Wiradjuri: An extinct or endangered language?

To my surprise, when I looked into the Ethnologue, I found that my local Australian Aboriginal language - Wiradjuri - was listed as extinct.

I then looked at the following website that is dedicated to Endangered Languages
http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/
It is described as "the world through 3054 lenses: an online collaborative effort to protect global linguistic diversity". I noticed that Wiradjuri is listed as "critically endangered, with 3 native speakers worldwide in 1981." They provide a document defining endangerment and extinction.

I am not sure that Wiradjuri is extinct or critically endangered:

In 2009 I learned Wiradjuri for a year and received a Certificate 1 in Wiradjuri from the NSW Technical and Further Education Commission of Australia. During this course I met and learned from Wiradjuri speakers.

Last week, I asked the authors of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children if they knew of children on their project that spoke Wiradjuri. They said that there were.

UPDATE 20th August 2012

Laura Bennetts-Kneebone, the linguist on LSIC has just told me about AUSTLANG: The Australian Indigenous Languages Database. It shows that in the 2006 Australian census there were reported to be 102 speakers of Wiradjuri.

I look forward to working further to find out more about the actual status of Wiradjuri

Listening to children with speech and language impairment: Implications for teachers of young children

The School of Teacher Education Research and Scholarship Brown Bag Seminar for Monday 13th August titled: "Listening to children with speech and language impairment: Implications for teachers of young children" was presented by Graham Daniel  and described work that we had undertaken together over the past few year. Graham presented a version of this talk via video-linkup to the Listening conference in Bristol in June.

Here is the abstract:

Children spend a large portion of their lives at school. Consequently, teachers play a major role in supporting their social, emotional and educational development. Children with speech and language impairment are at greater risk of reduced social, emotional, and educational outcomes. However, classroom teachers receive little training about how to support these children in the school environment and may be unaware of the implications of speech and language impairment on children's learning and schooling experience.  The aim of this paper was to better understand the lives of children with speech and language impairment and to provide implications for educational practice. Interviews were conducted with six children with speech and language impairment and 28 others including their parents, siblings, friends, teachers, and significant adults within their lives. The participants reported that these children experienced withdrawal and exclusion, had fewer friendships and were more disengaged in activities that involved language. These children’s experiences may have considerable implications for children’s social, emotional and learning (particularly literacy) outcomes. The children used a range of strategies and support networks (particularly siblings) to participate within the school environment. The insights garnered from considering these children’s lives can inform teachers’ provision of an inclusive learning environment to support children’s socialisation, encourage diverse ways of communicating, and maximise learning opportunities.

Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC)

My colleagues and I from Charles Sturt University, Queensland University of Technology, and Monash University worked in Canberra from 9-11 August with members of Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FAHCSIA) to learn about the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC). LSIC is an initiative of the Australian government that parallels the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC).  What an amazing dataset of valuable information about Australia's Indigenous children! The information about language and cultural heritage is so comprehensive. I can't wait to work with this dataset.

 The goals of this Excellence in Research in Early Years Education Collaborative Research Network event were:

1. To develop sound theoretical and practical understandings of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC);

2. To explore how LSIC might inform research being undertaken by Collaborative Research Network (CRN) members;

3. To consider how CRN members might interrogate the data available through LSIC to inform social justice issues in early years education research; and

4. To build skills in working with the LSIC database and other relevant databases.

LSIC staff, Wendy, Jason Brandrup, and Fiona Skelton with Sharynne

Travelling through Australia!

 Traveling from Bathurst to Canberra today, Sarah Verdon and I experienced light snow, a stunning sunset, and a mob of sheep!

Essential support

I am very fortunate to have two excellent research assistants to support my research endeavours. Sarah Verdon and Alice Whitfield undertake multitudinous diverse tasks to ensure that the research work I undertake is the best quality possible. I don't know what I would do without them!

Alice Whitfield and Sarah Verdon ready for work!

