Landscape, language and culture in Indigenous Australia

  • Palmer, William (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
  • Gaby, Alice (Chief Investigator (CI))
  • Blythe, Joe (Chief Investigator (CI))
  • Ponsonnet, Maia (Chief Investigator (CI))

Project: Research

Project Details

Project Description

This project aims to determine how culture and social diversity interact with landscape in representing physical space in the minds and grammars of speakers of Australian Indigenous languages. The project will conduct the first Australia-wide survey of Indigenous spatial description correlated with landscape, and the first large-scale investigation of diversity in spatial behaviour among individuals within communities. The findings are expected to inform crucial debates on the formative role of landscape in language, and advance our knowledge of human spatial cognition. It will collect completely new experimental and natural data in six endangered languages, with significant benefits for the maintenance of Indigenous languages and cultures.
Short titleLandscape, language and culture in Indigenous Australia.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date23/11/20 → 31/12/25

Keywords

  • spatial reference
  • Australian Aboriginal languages
  • language and cognition