy, Tom.

This story happened when I was little. There were three of us; me, Roy and Tom.

Gooyarrajinirr aala gala boordijordirr, LovelyAnn agal ara.

There were two other, older children, LovelyAnn and another one (who has now passed away).

Gamininyarr ingarralananirr, irralboora injoonalbalirr gooyarra, arroodoo minyjin angarralana. Tom milarra roowil innyana.

Two of us went with our grandmother. Tom went elsewhere for a while.

Aralga, “barda arr ngandan ngoorrij goorlilngan,” injoonoojin birijard gooloonimjard.

One day, our father said to our mother, “Tomorrow I’ll go for turtle.”

Baaligid injarrmin mooyoon gaalwanyarr. Ginyinggon gaalwanyarr bardo nyoonoo, bornkonyib injoon aalga ginyingg nyoonoo gaalwanyarr barda.

He got up in the morning and went off with his raft.

Iwanyigo barda injoonoo nyoonoo, inganana Gardiny.

He went from Sunday Island and came this way, then he stopped on Swan Island.

Oondoordoo ninga boora ginyinggalboora lalin.

It was married turtle time, lalin time,

Inganan injalana oondoord bardab.

He saw where a pair of turtles were

Inoongoorribin inamboon, inamana garndi.

He chased them, speared one and put it up on top (of the raft).

Biila boor injalanajin ara, gooyarrangan manjanirr barda.

He also saw another one, and went to get this second one.

Injalanana biila balab, inoongoorribin biila inamboonoo gala, inamboonoo gooyarra.

He saw it too, and chased it and speared it dead, that second one.

Nyalabgid riyar injoonoo gala joordarrar, nyalab o, darr inarna Biyana.

He paddled, drifting with the tide, and arrived at Biyana.

Ingarral injalanirr jiib ingarranana Joondoowarr agal Iman, “Balab jirr yo, janamboorgoord darr minar,” ingirrinijin.

He saw Joondoowarr and Iman moving. “Where are you going?” they asked him.

“Arra gala arr ngandan barda booroo iyoordinjan gaarra yanboorany injij gala bardamba arr nganki,” injoonoojin.

“Oh, I’m coming in on the tide this way, I’m going over the other side,” he said.

“Arra dii anib,” ingirrinijin, ingarrana dii.

“Have a cup of tea,” they said. They gave him tea.

Ginyinggon yar injoonoo barda gala yanboorany gaarra gala dirray imbanjin barda injoordinan.

Then he paddled on to the other side, then the tide turned and started going out.

Nyoon injoonoo barda barr nyoonoo min, “Mardojo jarrgany ngankam,” injoonoojin.

Then he thought to himself, “I’ll cross over from Mardaj.”

Nyalab injalana janjal way innyanajin.

Then he saw a tropical storm coming up.

Ginyinggon inoongooloongool bard jooroornim agal oolanim inggalalan boolngoorroo Jayirri agal Jalan.

Then the wind and water hit him, and followed him between Jayirri and Jalan.

Bard injoonoo, nyinmin jin “Oonggalgoon goona alngarda daaba ngankiny,” injoonoojin.

He went off and said to himself, “I’ll climb into the backwater behind Oonggalgoon.”

Nyalab way innyanajin barrboogoon.

Then a storm from the East came up on him.

Inoongooloonagid barda jarranymadan. Nyoonoomb inoongooloona gaarra ginyinggi goorlil gala inoongooloonirr gala ninga mooyoon ninga inamboonarrirr.

It threw him this way. It hit the water and the turtle until morning.

Nyoonoo... jarranyjarrany gala boolngoorroo jiiba, barni Joowanan Moorroodooloon nyinkidi Gardiny boolngoorroo.

Now, he went right out to the open sea; between Joowanan and Moorroodooloon and Gardiny (Swan Point).

Inangganan yanboorany gala inggardin jin aalga.

