Warlpiri language vulnerability

By Jeane Bicket

In this article I will discuss the social, political and/or economic factors contributing to the endangerment of Warlpiri Language and outline steps that could be taken to maintain it as a minority language.

Warlpiri is a minority language spoken by between 2,500 to 3,000 people (http://www.ethnologue.com) (http://www.clc.org.au) in remote communities of Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Willowra and Nyirripi in the western area of the Northern Territory and in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. Its endangerment level is graded by Ethnologue at 0- 4 which means that the language is supported by institutions outside the home (http://www.ethnologue.com). However, while AUSTLANG sees it as ‘safe’, Warlpiri is classified by UNESCO as ‘vulnerable’ (http:/www.sorosoro.org/en/warlpiri).

This vulnerability is already being realised. Since 2008 the Northern Territory Government implemented a policy that the first four hours of school be conducted in English only (Devlin, 2009).This effectively ended the bilingual school programs, that did exist, in most of Warlpiri speaking students’ schools.

Submissions to an “Inquiry into language learning in Indigenous communities” held by the Federal Government House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs which followed in 2011, reveal much about the state of Warlpiri language and culture. Several submissions focussed mainly on Warlpiri which demonstrates a high level of community and academic support for the language despite the significant pressures on the Warlpiri community in keeping its language. Sorosoro reports that a high level of community support for the language is not always the case (http://www.sorosoro.org/en/warlpiri).

The final report from the inquiry, released in 2012, affirms the educational benefits of teaching traditional languages in schools but the Northern Territory Government has only made tentative moves (in draft policy form) for introducing bi-literacy schooling in the Northern Territory (B. Devlin, personal communication, May 1st, 2013)

Managing institutional requirements (like school and government organisations), attending to the business of culture and living in what is usually extreme poverty make for a complex range of problems which confront Warlpiri speakers. This is a legacy of the first threat to the language, white settlement and colonization, resulting in appropriation of the land and the introduction of English language. This process is still being furthered by “…the current concern of government policy …to enhance Indigenous wellbeing through integration in the urban economy.” (Eickelkamp, 2011, p. 5). (Moran, 2010) One can only surmise how these conditions effect the transmission of the language as there is little direct published material on this.

One result of this encroachment is that there are plethora of government and non-government organisations that involve Warlpiri people in the management of their community (Kerins , 2010). This means Warlpiri people having to communicate with non-Warlpiri speakers in English. Employment in these organisations is one of the main sources of paid work alternatives to being on a government benefit, which most Warlpiri speakers are (Dussart, n.d.) (Davies & Maru, 2010).

About a hundred Warlpiri people work at the gold mine run by Newmont Asia Pacific on Warlpiri land which has a minor influence on the language itself. Royalties from the mine do have an influence on the life of the community particularly in Yuendumu in the Tanami Desert. This influence is probably positive because the funds are used for employment and community programmes where people would speak Warlpiri (http://www.clc.org.au)(Badger,2009)(Barnes, 2009). This influence will not last as the expected life of the mine is only another fifteen years (Campbell &Hunt, 2010).

The National Indigenous Languages Report says “The failure of language transmission to young people is the central problem in language endangerment”(AIATSIS,2005, p 99) That there are around 3,000 speakers of the language is proof that Warlpiri transmission is occurring but there are many influences on the young that mitigate against this happening as effectively with the next generation. It should be noted “Indigenous people…represent the youngest and fastest growing population sector in Australia” (Eickelkamp, 2011, p. 1) (Altman, 2007) which means that young people are a significant factor in the transformation of the culture and hence the language.
Already an Aboriginal English (creole) is widely spoken and the lingua franca of school life has been specified by the government as English. Children have to leave their Warlpiri speaking communities to get their secondary education.( J. Hunt , personal communication, April 21st, 2013) The younger generation are much engaged with technology such as computers and mobile phones which means they use English more often and are taking on the concepts and communication systems of the wider world. (J. Hunt, personal communication, April 21st, 2013)

Because of the present political stance on bilingual education and the Warlpiri teaching assistants and literacy workers moving on to other employment and education, there are no new Warlpiri language workers coming into the ranks. The Warlpiri Triangle, an organisation of Warlpiri educators, still exists and is still active, as of 2011, but most in its ranks are in their 50’s or more (Martin, 2011) (Laughren, 2011).