Today, I also received my new computer (I have been having major difficulties since May 8). Three months without a reliable, functioning computer has made me realise just how dependent I am on my computer; particularly the fact that it stores hundreds of gigabytes of my work in one accessible location. I am really looking forward to putting all of the data I have generated over the past 3 months into one location (14.2GB!). As of today, I have 546 emails that I have been unable to answer via my iPhone, or without accessing data from my computer. It will take a little while to get through them, but I am glad that many of my colleagues in the northern hemisphere have been on summer holidays, so some of them have not been so urgent.

Visitors from Japan

This week a delegation from Ohkuma, Japan visited my hometown of Bathurst. Bathurst has had an ongoing sister city relationship with Ohkuma for over 20 years. Last year, we were devastated to hear of the earthquake and tsunami that meant that residents of Ohkuma had to leave their homes, and establish a new city in a different location. Many residents of Ohkuma worked in the Fukushima Number 1 nuclear power plant that was damaged by the disaster.

In March last year, I was honoured to lead a service to remember the people of Japan, and Ohkuma (see blog posting: http://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/memorial-service-for-people-of-ohkuma.html)

On Sunday morning (5 August, 2012), the following people from Ohkuma visited Bathurst Uniting Church to meet with the organizers of the memorial service:

Mr Toshihide Takeuchi - Superintendent of Education
Mr Hideatsu Matsunaga - Ohkuma Town Councillor
Mr Jun Yoshida - Chief of the Board of Education Section
Mr Yutaka Hatanaka - English Teacher, Ohkuma Junior High School
Councillor Monica Morse - Bathurst City Council
and other members of the Bathurst Sister City Committee.

Mr Toshihide Takeuchi (Superintendent of Education Ohkuma), Professor Sharynne McLeod, Councillor Monica Morse (Bathurst City Council), Rev. 'Oto Faiva (Bathurst Uniting Church)

The delegation from Ohkuma, Japan visiting the location of last years' memorial service

On Monday evening (6 August, 2012), the Mayor of Bathurst hosted a reception to welcome the Ohkuma delegation.
The Western Advocate wrote about the visit here: "Sister city's delegates bring heartfelt thanks"

June-July 2012 Summary

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL FUTURE FELLOWSHIP UPDATE
‘Speaking my language: International speech acquisition in Australia’
Written by Kim Woodland, Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education for the August 2012 RIPPLE Update

Members of the International Expert Panel
on Multilingual Children's Speech

In mid-June, Sharynne travelled to Toronto in Canada to attend the launch of a new outcome measure for communicative participation. FOCUS: Focus on Outcomes of Children Under Six, is a parent and clinician-report measure framed around the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Sharynne opened the two-day conference with a presentation titled Children’s speech, language and communication: Learning from the WHO’s focus on functioning and participation.

She then flew to Bristol, where the University of the West of England hosted a one-day conference on Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. Sharynne presented the keynote address, and the CSU Children draw talking art exhibition was displayed. During her week in Bristol, she also visited the Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit, where she met with staff, students and visitors about a range of research projects.

Next stop was Ireland, where Sharynne visited University College Cork, and met with colleagues who are using the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study data to consider prevalence of speech and language impairment in 9-year-old children in Ireland. The researchers are also comparing their data with results published from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. While in Cork, Sharynne chaired an international expert panel on multilingual children's speech. As a result, the panel will draft a position paper on multilingual children’s speech. She also attended the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association Conference (she is Vice President of the Association), where she co-presented three papers and two posters with her international colleagues and research students Kate Crowe and Rebekah Lockart.

Back in Bathurst in July, Sharynne co-presented a seminar with Dr Sarah McDonagh to the Bathurst Child and Family Network titled Helping children succeed through speech, language, and literacy. The three-hour seminar was attended by over fifty early childhood education staff, speech pathologists, and community service staff.

Finally, Speech Pathology Australia has invited Sharynne to present the prestigious Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture at their 2013 conference to be held on the Gold Coast in June. Gail Mulcair, CEO of Speech Pathology Australia, says Sharynne’s invitation was “overwhelmingly supported by all of Council and is an acknowledgement of [her] extensive knowledge, expertise and contribution to the profession.” She will also receive the Award for 2013 which will be presented at the conference.

