Abstracts

 Keynote Abstracts

Adrian Vickers
Languages in the Australian Archive

The project Opening the Multilingual Archive of Australia, has been funded by the Australian Research Council for the last five years. The project has asked what difference a multilingual approach to Australian history might make, and whether approaches based on language are substantially different to those based on ethnicity or other criteria. The primary tool and outcome of the project has been the on-line participatory database, https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/, and it presents a number of key features of the project. First, that different topics, from the Australian goldfields to early stages of the Cold War, can be understood in terms of the simultaneous nature of sources in different languages. Secondly, our research tool allows topics to achieve new centrality in terms of how Australian history is mapped and periodised. Chief amongst these topics is incarceration, the interment of multiple forms of ‘aliens’ over extended periods beyond the era of convict transportation. Forms of settlement also reach beyond the nineteenth-century movement of peoples from Britain into the present day. In such processes, language learning, translation and recognition play crucial roles in shaping how people are seen as ‘Australian’ or not ‘Australian.’ 

Sender Dovchin
The "Extraordinary Ordinariness of Translingual Writing in Australian Cities"

The "Extraordinary Ordinariness of Translingual Writing in Australian Cities" is an intriguing concept that explores how translanguaging practices, often seen as multilingual communication or language mixing, shape the everyday experiences of diverse communities in urban Australian contexts. It suggests that such practices are both extraordinary in their complexity and rich diversity, yet also ordinary, as they permeate ordinary daily interactions and social dynamics of urban people.

In Australian cities, especially those with significant migrant, Indigenous, and refugee populations, translingualism is a natural outcome of the intersection of various languages, cultures, and social settings. People from different linguistic backgrounds—whether Mandarin, Arabic, Somali, or Indigenous languages—engage in fluid communication that transcends the traditional boundaries of one language. This dynamic process allows for more inclusive forms of expression, often reflecting the lived realities of those who navigate multiple cultural and linguistic spheres.

Translingual writing in this context goes beyond simply mixing languages; it involves creating new meanings, identities, and connections, often in response to the societal challenges of multiculturalism, linguistic diversity, and inclusion. In urban spaces, such as Sydney, Melbourne, or Perth, translingual writing may emerge in community newsletters, graffiti, social media posts, or even public signage, blending words from different languages to convey ideas that resonate with local experiences. This phenomenon underscores the resilience and adaptability of speakers as they form bridges across different worlds.

The "extraordinary ordinariness" of this process highlights how translingualism is both a powerful, creative tool for expressing identity and solidarity, and yet a common, everyday act of communication. It reflects the shifting social and cultural landscapes of Australia, where linguistic diversity is a defining feature of urban life. Such writing challenges the idea of a fixed, monolingual standard and calls for a more inclusive understanding of language, where fluidity and hybridity are not anomalies but inherent characteristics of modern communication.

Jane Simpson
Speech, sign and writing; Multilingual repertoires over time in a small town

I trace the changing communication repertoires of Warumungu people in the Tennant Creek region since 1860.  Reconstructions of Warumungu social life before the invasion suggest that people lived in small family groups, with language repertoires that included Warumungu, a sign language, and knowledge of the language(s) of close relatives.  Marriages created bonds between estates, (whether Warumungu estates or neighbouring language groups). Several sisters from one estate might marry several brothers from a different estate, and in the next generation their children would marry people from a third estate.  Language use was place-dependent; it was polite to speak the language of the place one was in.  Knowledge of different languages was strengthened by occasional large gatherings of families and language groups for ceremonies which could last months. After the 1860 invasion, encounters with explorers, cattle-station workers, telegraph operators etc led to a new contact language, (Wumpurrarni English). During the 1930s gold-rush, Tennant Creek town was established, and government control of Warumungu people intensified. Many were forced onto reserves with other Aboriginal groups. Different languages, including Wumpurrarni English, were spoken daily, challenging place-dependent language use.  In the 1960s, increased compulsory education introduced a new means of communication,  literacy in standard Australian English.  In the 1980s recognition of likely language loss led to attempts to renew Warumungu, adding in literacy in Warumungu.  Today the language of schools, courts, shops, hospitals is primarily standard Australian English. Partly in parallel are Aboriginal-run organisations (e.g. medical service, legal service) where clients are freer to use  Wumpurrarni English, but where non-Indigenous staff are more likely to use standard Australian English.  Words and phrases from Aboriginal languages remain in Warumungu people’s repertoires, strengthened perhaps by changes in the streetscape to include signs in Warumungu and by adding social media as channels for communication which allow multilingual writing.

Participant Abstracts