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Collection details
Collection ID WDVA1
Title Western Desert Verbal Arts Project
Description This is a collection of verbal arts and speech styles from the Western Desert of Australia, in particular those of the Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra peoples. The mutually intelligible Western Desert dialects Ngaanyatjarra, Ngaatjatjarra and Pitjantjatjara are still spoken by approximately 2000 people who reside in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands region of south-east Western Australia. Their oral traditions are central to cultural practice and social interaction. They embrace sign language and gesture, narrative practices as well as the use of graphic symbols that accompany sand story narratives and turlku (song and dance) and games. These multimodal speech arts are a valued aspect of the traditions of Western Desert people, yet they are highly endangered.

From 2012-2019 Ngaatjatjarra linguist Elizabeth Marrkilyi Ellis worked with linguistic anthropologist Inge Kral and linguist Jennifer Green to document these endangered verbal arts. With women and girls we filmed the traditional practice of mirlpa, or sand storytelling, and with younger storytellers we recorded their adaptation of this drawing practice to iPads. Tjuma or other oral stories were documented, with male and female storytellers. We also recorded children's games and songs 'Tjilkuku - for children' as well as traditional sign language. This collection draws on various project sources.

The research was supported by ELDP (Endangered Languages Documentation Programme) Small Grant SG0187. Jennifer Green was supported by an ARC (Australian Research Council) Fellowship (DP110102767) and Inge Kral by an ARC DECRA Award (DE120100720). The next phase (2015-2019) was supported by an ARC Discovery Indigenous Fellowship (IN150100018) for Elizabeth Marrkilyi Ellis. And an ARC DECRA Award (DE160100873) for Jennifer Green. Enormous support also came from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CE140100041).
Archive link https://catalog.nabu-stage.paradisec.org.au/repository/WDVA1
Collector
Inge Kral
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Operator Julia Colleen Miller
Originating university Australian National University
Countries
Australia - AU
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Languages
Ngaanyatjarra - ntj
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Region / village
DOI 10.26278/5b589e9084c3b
Cite as Inge Kral (collector), 2012. Western Desert Verbal Arts Project. Collection WDVA1 at catalog.paradisec.org.au [Open Access]. https://dx.doi.org/10.26278/5b589e9084c3b

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Access information
Edit access Inge Kral
Data access conditions Open (subject to agreeing to PDSC access conditions)
Data access details
Items in Collection (104)

Item Title Actions
MIR_26 Disco View
MIR_27 Kukaku View
MIR_28 Kurrirarra View
MIR_29 Tjarlaku View
MIR_30 Disco View
MIR_31 Introduction to Western Desert Verbal Arts Storytelling View
SIGN_01 Hand signs View
SIGN_02 Hand signs View
SIGN_03 Signals and sounds View
SIGN_04 Hand signs View
SIGN_05 Hand signs View
SIGN_06 Hand signs View
SIGN_07 Signals View
SIGN_08 Hand signs View
SIGN_09 Hand signs View
SIGN_10 Hand signs View
SIGN_11 Hand signs View
SIGN_12 Hand signs View
SIGN_13 Hand signs View
SIGN_14 Hand signs View
SIGN_15 Hand signs View
SONG_01 Tjartiwan View
SONG_02 Laka View
SONG_03 Laka View
TJILK_01 Mamuritiriti View
TJILK_02 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju View
TJILK_03 Mamuritiriti View
TJILK_04 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 1 View
TJILK_05 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 2 View
TJILK_06 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 3 View
TJILK_07 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 4 View
TJILK_08 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 5 View
TJILK_09 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 6 View
TJILK_10 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 7 View
TJILK_11 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju View
TJILK_12 i-Mama Ngunytju View
TJILK_13 Tjilkuku View
TJILK_14 Mamu 1 View
TJILK_15 Mamu 2 View
TJILK_16 Mamu 3 View
TJILK_17 Mamu 4 View
TJU_01 Tjuma kutjulpirtu-Olden days story View
TJU_02 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu-Kitjitjitarn View
TJU_03 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu-Minyma kutungu View
TJU_04 Tjuma kutjulpirtu-Olden days story View
TJU_05 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu View
TJU_06 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu-Lupurl View
TJU_07 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu-Wati kinara View
TJU_08 Tjuma kutjulpirtu-Olden days story View
TJU_09 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu View

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