Browsing books in the Library
Use the phrase Aboriginal linguistics to search in UQ Library Search where you can limit your results bycontent type, subject terms, publication date and language using the options on the right side of the page.
Find books on Australian languages in the Central Library at call number PL7001 - 7101.
Introductory resources
Australia's Original Languages by Publication Date: 2020When Captain Cook landed at Botany Bay, about 250 distinct languages were spoken across the continent. Yet Australian Indigenous languages actually share many common features. Bob Dixon has been working with elders to research Australian languages for half a century, and he draws on this deep experience to outline the common features.
The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages by ISBN: 9780198824978Publication Date: 2023The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages is a wide-ranging reference work that explores the more than 550 traditional and new Indigenous languages of Australia.
The Languages and Linguistics of Australia by Publication Date: 2014Provides a thorough overview of Australian languages, including their linguistic structures, their genetic relationships, and issues of language maintenance and revitalisation. Australian English, Aboriginal English and other contact varieties are also discussed.
Australian Aboriginal English by Publication Date: 2018The dialect of English which has developed in Indigenous speech communities in Australia, while showing some regional and social variation, has features at all levels of linguistic description, which are distinct from those found in Australian English and also is associated with distinctive patterns of conceptualization and speech use. This volume provides, for the first time, a comprehensive description of the dialect with attention to its regional and social variation, the circumstances of its development, its relationships to other varieties and its foundations in the history, conceptual predispositions and speech use conventions of its speakers.
Language Revitalisation
- National Indigenous Languages SurveyThe Third National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS3) was completed in 2019. The results have been published in the National Indigenous Languages Report (2020). The two previous reports were in the form of the First and Second National Indigenous Languages Surveys (NILS1 and NILS2).
- Many Voices: Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages PolicyThe Queensland Government worked in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language experts to co-design and develop the languages policy.
- State Library of Queensland - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languagesThe Indigenous Languages webpage is the best starting point for community members, language workers and the general public interested in language revitalisation. The webpage includes an online interactive languages map, wordlists and other materials such as research guides for placenames.
- Binung Ma Na Du - Cultural Stories and Living Histories on Wakka Wakka CountryThe Binung Ma Na Du Cultural Stories and Living Histories on Wakka Wakka Country project aimed to explore the concept of codesign in creating local curriculum resources to support Aboriginal language revitalisation.
Specialised resources
- AUSTLANG : Australian indigenous languages databaseProvides information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages which has been assembled from a number of referenced sources.
- Australian Aboriginal LanguagesThe Australian Aboriginal Languages website has annotated links to 140 resources for about 40 of Australia's indigenous languages.
- OZBIB: a linguistic bibliography of Aboriginal Australia and the Torres Strait IslandsOZBIB is a bibliography of published works and theses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.
- Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Data ArchiveATSIDA is a specialised research data management facility for Australian Indigenous research data, including language data managed by the UTS Library.
- LDaCALanguage Data Commons Australia (LDaCA) provides access to a number of language collections. Material relates to Australian, Indigenous, and Pacific Island languages.
Policy and research
- Guidelines for ethical research in Australian indigenous studiesIndigenous peoples have inherent rights, including the right to self-determination. The
principles in these Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies are founded on respect for these rights, including rights to full and fair participation in any
processes, projects and activities that impact on them, and the right to control and
maintain their culture and heritage. - NHMRC Ethical guidelines for research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PeoplesThe two revised guidelines work with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research and provide more specific information about ethical conduct in research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and communities.
- Australian Policy OnlineAustralian Policy Online is a research database and alert service providing free access to full text research reports and papers, statistics and other resources essential for public policy development and implementation in Australia and New Zealand.
Primary sources
- Flint CollectionPapers, field notes and recordings dealing (among other subjects) with English spoken in Queensland and indigenous languages of Queensland.
- Sommers CollectionResearch materials relating to the indigenous languages of the central Cape York Peninsula.
- Rigsby CollectionAudio recordings made during fieldtrips to Bamaga, Coen and Port Stewart in the Eastern Cape York Peninsula in the 1970s.
- Living Archive of Aboriginal LanguagesA digital archive of endangered literature in Australian Indigenous languages of the Northern Territory.
- PARADISEC (Pacific And Regional Archive for DIgital Sources in Endangered Cultures)PARADISEC digitise and archive records of the many small languages of the world. While our original focus was the Asia-Pacific region, they now hold material from all over the world, and currently have over 1,200 languages represented in the collection.