Murrinhpatha Language Support

The Research Unit for Indigenous Language has had a long association working with the Murrinhpatha language and the Thamarrurr region of the Northern Territory. This has included research into language acquisition, children’s narratives, word order and returning audio recordings to communities. In recent years RUIL has also supported a number of initiatives which provide training to people from the region working with language.

Murrinhpatha Writers Workshops – Bright Victoria

RUIL has supported a number of Murrinhpatha workshops in Bright Victoria in collaboration with the Thamarrurr Youth Indigenous Corporation (TYIC). TYIC aims to improve the lives of the Indigenous people of the Thamarrurr region in the Northern Territory through identifying and developing its future leaders. As part of their program TYIC operate the Dumu Balcony Training Café in Bright, Victoria. The café is run as a social enterprise that employs and trains youth from the Thamarrurr region including the town of Wadeye. Whilst working in the café the participants learn valuable employment and life skills.

The Murrinhpatha Writers’ Workshops are aimed at developing trainees’ literacy skills through their first language Murrinhpatha. The trainees work to strengthen their Murrinhpatha reading and writing skills and learn to use resources to support their literacy learning. The trainees then apply these skills to their work in the café and beyond. Past workshops have developed Murrinhpatha resources related to cooking stew and damper, changing a bike tyre, using nicotine patches and making a great coffee!

Professional Development at OLSH Wadeye

RUIL team member Dr Bill Forshaw, in collaboration with PhD candidate Megan Wood (ANU), provides regular professional development to staff at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Thamarrurr Catholic College (OLSHTCC). OLSHTCC is a K-12 school in Wadeye which delivers a bilingual program in Murrinhpatha and English. Almost all students speak Murrinhpatha as a first language. The bilingual program allows students to engage in formal education in a language they understand. They are also taught by Aboriginal teachers from their community with whom they identify linguistically and culturally.

Professional development workshops have previously focused on:

  • Student writing
  • Murrinhpatha phonics
  • Developing a metalanguage for literacy
  • Development of teaching resources

In addition to continuing professional development the team is working to develop a Murrinhpatha spell checker to support the resources developed by the school’s Literature Production Centre.

Concepta Karui, Grace Tirak, Monica Parmbuk, Waynie Dumoo, Clare Parmbuk

Concepta Karui, Grace Tirak, Monica Parmbuk, Waynie Dumoo and Clare Parmbuk