Felicity Meakins is a linguist specialising in Australian Indigenous languages,

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

and language contact, who was one of the first academics to describe

Gurindji Kriol Gurindji Kriol is a mixed language which is spoken by Gurindji people in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory (Australia). It is mostly spoken at Kalkaringi and Daguragu which are Aboriginal communities located on the traditi ...

. As of 2022, she is a professor at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

and Deputy Director of the University of Queensland node of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. She holds an ARC Future Fellowship focusing on

language evolution Evolutionary linguistics or Darwinian linguistics is a sociobiological approach to the study of language. Evolutionary linguists consider linguistics as a subfield of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. The approach is also closely linked ...

and contact processes across northern Australia.

Education and career

Meakins received her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Master of Arts at the

. She completed her master's thesis, ''Lashings of Tongue: A Relevance Theoretic Account of Impoliteness'', in 2001. Meakins earned her Ph.D. from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

in 2008 for her work with the Aboriginal Child Language Project. Rachel Nordlinger was main supervisor for Meakins' dissertation, ''Case-marking in contact: the development and function of case morphology in Gurindji Kriol, an Australian mixed language.'' A Professor at The University of Queensland, Australia, Mekins also serves as a chief investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL). Meakins and Patrick McConvell were the first linguists to describe

, a

mixed language A mixed language is a language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. It differs from a creole or pidgin language in that, whereas creoles/pidgin ...

which emerged in the

Kalkarindji Kalkaringi (formerly Wave Hill Welfare Settlement, also spelt Kalkarindji ) is a town and locality in the Northern Territory of Australia, located on the Buntine Highway about south of the territory capital of Darwin and located about south ...

community of northern Australia post-1970s. She has performed fieldwork and facilitated language revitalisation work in this region since 2001 and published extensive documentation of languages in the Ngumpin-Yapa family, including a grammar of Bilinarra and dictionaries of Bilinarra and Gurindji. Meakins has publicly advocated for greater awareness of Australian Indigenous languages, the benefits of bilingualism and bilingual education for Indigenous children, and Gurindji history. She has published several articles in ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Robe ...

'' (one of which has been republished in German), performed a TEDx talk and collaborated with Karungarni Arts and rangers from the Murnkurrumurnkurru Central Land Council. Her work chronicling Gurindji oral histories in particular attracted media attention around the fiftieth anniversary of the

Wave Hill walk-off The Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike, was a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, starting on 23 August 1966 and lasting for seven years. It took place at Wave Hill, a cattle stati ...

Awards

In June 2017 Meakins was awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship, a four-year mid-career award of $896,163, to focus on language evolution and contact processes across northern Australia. The purpose of Future Fellowships is "to attract and retain the best and brightest mid-career researchers". Meakins had previously received an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2014–2017) and two ARC Discovery Projects awards (2009–2013 and 2015–2018). In 2020 Meakins was elected Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Austr ...

(FASSA). The Kenneth L. Hale Award was awarded to Meakins in 2022, for her interdisciplinary work with Australian aboriginal communities in northern Australia, including helping with revitalization efforts.

Selected publications

Meakins has authored and edited more than fifty publications as of 2018.

Books

*''Introducing Linguistic Fieldwork''. Meakins, Felicity, Jennifer Green and Myfany Turpin. London: Routledge, 2018 *''Loss and Renewal: Australian Languages Since Colonisation''. Edited by Felicity Meakins and Carmel O'Shannessy Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton, 2016. * ''Mayarni-kari Yurrk: More Stories from Gurindji Country''. Edited by Erika Charola and Felicity Meakins Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Press, 2016. * ''Yijarni: True Stories from Gurindji Country''. Edited by Erika Charola and Felicity Meakins Canberra, Australia: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2016. * ''Kawarla: how to make a coolamon''. Wadrill, Violet, Wavehill Yamawurr, Biddy and Meakins, Felicity. Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Press, 2015. * ''A grammar of Bilinarra: an Australian Aboriginal language of the Northern Territory''. Meakins, Felicity and Nordlinger, Rachel. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter, 2014. * ''Bilinarra to English dictionary''. Meakins, Felicity. Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Press, 2013. * ''Gurindji to English dictionary''. Meakins, Felicity, McConvell, Patrick, Charola, Erika, McNair, Norm, McNair, Helen and Campbell, Lauren. Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Press, 2013. * ''Bilinarra, Gurindji and Malngin plants and animals: Aboriginal knowledge of flora and fauna from Judbarra/Gregory National Park, Nijburru, Kalkarindji and Daguragu, Northern Australia''. Hector, Ivy Kulngari, Jungurra Kalabidi, George, Banjo, Spider, Nangari Ngarnjal Dodd, Topsy, Jangala Wirrba Wavehill, Ronnie, Danbayarri, Dandy, Nanaku Wadrill, Violet, Puntiyarri, Bernard, Bernard Malyik, Ida, Wavehill, Biddy, Morris, Helen, Campbell, Lauren, Meakins, Felicity and Wightmann, Glenn. Katherine, NT, Australia: Bilinarra, Gurindji and Malngin People; Department of Land Resource Management, 2012. * ''Case-marking in contact: The development and function of case morphology in Gurindji Kriol''. Meakins, Felicity. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2011.

Other

* Meakins, Felicity (2014). Language contact varieties. In Harold Koch and Rachel Nordlinger (Ed.), ''The languages and linguistics of Australia: a comprehensive guide'' (pp. 365–416) Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783110279771.365 * Meakins, Felicity (2013)
Mixed languages
In Peter Bakker and Yaron Matras (Ed.), ''Contact languages: a comprehensive guide'' (pp. 159–228) Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. * Meakins, Felicity (2011)
Borrowing contextual inflection: evidence from northern Australia
''Morphology'', ''21'' 1: 57-87. doi:10.1007/s11525-010-9163-4

References

External links

*
Academia:Felicity Meakins
– Downloadable publications by Meakins
ngumpin.org.au
– Online dictionaries and language resources compiled by Meakins
Unlocking Science: Giving new life to old languages in Australia
– BBC Storyworks
Exhibition explores Wave Hill Walk-Off through Gurindji eyes

New Languages Spotlight

Talking book gives new voice to indigenous languages

Bilingual dictionary preserves Gurindji language

Yijarni: True Stories from Gurindji Country – a sad, marvellous historical canon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meakins, Felicity Linguists from Australia Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Linguists of Australian Aboriginal languages Women linguists Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia