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Australian Aboriginal Sign Languages
Many Australian Aboriginal cultures have or traditionally had a manually coded language, a sign language, signed counterpart of their oral language. This appears to be connected with various avoidance speech, speech taboos between certain kin or at particular times, such as during a mourning period for women or during initiation ceremonies for men, as was also the case with Caucasian Sign Language but not Plains Indian Sign Language, which did not involve speech taboo, or deaf sign languages, which are not encodings of oral language. There is some similarity between neighbouring groups and some contact pidgin similar to Plains Indian Sign Language in the American Great Plains. Sign languages appear to be most developed in areas with the most extensive speech taboos: the central desert (particularly among the Warlpiri people, Warlpiri and Warumungu), and western Cape York Peninsula, Cape York.Adam Kendon, Kendon, A. (1988) ''Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semi ...
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Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the list of countries and dependencies by area, sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and Climate of Australia, climates including deserts of Australia, deserts in the Outback, interior and forests of Australia, tropical rainforests along the Eastern states of Australia, coast. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, last glacial period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct l ...
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Torres Strait Islands
The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land area is . The Islands are inhabited by the indigenous Torres Strait Islanders. Lieutenant James Cook first claimed British sovereignty over the eastern part of Australia at Possession Island, Queensland, Possession Island in 1770, but British administrative control only began in the Torres Strait Islands in 1862. The islands are now mostly part of Queensland, a constituent State of the Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, but are administered by the Torres Strait Regional Authority, a statutory authority of the Australian federal government. A few islands very close to the coast of mainland New Guinea belong to the Western Province (Papua New Guinea), Western Province of Papua New Guinea, most importantly Daru Island and its provi ...
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Akitiri Sign Language
Akitiri Sign Language, also known as Eltye eltyarrenke (''hand signs''), is (or was) a highly developed Australian Aboriginal sign language used by the Kaytetye people of northern Australia. Kendon, A. (1988) ''Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 60 References Bibliography * Hale, Ken (c1960s), Original handwritten lexical list, 3pp.; ''notes on ‘Kaititj: akitiri sign language’,'' 3pp. in IATSIS library, MS 4114 Miscellaneous Australian notes of Kenneth L. Hale, Series 2 Barkly Tablelands language material, item 1-2 Wampaya ambaya (C19) Australian Aboriginal Sign Language family Arandic languages {{ia-lang-stub ...
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Jaralde Sign Language
Ngarrindjeri, also written Narrinyeri, Ngarinyeri and other variants, is the language of the Ngarrindjeri and related peoples of southern South Australia. Five dialects have been distinguished by a 2002 study: Warki, Tanganekald, Ramindjeri, Portaulun and Yaraldi (or Yaralde Tingar). Ngarrindjerri is Pama–Nyungan. McDonald (2002) distinguishes five dialects: Warki, Tanganekald, Ramindjeri, Portaulun and Yaraldi. Bowern (2011) lists the Yaraldi, Ngarrindjeri, and Ramindjeri varieties as separate languages. Tanganekald, also known as Thangal, is now extinct. Name Linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann suggests that the original pronunciation of ''Ngarrindjeri'' had two distinct rhotic consonants: the first was ''rr'' (as in Italian) and the second was ''r'' (as in English). Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2020), ''Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond''Oxford University Press / However, in revitalized Ngarrindjeri, both rhotics "are pronounce ...
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Djingili Sign Language
Jingulu, also spelt Djingili, is an Australian language spoken by the Jingili people in the Northern Territory of Australia, historically around the township of Elliot. The language is an isolate branch of the Mirndi languages. The Jingulu have (or had) a well-developed signed form of their language. Background and location Other languages spoken in the West Barkly family include Wambaya, Gudanji, Binbinka, and Ngarnka. When the Mudburra people arrived to the region where the Jingili live, a cultural fusion group arose named Kuwarrangu, while the Jingilu and Mudburra cultures still remained separate. Based on geographical proximity, the Jingili and other ethnic groups have related languages with common vocabulary. Jingulu was historically spoken around the township of Elliot. Speakers and status Jingulu has an Ethnologue classification of moribund, meaning that it is an endangered language, with only between 10 and 15 speakers in 1997, /sup> the youngest being in ...
