Linguists and language rebuilding: recent experience in two New South Wales languages

Abstract

This paper primarily considers the role of linguists in the process of language rebuilding, or language revival, that is, the process of working with a language that is no longer spoken so that it is spoken again. The paper is largely based on experience with Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay, two closely-related languages from northern New South Wales in Australia, but also on experience with other languages. *This paper is in the series The Role of Linguists in Indigenous Community Language Programs in Australia, edited by John Henderson.