When the sun set, he was over the other side.

Nyoonoo inanggana barda nyoon Gooljimankid nyoonoo doob injiidinan noorroo mara nyoonoo, inanggalana jarrany.

The lighthouse at Gooljiman was flashing far away - he was out in the open sea.

Nyalab iniminjina gala gaalwa arjin joonyjoljinirr. Joonyjol gala inoonggoordalanirr nirronggorrol gard inanggananirr.

He looked after his raft and the joonyjol (the bottom part of the raft). The joonyjol was gone but his still had the nirronggorrol (the top part that comes off for dugong).

Gambana gal injalgoon oolanim iniminyjin gaarranim alalgoordnim.

He lost his paddle, the water and the wind and the sea really beat him.

Nyalabmadan dirray imbanyjin gaarra nyalabmadan arr injoonana gala, gaarranim inangganan.

Then the water turned him around and he was swept back.

Arrijin gambani yarngan.

He didn’t have a paddle to row with.

Nyoon inangganana nyalab jarr injalana jiiba loo anggooboor. Nyinba injalana.

Then it brought him this way, and he saw the big tidal current. He saw it there.

Barnimin gardilba jardagarr injoonjin ginyingg joorrboongan mayoon barda, arra inggalalan niimbala, gaara ginyinggi Oorroondoon, ranamba lool iyardin ambooriny, arra gorna gaara ginyinggi.

He thought it was a sand bank to land on, but it wasn’t. As soon as he put his feet into it, straightaway he sank; it was quicksand. It wasn’t good sand.

Barda boogoonngan ngooboo gaara.

He sank into the really soft sand.

Joomboor inggardin nilar, lagal ingganyina garndi.

He went in up to his calf, then he climbed out.

Manyardnim alig injoona iniibinan oola garndiyoonb ooly inarnan.

He was really thirsty, and the water was pouring down.

Nyalab inanggarndi biilab nyalab injoon biil anggooboor, Gardiny nyalab.

This way he went, he passed Gardiny.

Nirirr jarr injoonoo o:

He stopped nearby

Bardigid inanggana gala nyoon Iwanyko loo barda.

He came back on the big current that goes through Iwany.

Injoonoo nyoonoo.

He did this.

Boolginyi Ralooraloo barda injoonoo.

He passed Boolginy and Ralooraloo.

Nyoonoomin barda dirray inarna.

Then he got turned round.

Giidagoonb injoonoo.

He went past Giidagoon.

Lool inggardin boogoonkony bardamadan inanggan gaarranim biila.

The tide brought him back on the inside.

Nirirr jarra Lirringg injoonoo barda.

Lirringg was close by.

Nyoonoo Arragoolgoonko morr injoonoo bard gard inangganana, arrijin gamban daaba bool innyan agal ginyinggala loogal injoon gaarra, rarrban garrard ninga injarrmina.

Now it took him down the passage from Arragoolgoon, but he didn’t have a paddle to steer to the shore with and it was a bad tide, the sun was just coming up.

Ariyoon aalga jamb joodinykom arinyji mooyoo gardamb inanggalanan gaarragoon gardamb loogal injoon.

He’d been at sea for a day and he felt really bad.

Nilarnimid niimala gala imbanyini.

His legs and hands were really bad.

Bard inanggananirr jarr o: Irrgarnkilgoon morr injoonoo barda.

He was on the way to Irrgankilgoon.

Nyoonoo Goondoorrngan injoonoo nyalab, Jaany Ombornon roorrbroorrb inimbinirr booroo.

Now here was Goondoorrngan, he passed Jaany Ombornon.

Daabangan manyin gala arra nimoonggoon, “arra daaba ngaliny,” injoonoojin.

He didn’t know how to climb up, “I can’t climb up,” he thought.

Bardamin lool inggardin nyoonoo Garnanan, anggi binbirr inkarnyina garndi jinirr gaalwa goolboon.

