Dear Jen,
"A language expires on average every two years in Australia, and every
fortnight worldwide. Of the 250-odd Aboriginal languages (comprising up to
700 dialects) spoken at the time of colonisation, each as different from
the other as English and Dutch, some 55 have already gone, and the rate of
extinction has never been higher."
When I studied Aboriginal linguistics back in 1981, I learned all
about those stats. However, I'm sure that many more than 55 have already
gone. One of the main functions of our studies was to firstly learn the
various phonetics in order to simply get languages recorded and transcribed
accurately BEFORE they were lost.
One of the most interesting aspects of Aborignal languages I found, was
that there are actually 23 "families" of those languages - that is as
distinct as Teutonic, Romantic and Slavic languages. However, if you draw a
line from Cairns in Nth Queensland due west across to the Kimberleys, 22 of
those families are NORTH of that line. The one huge family south of that
line which covers more than 3/4 of Australia is known as the Pama Nyungan
family.
Another little tid-bit I recall having a great deal of fun with was the
fact that there was only one language which had anything at all like our
"S" sound. That is a Daly River group (possibly Malak Malak) but to say it
you had to curl your tongue backwards and then blow! Try it - you may have
heard it before.
Of course, none of them had an "F" sound, and I shall never forget dear old
Mr. GRIFFIN who taught for many years at Maningrida, NT. He was determined
to get his Grade 6 kids to be able to say and "F" and not just substitute a
"P" as they done for generations. How proud he was when by the 3rd term
they could do it. Then after school had broken up for Christmas and he was
doing the big clean up prior to being transferred in to Darwin, to his
horror he found some large sprayed graffiti in the boys dunny which said
"Mitta Grippin's got a big frick!"
David in Ballarat
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