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Dieri Sign Language
Diyari () or Dieri () is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Diyari people in the far north of South Australia, to the east of Lake Eyre. It was studied by German Lutheran missionaries who translated Christian works into the language in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so that it developed an extensive written form. Only a few fluent speakers of Diyari remained by the early 21st century, but a dictionary and grammar of the language was produced by linguist Peter K. Austin, and there is a project under way to teach it in schools. Related languages Sign language The Diyari had a highly developed sign language. This was first noticed by Alfred William Howitt in 1891, who first mistook them for defiant or command gestures until he then realised that they formed part of an integral system of hand signs, of which he registered 65. One of their functions was to allow women to communicate during mourning, when a speech taboo prevailed. Dialects Dhirari (extinct l ...
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La Mont West
La Mont West Jr. (July 2, 1930 – 2022) was an American anthropologist. He received his PhD in anthropology from Indiana University in 1960. He specialized in sign languages, which he studied among Native American Indians and Aboriginal Australians. Career West was born in Southwest City, Missouri on July 2, 1930. He attended Cornell University, majoring in economics, from September 1947 to February 1951, and also from February 1955 to June 1955. He attended Indiana University as a PhD candidate, majoring in anthropology, and became a protégé of Charles F. Voegelin, his doctoral supervisor, and Alfred L. Kroeber, who were concerned with the neglect suffered by the topic since the late 19th century. He was at Indiana University from June 1955 to June 1959, doing field work among Plains Indians, the results of which were published with his doctoral dissertation, entitled "The Sign Language, An Analysis," a study of Plains Indian Sign Language, which was the most sophisticated ...
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Yarrabah, Queensland
Yarrabah (traditionally ''Jarrabah'' in the Gunggandji language spoken by the indigenous Gungganyji, Gunggandji people) is a coastal town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Yarrabah, Queensland, Australia. It is an Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal community. In the , the locality of Yarrabah had a population of 2,505 people. Geography The town is about by road from Cairns CBD on Cape Grafton. It is by direct-line distance, but is geographically separated from Cairns CBD by the Murray Prior Range and Trinity Inlet, an inlet of the Coral Sea. History Gunggay language, Gunggay (also known as Gunggandji, Kongandji, Kongkandji, Gungganyji, Idindji and Yidiny) is an Aboriginal language of Far North Queensland. The Gunggay language region of Cape Grafton includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Cairns Regional Council and Yarrabah Council. An Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican church missionary, Ernest G ...
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Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf Country. The waters of Torres Strait include the only international border in the area contiguous with the Australian mainland, between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The region is home to three World Heritage Sites, the Great Barrier Reef, the Wet Tropics of Queensland and Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh), Riversleigh, Australia's largest fossil mammal site. Far North Queensland lays claim to over 70 national parks, including Mount Bartle Frere; with a peak of it is the highest peak in both Northern Australia and Queensland. The Far North region is the only region of Australia that is the indigenous country of both Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. Far ...
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Auslan
Auslan (; an abbreviation of Australian Sign Language) is the sign language used by the majority of the Australian Deaf community. Auslan is related to British Sign Language (BSL) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL); the three have descended from the same proto-language, parent language, and together comprise the BANZSL language family. As with other sign languages, Auslan's grammar and vocabulary is quite different from spoken English language, English. Its origin cannot be attributed to any individual; rather, it is a natural language that emerged spontaneously and has changed over time. Recognition and status Auslan was Recognition of sign languages, recognised by the Australian government as a "community language other than English" and the preferred language of the Deaf community in policy statements in 1987 and 1991. However, this recognition has yet to filter through to many institutions, government departments, and professionals who work with deaf people. The emerging ...
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Torres Strait Islander
Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped with them as Indigenous Australians. Today, many more Torres Strait Islander people live in mainland Australia than on the Islands. Five distinct peoples exist within the broader designation of Torres Strait Islander people, based partly on geographical and cultural divisions. Kalaw Lagaw Ya and Meriam Mir comprise the two main Indigenous language groups; Torres Strait Creole is also widely spoken as a language of trade and commerce. The core of Island culture is Indigenous people of New Guinea, Papuan, and the people are traditionally a seafaring nation. The Torres Islanders exhibit a strong artistic culture, particularly in sculpture, printmaking, and mask-making. Demographics Of the 133 islands ...
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