Searching for Aboriginal Languages

Book cover of Searching for Aboriginal Languages: Memoirs of a Field Worker

Book description

In the early 1960s, R. M. W. (Bob) Dixon was one of the first linguists to study the Aboriginal languages of northeast Queensland, Australia. He found that some languages of the coastal rainforest were still in daily use, but others were only half-remembered by a single elder. This autobiographical account…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Searching for Aboriginal Languages as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

James Clackson

Author

Not all adventures in lost languages involve undeciphered scripts. I know nothing about the native language of Australia, but was immediately hooked by this book’s vivid account of a specialist as he attempts to locate the last speaker or speakers of a language—and then get them to speak to him. It was great for me to see how the techniques I use to reconstruct ancient languages can also reveal the structures of modern languages where there is scarcely any evidence remaining.

From James' list on decipherment and lost languages.