Language in the Land: Arrernte

About Language in the Land: Arrernte

Language in the Land series:

This year IAD Press honours its 50th anniversary and the International Year of Indigenous Languages by updating its learner’s guides and dictionaries of central Australian Aboriginal languages. Co-sponsored by IAD Press, the Language in the Land series will explore what we can learn about central Australia through the languages spoken by the People of the Land. Every Aboriginal language came from its land, and tells about the relationships among ancestral stories, places and families today. You are invited to join in our ‘cultural conversations’ on ways language learning can help you more carefully listen to this place.

Language in the Land: Arrernte

Veronica Dobson and Barry McDonald discuss the ways in which Arrernte people engage with languages – verbal and non-verbal – that not only express, but give ongoing life to their relationship with Land. They will begin by referring to Ancestor-bestowed place-names – well-known along range and river – which invoke the dynamic nature of Story and its role in creating and recreating Country and people. Enhancing the gift of word-language, the Land also speaks through dream, vision, and feeling, communication - styles the presenters will touch upon as they read extracts from their own work.