A friend recently emailed me the following article about Central Australia:

Rumour has it that the Northern Territory Government is proposing to scrap the one remaining linguist position in the southern part of the Northern Territory. This position has been going since the mid 1970s, and the occupants have worked with Indigenous people and schools to create shared understandings of Indigenous languages, of the needs of school-children for understanding what happens in the classroom, of the needs of Indigenous teachers for support and training. They have produced amazing materials in Indigenous languages for classrooms, curriculum materials and reference documentation, some of which is archived and available in the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages.

Rumour also has it that the reason for scrapping the position is because there is “no need for any linguistic expertise in Central Australia and the Barkly schools”.

I would be saddened if it is true, because to me, it shows a lack of understanding of cultures and how they exist and regenerate. In my mind, language carries, preserves, changes or develops culture. If languages change drastically or die, the people tend to lose their cultures, and with it, the sense of identity and discipline that is necessary in any human communal entity. In other words, they become lost between who they were and who they are supposed to be. It is a recipe for assimilation. I have said before that I have no problems with people being assimilated, if it’s their choice to have that occur. All Aboriginal peoples I know don’t want to be assimilated. They want to preserve their cultures, as us kardiyas or balandas want to preserve ours, develop a partnership between the different cultures to move forward but be able to return to their cultures for rest, relaxation and rejuvenation. So I’m with the author of this article in suggesting there is a need for a linguist in the southern part of the NT, if only to allow the Aboriginal peoples of that region what we say we value in a democracy, which is choice.