One particular situation not helping the transmission of the language is at Yipirinya School in Alice Springs, which had a Warlpiri bilingual programme in the primary section of the school but in the childcare centre and the secondary section the groups were of mixed language backgrounds meaning that Aboriginal English became the language being used by the students rather than Warlpiri.

One area of Warlpiri wellbeing is the difficulty of getting adequate and appropriate nutrition. Firstly, the income is low, the cost of food high and rarely fresh. With the reliance on the poor diet introduced during early settlement, eating habits are poor (mainly tea, white bread, preserved meat, salt and sugar) and now take away, high in fat and sugar. (Bush foods are scarce, though at the outstations are incorporated into the diet with some benefit.) Cooking and storage facilities in the home are a problem too (Saethrie, 2011). This means the elders are either ill or dying younger and not in a position to pass on the language to the younger generations (Peterson, 2008) (Altman, 2007).

The general health of the language population is also affected and results in breakdown of the kinship relationships through violence and alcohol and drug abuse. In itself this may not affect Warlpiri language transmission but it weakens the connection of the language to Warlpiri identity and relationship thereby making room for the use of English for the establishment of identity particularly by the young.

Breakdown of the traditional culture is occurring in other ways. Elders are fewer for initiation ceremonies or are unable to sustain the strenuous demands of the ceremony so the language of the songlines falls away leading one elder to report “you know those younger and middle-aged people don’t know the songs, they were ’just humming’ “(Peterson, 2008, p 114). Obliquely it is reasonable to assume that the statement of Senior Eastern Arrente(also a Central Australian language group) elder Veronica Perrurle Dobson is also true for Warlpiri people. “The knowledge givers are passing away. The young people are not learning their traditional responsibilities for their ancestral land.” (Dobson, 2009, p. 36 ) This is a pressure on language transmission.

Access to cars has meant there is a greater mobility of Warlpiri people not only enabling them to move more easily between desert communities but also bringing them into the towns of Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Darwin where they have settled. Although Warlpiri is still spoken at home they are brought into contact with English speakers too. This means they rely more on English speaking skills to participate and get around. They also encounter more wider -community Influences for which there is no Warlpiri language expression forcing the use of Aboriginal English in the home.

If Warlpiri speakers want to find good paying jobs they must either be good bilingual Warlpiri/English speakers or use English exclusively in their employment (Laughren, 2011). This is a pressure on the younger generation to move away from the Warlpiri speaking community thus weakening the influence of the culture and language through relationship.

Despite these pressures Warlpiri culture is strong, possibly because of the remoteness of the majority of the population and the land rights the Warlpiri have. Ironically this also enables them to engage energetically with the rest of the world which necessitates English usage. One particular example of this is the establishment of a television station at Yuendumu, where most of the content will be local, ensuring Warlpiri language will be used but in conjunction with material from other languages including English (Hall,2013). At the launch young and old were brought together in a way that is sure to enhance the transmission of traditional language (http://www.caama.com.au/enjoying-the ictv-launch-at-yuendumu).

Another example of Warlpiri people both engaging the outside world and enhancing the language is the establishment of the Willowra Learning Centre in April this year, funded by mining royalties and built by local men it consists of “an early childhood centre, training and meeting rooms, a library, computers and internet access, staff accommodation and even an outdoor movie screen” (Fitzgerald, 2013).

There has been much that Warlpiri people have been doing to enhance the transmission of their language. One program that must be doing this is the Mt Theo Outstation program set up to rehabilitate young people (15- 25 years) who have been petrol sniffing or are regarded as ‘at risk’. It is governed by a committee of sixty two Warlpiri people and has been made a success through their commitment and hard work. Being out bush for rehabilitation means there is a lot of work done on cultural relationship between people and the land which necessarily involves Warlpiri language (Badger, 2009).

