!"#$%&'("$)!"*)+$%&$,+*+%)-&$,#&,+.) ) OGMIOS The message on a postcard advocating for the protection of language rights in Australia’s Northern Territory (Page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he Austronesian Languages......................................... 19! LW'()#$*+#%6 3! Immersion – a film on endangered languages ............... 19! Cover Story: Northern Territory’s small languages sidelined from schools ...................................................... 3! RW'\6%/4"'$*'2*'*&'$74'S41 20! NW! =4T46*:M4&$'*@'$74'A*.&)%$#*& 4! Irish upside down............................................................ 20! Resolution of the FEL XIII Conference, Khorog, Tajikistan, OW'A*+$7/*M#&2'4T4&$" 21! 26, September, 2009 ........................................................ 4! HRELP Workshop: Endangered Languages, endangered FEL and UNESCO Atlas partnership................................ 4! knowledge & sustainability.............................................. 21! 2009 FEL grants announced ............................................ 4! Multilingualism and Education conference..................... 21! Tajikistan: Quake leaves hundreds homeless.................. 6! Symposium on Stabilizing Indigenous Languages – and other conferences........................................................... 22! KW! (&)%&24+4)'X%&2.%24"'#&'$74'C4G" 6! International Summer School on Language In China, the Forgotten Manchu Seek to Rekindle Their Documentation and Description...................................... 22! Glory ................................................................................. 6! Conference on Endangered Languages and Cultures of Strange sounds at minority languages song contest........ 8! Native America................................................................ 22! The Cosmopolitan Tongue: The Universality of English.. 9! Workshop on the Languages of Papua Melanesian Advertisers find a new voice in historic campaign.......... 11! languages on the edge of Asia: past, present and future23! Survey says 70% of Colombia’s ethnic groups still speak LIW'D1#$.%+#4" ! native languages............................................................. 11! 23 Aboriginal identity threatened through loss of language 12! Front cover: The image (© Yambirrpa School Council, NT, Language of power is focus in legal action over sackings Aus.) is of the postcard now being distributed by groups ........................................................................................ 12! in Australia supporting bilingual education. The back of Ancient tongue sits on the brink of extinction................. 13! the postcard is below, addressed to Australia’s Minister Language is power; let us have ours.............................. 14! for Education and Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. HW'!::4%6"8'C4G"'%&)'Z#4G"'@+*M'(&)%&24+4)' 0*MM.&#$#4" 15! We are not going to surrender’ ....................................... 15! Trace Foundation............................................................ 15! UW! !66#4)'<*/#4$#4"'%&)'!/$#T#$#4" 15! AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples........................................................................... 15! Consortium on Training in Language Documentation and Conservation................................................................... 16! [W! X4$$4+"'$*'$74'()#$*+ 17! Linguistic diversity and official languages....................... 17! FEL grant leads to successful publication...................... 17! PW! \.16#/%$#*&"8'5**Y'34T#4G" 17! L’ethnologue nouveau est arrivé!.................................... 17! Kalenjin-English Dictionary............................................. 18! OGMIOS 40 Newsletter of Foundation for Endangered Languages 31st December 2009 Another symposium attendee and Rembarrnga speaker, Miliwanga LW'()#$*+#%6' Sandy, was quoted on a national news website blog: The Foundation can look back with satisfaction on FEL XIII as an- other successful annual international conference. As I said in the “What we want is both-way teaching in the school – not only for two previous issue, this was to be one of the most logistically challenging hours a week but everyday there should be both-way teaching…That conferences we have held to date, being held in Khorog (locally policy of speaking English only at the school is the wrong thing – it known as Khorugh), the cultural centre of the Pamir Mountain region is not good for our children … they will forget their language” (in of Tajikistan, situated in the far southeast of the country on the Panj Gosford, 2009) river bordering Afghanistan. Foreign participants in this conference are unlikely ever to forget the magnificent sights along the 560-km. The NT Government has continued to refuse to heed the calls of In- overland journey from Dushanbe to Khorog. And the conference digenous constituents, expert advice and research, all espousing the itself, held in the State Hall in the centre of Khorog, lived up to the benefits of bilingual education. A national current affairs television expectation of a packed and interesting programme. For the first time program, Four Corners, highlighted the issue in a special edition, in our history, this was a trilingual conference – English, Russian and broadcast in September 2009. Despite the fact that there are thou- Tajik were the equal working languages of the conference, and for sands of children speaking Indigenous languages as their mother reasons of time it was not possible to provide simultaneous interpre- tongue in the NT, the head of the Department of Education claimed tation from one into the other two – although our redoubtable confer- that English is “the language of learning, the language of living” ence chairman Hakim Elnazarov, apparently equally at home in all (Australian Broadcasting Commission, 2009). At least one school three (as well as the local Shughnani) kept us all abreast of what was has chosen to ignore the “4 Hours” policy, with Yirrkala CEC chair- being said. The Proceedings volume, which appeared during the con- person Djuwalpi Marika stating: ference, was actually quadrilingual (adding Dari in Persian script), “They want to try to westernise Yol!u people, they want to leave us with English abstracts throughout. One of the greatest benefits of our in the mainstream culture like a white man... We’ll ignore him. annual conferences is the making of new friends, even across lan- We’ll ignore him.” (ibid 2009). guage barriers, and FEL can now count many Tajik linguists among its members. The excursion, on the Sunday after the conference, took Others persist with the struggle to overturn the government policy us to the Kushana fort of Qahqaha (early first millennium AD), and limiting Indigenous language education. Lobbying has come from one of the two villages, deeper in the Pamirs on the southern border church leaders, Indigenous leaders, educators, linguists and more. of Tajikistan, where the Ishkashimi language is still spoken: we were Petitions, postcard campaigns (as featured on this edition’s front given a warm welcome and festive meal by our local hosts. cover) and internet lobbying on popular sites such as Facebook and Google have all helped to raise awareness, but are yet to affect gov- As usual, FEL held its Annual General Meeting during the confer- ernment policy. ence, and in the elections the present committee was elected (mostly re-elected) unopposed, with addition of some new co-opted members. The concerns of the effect of the “4 Hours of English” policy on the remaining Indigenous languages in the Northern Territory are on- Your Editor has been travelling again, to international conferences on going and deep seated, exemplified by Warlpiri elder Jerry Patrick subjects of interest to FEL members, in India and the USA, which Jangala’s comment on national television: appear here under separate headings. “Look like we going to lose our culture yes, and our law too… Yeah, Chris Moseley really bad thing for us because we if we lose that we got no anything to say, no. We have to close our mouth all the time.” (ibid 2009). Cover Story: Northern Territory’s small Further information languages sidelined from schools Going Back To Lajamanu - Four Corners program (videos, tran- scripts, print media): Greg Dickson, Centre for Australian Languages and Linguistics, http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2009/s2683288.htm Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education Bilingual Education in the Northern Territory: Principles, policy and It’s been over a year since the government of the Northern Territory practice AIATSIS Research Symposium. Audio and video files avail- (NT), Australia developed a policy mandating English-only teaching able at: http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research/symposiaAV.html for the first four hours of every school day in all schools. Previously, Supporters of Bilingual Education in the Northern Territory Face-