News
Australian Indigenous languages descended from one common ancestor, researchers say
Findings from the research will have a significant impact on Australia’s cultural and linguistic history.
Tag: language
History & Culture
The health of Australian slang
Are we still using Aussie slang or is it a dying language?
History & Culture
Why old theories on Indigenous counting just won’t go away
There is plenty of evidence to show Australia’s Indigenous people had ways of counting big numbers, yet the myth persists they couldn’t count more than a handful of things. Why?
History & Culture
How oral cultures memorise so much information
How an ancient Aboriginal memory technique may uncover the meaning behind archaeological sites across the globe are revealed in a new book, The Memory Code.
History & Culture
Meet our dictionary’s new Indigenous words
Do you know a Bunji from a Boorie? Words from 100 Indigenous languages are in the new edition of the Australian National Dictionary – reflecting a heightened interest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
History & Culture
Computing gives us tools to preserve disappearing languages
A clever process similar to Google’s image search is helping to preserve some of the world’s 7000 languages that are at risk of disappearing.
History & Culture
Speaking up
Hundreds of languages were once spoken in Australia. Many have slipped from use, but an incredible revival is now awakening sleeping tongues across the nation.
History & Culture
The largest language spoken exclusively in Australia
Linguists estimate that up to 20,000 people speak Kriol across swathes of northern Australia.
History & Culture
How ‘slanguage’ helped form a new national identity
Many mainstream Aussie words like “digger” and even the word “Aussie” itself have their origins in the trenches of WWI.
History & Culture
Aussie lingo: Togs or swimmers?
Why Australians use different words to describe the same things.