Warlpiris produce bilingual material. There has been a wealth of material produced for the schools by the Bilingual Resource Development Unit and the Warlpiri Literature Production Centre, notably the May,2011 launch of a DVD and book about Warlpiri Dreamings and places and traditional plant use(http://www.paradise.org.au/blog/2011/05/a-warlpiri-double-launch/).

The extensive use of the car, mentioned earlier, enables many Warlpiri people to travel often between the communities for sporting events, funerals and other cultural business. Al l, events where Warlpiri would be spoken and the whole family would be involved.

There is a Warlpiri/ English dictionary available online taken from the 1997 publication by S.M.Swartz http://www.203.122.249.186/Tiwi%20Lexican/Intro%20Warlpiri%20Online%Dict...).htm). Having this resource means that it is possible to become literate in the traditional language.

Two major things that would be of benefit to the transmission of the language are: to bring back properly resourced and supported bilingual school programmes and to integrate the ‘Learning through Country’ programs with them (Fogarty & Kral, 2011). This would enable people from different age groups to mix and pass on cultural insights via the language. This would possibly help the paucity of language teaching assistants coming into the system.

Fogarty and Kral (2011) also recommend reaching out to adolescents and older Indigenous youth via increased use of new technology in particular through music production and documenting local community knowledge in databases of heritage materials. This is already happening but needs more support (Laughren, 2011).
The National Indigenous Languages Survey Report (2005) recommends the establishment of ‘language nests’ where old and young are brought together in crèches that are run by community members and that these are backed up by Community Language Teams.

Another recommendation is the establishment of Regional Indigenous Language Centres (RILC). As mentioned before Warlpiri culture has had a counterpart of this associated with the production of bilingual material at the schools but a RILC could possibly have more scope and influence over the political situation.
As can be seen Warlpiri culture and thus the language is in a state of great change, but it has a stabilising force in that they have access to their land, the kinship system still functions in the building of the community and mining royalties are being spent in ways that bring young and old together. Its remoteness enables a large number of people to continue transmitting the language to the young, but times are bringing major influences on that group, including cars, technology, the detrimental four hours policy of the Northern Territory government and the loss of royalties when the mine closes. It is a language that just might make it into the next century.

References
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Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (2005) National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005. Retrieved from http://www. arts.gov.au/sites/default/files/pdfs/nils-report-2005.pdf

Badger, B. (2009) Mt Theo Program: Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation. Dialogue, 28 (2) 73-76

Barnes, R. (2009) Mining and Land Rights in Central Australia. Dialogue, 28 (2) 57-68

Campbell, D. and Hunt, J. (2010) Community Development in Central Australia: Broadening the Benefits from Land Use Agreements. (Topical Issue No. 7). Retrieved from Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research: http://www.clc.org/articles/info/community-development

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Dussart, F. (n.d.) The politics of female identity: Warlpiri widows at Yuendumu. Retrieved from http://www.anth.uconn.edu/faulty/dussart/politicsfemale.pdf

Eickelkamp,U. (Ed.)(2011) Growing up in Central Australia: New Anthropological Studies of Aboriginal Childhood and Adolescence. Oxford, New York: Benghahm Books

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Martin,B.(2011) WARLPIRI PATU KURLANGU JARU Submission to the inquiry into Language Learning in Indigenous communities (Submission 121).Retrieved from http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary.Business/Committees/House_of_Represe...

Moran, M. (2010) The Viability of Hub Settlements. Dialogue 29, (1 )38-51

Peterson, N. (2008) Just Humming: The Consequence of the Decline of Learning Contexts among the Warlpiri in J. Kommers and E. Venbrux (Eds.) Cultural Styles of Knowledge Transmission: Essays in Honour of Ad Borsboom pp. 114-118 Amsterdam, Netherlands: Askant Academic Publishers

Saethrie,E. (2011) Demand sharing, Nutrition and Warlpiri Health: The social and economic strategies of food choice. In Y.Musharbash and M.Barber (Eds) Ethnography and the Production of Anthropological Knowledge: Essays in honour of Nicholas Peterson (Chapter 12). Retrieved from http://www.epress.anu.edu/apps/bookworm/view/Ethnography+%26+the+Product...

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