Lesley and Rod visited Kununurra and Wyndham between 17-26 May in our second fieldtrip for the Kimberley English sub-project – following up from the trip by Lesley and Joe in July 2018. We gave a talk on “Spatial reference and locational pointing in Murrinhpatha, Gija, and English conversation” at the Mirima Language Centre in Kununurra – illustrating how both speakers of these Aboriginal languages and also Australian English speaking long-time residents in the Kimberley show a deep sense of location in place in their conversations, pointing accurately over long distances.
Although Kununurra was busy with visitors due to our trip – coincidentally – coinciding with the annual Ord Valley Muster, we were able to record about 8 hours of conversation in 5 sessions. Thanks so much to all those who agreed to be recorded and others who helped us to make contact with people and set things up! It was great to connect with friends again in Kununurra and to make new friends in Wyndham, where we spent two days.
Here's an article by Chris McLachlan appeared on The Bastion Bulletin - June 2019:
Lesley and Joe will be in Broome and the surrounding area in the first two weeks of July this year, looking for more participants to record for our project.