|
 | Guest lecturer for the 2013 Kaise Naat series, Professor Ghi'lad Zuckermann |
|
The University of the South Pacific had the privilege last week, of hosting a renowned language academic who delivered a lecture on the death, and the subsequent revival of languages.
Professor Ghi’lad Zuckermann, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, was sponsored by the Embassy of Israel to be part of the Kaise Baat series.
Professor Zuckermann gave a guest lecture on Wednesday evening, 26 June, 2013, titled Language Reclamation, Diversity, and Wellbeing, using the example of the Barngarla Aboriginal language from Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta in Australia.
In opening the lecture, Dr Mohit Prasad from the Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE), said the University was honoured to have such a distinguished language expert speaking to the USP community and members of the public on this important issue.
Professor Zuckermann said there is an urgent need to offer insights relevant to language reclamation, as it is becoming increasingly significant to people who are trying to reclaim their cultural autonomy.
Using New Zealand Maori as an example, he said language can be revived but there will inevitably be changes, and variations from the original language.
Professor Zuckermann said if a language is endangered, it is the responsibility of every speaker of that language to ensure that the language does not fall asleep or become dormant.
“If your language falls asleep, then stop, revive, survive,” he said, adding that “if you revive a language, embrace the hybridity of the emerging tongue. He further said that if one’s language is healthy, then others in linguistic need must be assisted.
After the lecture, Professor Zuckermann engaged in a lively discussion with members of the audience, made up of USP students, staff, academics and the general public.
Towards the end of the lecture, the audience was treated to a special screening of a memorial DVD compiled on the performances by the late Jet Shri Krishna, a national renowned Fiji-Hindi singer, from the 2012 Kaise Baat series.
Professor Zuckermann is the Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages at the University of Adelaide.
He has also written the books, Israelit Safa Yafa (Israeli – A Beautiful Language), Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew, Revival Linguistics, and three chapters of the Israeli Tingo.
He has edited Burning Issues in Afro-Asiatic Linguistics and Jewish Language Contact (in print), a special issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language.
Professor Zuckermann is currently focusing on the establishment of Revivalistics, and Revivalomics, and has recently launched the reclamation of the Barngarla Aboriginal language in Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta (Eyre Peninsula, South Australia).
|