Next he entered Garnanan, he drifted into this place and got his raft onto a rock.

“Jarri gardo daab ngannya.” Yardab injoonoo barda ingalandan garragarr inimbin nilar.

“I’ll go ashore here.” He climbed ashore here and sat down and rubbed his legs to stop the pain.

Garragarr inimbirr ginyinggo daab innyana garrinngan.

He rubbed his legs and then he climbed up to the hill.

Nyoonoo injoonoo garrin baawanim darr inarnanajin, moorrooloonim baawa raya “jibarna angajima bardag.” Injoonoojin, gidigid.

As he got to the top of the hill a child came up, a little child, a raya. “Hit this tree”? it was the Kimberley heath.

Barn inangangajiman jarra inyjalarna oola, inibin

He beat the heath and saw the water, he drank

Inibin, injoolooloogoon nilirr. Inibin, roowil innyan birarr inoonoong ginyingg baawanim.

He drank and rinsed out his mouth. He drank some more, and then he walked, he walked behind the child.

Roowil innyan nyalabo, yoorr inaman jarri Jawanan morr nyalab. Jarr gala rarrb injoonanjirr booroo ginyingg.

He walked this way, and came down at Jawanan road. It was sunrise.

Man gard arr ingirrinana, Mandirr agal Ngarrab bard arr ingarrinan ginyinggi jinarr irrmoorr.

While he was still coming up this way, Mandirr and Ngarrab saw him coming. They were my father’s aunties (my father’s father’s sisters).

Ngaynim jan gooloo jina irrmoorra baanigarr gorna balab ingirrinana, arranga daag mayoon goolin, agal Billy biila.

They were really pleased to see him, as they hadn’t been able to go to sleep (the previous night), and Billy (Ah Choo) was there too.

Nyalab gala rarrb injoonan booroo.

Then the sun rose.

Nyalab injalana birrinim jard, “Ay, barnanggargij darrb minar,” injoonoojin.

Our mother saw him. “Oh, you’ve come back!” she said.

“Arra nganngan ngalamarri ngaamanyi loogal injigal,” injoonoojin.

“I can’t talk, my throat’s bad,” he said.

“Gala daaga ngankiya banjarra,” injoonoo.

“I’ll go to sleep straightaway now,” he said.

Niimana arra oolangan garn inoonggoodalana nimanyijin.

He hadn’t drunk water for a long time, so he lost his voice.

Inyjalgoon daag injoon nyalab darr ingirranajinirr irrmoorr “arra gala darr inarij barnanggarrgij,” injoonoojirr.

He slept and his aunts came past and said, “he just came back today.”

Jagoord ingirrin. Ginyinggambin loogal jamb inganan iilan ginyinggi, gaarranim loogal inamana, iilan jamb inganana arinyjalga aramb aalga ingimilin gorna.

They returned. The sea water had made him feel bad, but the next day he woke up good.

Gala.

That’s the end.

Liyan nganman ginyinggi milimil ngajana gooloo jina jawal.

I want my father’s story on paper.

Because, gooloo jana ngaynim janirr baawa gala irrmoonggoon barn irrnim jirrirr aala, liyan nganman man irrmoonggoonngan mayoon agal ngaynim janirr golagamardirr jirrirr baawa goonamadan.

I want this so my children can know about my father, and their children after; I want them to know about it.

Ginyingginimngan irrmoonggoon mayoon irrmoonggoonjamb oonkiy ginyinggi anggi jawal ginyinggi jiib ngaybi jan gooloo ngoorgoo inanggan.

They will know it, so the story will be passed on to their children, about how my father drifted with the tide.

Irrmoonggoonngan mayoon mayilnganngan ngarrigiji ngaynim janirr boonyja barda ngaybi janirr baawa agal baawa jirrirr bardamadan lardamadanngan irrmoonggoon mayoon.

They will know it and then all my descendents will know about my father, on and on down the generations.