Aboriginal Studies Press (ASP), the publishing arm of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), has announced the release of the Warlpiri Encyclopaedic Dictionary: Warlpiri Yimi-Kirli Manu Jaru-kurlu.
Warlpiri is spoken in and around what is known as the ‘Warlpiri Triangle’, an area that extends across the Northern Territory from Willowra to Nyirripi and Lajamanu in the Tanami Desert.
It is believed that around 3000 people of all generations speak Warlpiri as their first, second or third language. It is also the language used at Yuendumu and Nyirripi schools.
Writing a dictionary so that it will be used can be a challenge in a digitally-driven contemporary society. The CEO of AIATSIS, Craig Ritchie, says, ‘The Warlpiri Encyclopaedic Dictionary is an outstanding example of what can be achieved in terms of documenting a language and making available material to help it to thrive – today and into the future.’
He adds: ‘Language is central to strengthening the cultures, identities and well-being of First Nations peoples.’
The new dictionary includes the English translations for Warlpiri words, instructive example sentences that include Warlpiri history and cultural practices, detailed information about flora and fauna, more than 500 illustrations, maps of Warlpiri Country, a guide to Warlpiri grammar and a guide to the complex vocabulary of family relationships.
With over 1400 pages, the dictionary keeps Warlpiri language ‘strong, supported and flourishing,’ says ASP.
It is currently the UN’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022 to 2032). Ritchie says the global initiative sits in line with AIATSIS’s objective of ‘encouraging the preservation, revitalisation and promotion of Indigenous language’ in Australia.
A long time in coming
Writing any dictionary takes time and mountains of research. ASP says that the work of ‘hundreds of Warlpiri speakers compiled over more than 60 years’ has contributed to the new dictionary.
It has been guided by ‘generous, patient and insightful input from hundreds of Warlpiri speakers,’ explains ASP.
The starting point for the dictionary were the recordings of linguist Kenneth Hale (1934-2001), made during field trips in 1959-60 and 1966-67. Hale’s transcriptions of Warlpiri speakers make up a large part of the language resources used for the dictionary’s entries.
Key contributions also came from research by Jeannie Nungarrayi Egan (1947-2009) and Marlurrku Paddy Patrick Jangala (c.1944-94), whose Warlpiri definitions of word meanings and examples of usage were adopted.
Nungarrayi was a teacher, curriculum developer, researcher and painter, who also taught generations of non-Indigenous people about Warlpiri language, culture and Country. The audio recordings, books, posters and other teaching aids that Nungarrayi produced informed the development of this dictionary, explains Ritchie and his team.
Similarly, Jangala worked tirelessly towards bilingual education, helping design modern Warlpiri spelling and expression definitions and examples, which have been included in the dictionary.
Also key in delivering this dictionary has been its chief compiler, Mary Laughren, who began learning and documenting Warlpiri in 1975 when she was posted to Yuendumu as a linguist to support the newly initiated bilingual school program, later extended to other Warlpiri community schools.
Read: The 11-year making of a people’s dictionary
Other contributors to the dictionary include Mickey Jupurrurla Connell and Sam Japangardi Johnson (Yuendumu), Paddy Jupurrurla Stuart (Lander Warlpiri) and Stephen Japangardi Simpson (Hanson Warlpiri), David Nash and Jane Simpson (both linguistics from the Australian National University). There was also Robert Hoogenraad (1940-2021), who moved to Central Australia to work as a linguist and had a key role in the production of an earlier Warlpiri picture dictionary.
What this publication speaks of is decades of respectful cross-collaboration geared at language preservation, and for those who value cultures and the history of those cultures.
The Warlpiri Encyclopaedic Dictionary: Warlpiri Yimi-Kirli Manu Jaru-kurlu is now available through selected booksellers and the AIATSIS online shop. RRP $59.95.
The official launch of the dictionary is anticipated at Yuendumu in 2023.
