{"id":45504,"date":"2011-03-16T00:57:57","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T22:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/?p=45504"},"modified":"2025-10-21T23:10:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:10:04","slug":"february-2011-r-m-w-dixons-searching-for-aboriginal-languages-reissued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/en\/2011\/03\/february-2011-r-m-w-dixons-searching-for-aboriginal-languages-reissued\/","title":{"rendered":"February 2011: R.M.W. Dixon\u2019s \u00ab Searching for Aboriginal languages \u00bb reissued."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dixon\"<\/p>\n

In the wake of the 60s, R.M.W. Dixon<\/strong> was one of the first linguists to study Aboriginal languages<\/strong> in northeastern Queensland<\/strong>, Australia.<\/p>\n

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This autobiographical narrative retracing 14 years of research<\/strong> between 1963 and 1977 describes populations and practices that still existed in the area fifty years prior. Dixon had discovered that some languages spoken in the rainforest along the coast were still in daily use, while others were only partially conversed by no one but a single person.<\/p>\n

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He also glances back to the difficulties and excitement of his work as a field linguist<\/strong>, but clearly shines the light on those who accepted to work with him and patiently helped him understand their often-complex languages. Not only did they spend hours answering his questions, they also agreed to let him record their legends and songs.<\/p>\n

This book stands as a tribute to these people<\/strong> as well as a reminder of the fragility of their ancestral culture.<\/p>\n

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First issued in 1984, \u00ab Searching for Aboriginal languages, memoirs of a field worker<\/em> \u00bb is reissued in the UK by Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n

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Available for order here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n