Linguistic Organisation and Native Title : The Wik Case, Australia
Hale, Ken
Linguistic Organisation and Native Title : The Wik Case, Australia - Canberra ANU Press 2021 - 1 electronic resource (506 p.)
Open Access
Classical Aboriginal societies in Australia have commonly been described in terms of social organisation and local organisation. This book presents rich detail on a third and related domain that has not been given the same kind of attention: linguistic organisation. Basing their analyses on fieldwork among the Wik peoples of Cape York Peninsula, north Australia, Peter Sutton and Ken Hale show how cosmology, linguistic variation, language prehistory, clan totemic identities, geopolitics, land use and land ownership created a vibrant linguistic organisation in a classical Aboriginal society. This has been a society long in love with language and languages. Its people have richly imbued the domain of rights and interests in country—the foundations of their native title as recognised in Australian law—with rights and interests in the abundance of languages and dialects given to them at the start of the world.
Creative Commons
English
LONT.2021 9781760464479
10.22459/LONT.2021 doi
Dictionaries
Language: history & general works
linguistics
Historical & comparative linguistics
Australasian & Pacific history
Indigenous peoples
Wik people Aboriginal languages Cape York Multilingualism
Linguistic Organisation and Native Title : The Wik Case, Australia - Canberra ANU Press 2021 - 1 electronic resource (506 p.)
Open Access
Classical Aboriginal societies in Australia have commonly been described in terms of social organisation and local organisation. This book presents rich detail on a third and related domain that has not been given the same kind of attention: linguistic organisation. Basing their analyses on fieldwork among the Wik peoples of Cape York Peninsula, north Australia, Peter Sutton and Ken Hale show how cosmology, linguistic variation, language prehistory, clan totemic identities, geopolitics, land use and land ownership created a vibrant linguistic organisation in a classical Aboriginal society. This has been a society long in love with language and languages. Its people have richly imbued the domain of rights and interests in country—the foundations of their native title as recognised in Australian law—with rights and interests in the abundance of languages and dialects given to them at the start of the world.
Creative Commons
English
LONT.2021 9781760464479
10.22459/LONT.2021 doi
Dictionaries
Language: history & general works
linguistics
Historical & comparative linguistics
Australasian & Pacific history
Indigenous peoples
Wik people Aboriginal languages Cape York Multilingualism