The Sydney language notebooks and responses to language contact in early colonial nsw

Abstract

This paper 1 is about three antique notebooks which document the now extinct Sydney language 2. The notebooks were written between 1790 and 1791, a time during which the 'First Fleet' of colonisers from Britain achieved their earliest sustained social interactions with the Aboriginal people of Sydney. They are eyewitness accounts which provide valuable insights into the unprecedented language and culture contact between Aboriginal people and the colonists. The paper begins with an historical note about the forces which promoted the study of Aboriginal languages and led to the production of these remarkable notebooks. The next part pays tribute to William Dawes and his pioneering contribution to Australian linguistics. Dawes was the acknowledged author of the two most valuable notebooks for the purposes of comparative Australian linguistics. A descriptive introduction to all three notebooks is then provided, which aims to promote interest in the manuscripts. Authorship of the third notebook has been the subject of speculation and a small discussion is included here, suggesting an attribution. The final sections of the paper discuss some of the language contact induced phenomena recoverable from the notebooks and borrowings into both NSW Pidgin and Australian English from the Sydney language.

The Yerin Dilly Bag Model of Indigenist Health Research

“…To exemplify, phronetic social science can be applied through consideration of the language of the researched, with that language enabling access to the core values of the culture in which the investigation is located (Troy, 1992). Specifically, West, Stewart, Foster, and Usher (2012) developed an indigenist approach to research that they called the Dadirri Model.…”

“…The word for the mixing of salt sea and creek fresh waters in Eora/Cadigal is yerin , and means not only brackish water but also where two or more ideas, stories, or peoples are intermingled in an unconditional way, giving rise to cultural enrichment. Interestingly, there is evidence the word was also used to describe similar concepts in Indigenous languages in the Sydney area, including a metaphor for Western and Indigenous knowledges integrating (Troy, 1992), and has similarities in the Gurringgai language, including ganma in Arnhem Land (Hughes, 2000).…”

1. The languages of Australia in linguistic research: context and issues

“…Wordlists of the Sydney language were collected by a number of offi cials and naval offi cers of the fi rst colony. One of these, Lieutenant William Dawes, began a systematic study of the grammar, but his results remained largely unknown until relatively recently (Troy 1992(Troy , 1993; http://www.williamdawes.org). The collection of wordlists, most of which used a very unsatisfactory English-based spelling, contin-ued for the fi rst century of European settlement.…”

Aboriginal placenames around Port Jackson and Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia: Sources and uncertainties

“…(e.g. Figure 1.4; see Dawes 1790-1791: 808, also 812, 813) These people included Bennelong and his wife Barangaroo, as well as Patyegaráng, a young woman who was Dawes' chief informant and teacher (Troy 1992).…”