1887
image of The description, documentation and revival of Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay

Abstract

Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay are Australian Indigenous languages which had almost totally fallen out of use, apart from a few words, and which are now being revived. The paper details the records and analyses of the languages and the current efforts to revive them. The most important sources of information include publications from 1860 onwards, and a number of unpublished materials. There are important sources from the 19th century, more detailed information from the first half of the 20th, while the period from 1950 to 1980 saw the most detailed information and analysis, benefiting from the greatly increased understanding of Australian Indigenous languages and the advent of tape recorders. From 1980 on work on the languages has consisted of revisiting the older sources to refine and expand the description of the languages, and more recently also lexical development, so they can be used to talk about new realities.

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2026-07-31
2026-08-16
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