For more information, please visit Sharynne’s blog: Speaking my languages.

Australia's changing linguistic landscape revealed in census data

Sarah Verdon (my PhD student) has been comparing the 2006 and 2011 Australian census figures for the languages spoken by Australian people:

"In the 2006 census, 21.5% of the population indicated that English was not the primary language spoken at home. The main other languages used, in order, were Italian (1.6%), Greek (1.3%), Arabic (1.2%), Cantonese (1.2%), Mandarin (1.1%) (Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2008).

In the 2011 census, 23.2% of the population indicated that English was not the primary language spoken at home. This was an increase from 21.5% at the 2006 census. The main other languages used, in order, were Mandarin (1.6%),  Italian (1.4%), Arabic (1.3%) Cantonese (1.2%), and Greek (1.2%) (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012)."

Census year	2006	2011
English was not the primary language spoken at home	21.5%	23.2%
Main other language
Italian	1.6%	1.4%
Greek	1.3%	1.2%
Arabic	1.2%	1.3%
Cantonese	1.2%	1.2%
Mandarin	1.1%	1.6%

Exciting news: Elizabeth Usher Lecture and Award

Speech Pathology Australia has just announced that I will be presenting the Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture and will receive the Award for 2013. The lecture will be presented at the Speech Pathology Australia National Conference to be held at the Gold Coast in June next year. I am so honoured to have been invited to present this lecture and receive this award.

For details about the conference: http://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/news-and-events/2013-national-conference

Helping children succeed: Presentation to Bathurst Child and Family Network

Today (30 July, 2012) Dr Sarah McDonagh and I were invited to present a 3 hour seminar to the Bathurst Child and Family Network titled "Helping Children Succeed Through Speech, Language, and Literacy". Over 50 early childhood education staff, speech pathologists, and community service staff traveled from Bathurst, Orange, Cowra, Mudgee, Forbes, Portland, and Lithgow for the seminar. Lavinia Gibbs began the day with a welcome to country that reminded us of the Wiradjuri nation who's land we were meeting on and the oral traditions of the nation. I followed by speaking about children's speech and language acquisition then Sarah talked about promoting reading from birth, through preschool and into the school years. The enthusiastic participants were keen to take away ideas to use when working with families and children within their communities. Thank you to Annette, Jenell and Karen for organising such a great day.  

Bathurst Child and Family Network seminar participants
(with Dr Sarah McDonagh on the right)

Professorial forum at CSU

Today (25 July, 2012) I participated in the Charles Sturt University Professorial Forum held in Bathurst. The professors within CSU meet three times a year to discuss issues relating to the university, community, and the world. During our meeting topics we discussed included teaching, research, professional practice, finance and resources, and copyright issues. The meeting was followed by dinner with the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and members of the University Council.

The cultural and linguistic diversity of 3-year-old children with hearing loss

The following manuscript, written by Kate Crowe (my PhD student) recently was accepted for publication:

UPDATED REFERENCE (OCTOBER, 2012)
 Crowe, K., McLeod, S., & Ching, T. Y. C. (2012). The cultural and linguistic diversity of 3-year-old children with hearing loss. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 17(4) 421-438. doi: 10.1093/deafed/ens028

ABSTRACT

Understanding the cultural and linguistic diversity of young children with hearing loss informs the provision of assessment, habilitation, and education services to both children and their families. Data describing communication mode, oral language use, and demographic characteristics were collected for 406 children with hearing loss and their caregivers when children were 3-years-old. The data were from the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment (LOCHI) study, a prospective, population-based study of children with hearing loss in Australia. The majority of the 406 children used spoken English at home; however, 28 other languages also were spoken. Compared to their caregivers, the children in this study used fewer spoken languages and had higher rates of oral monolingualism. Few children used a spoken language other than English in their early education environment. One quarter of the children used sign to communicate at home and/or in their early education environment. No associations between caregiver hearing status and children’s communication mode were identified. This exploratory investigation of the communication modes and languages used by young children with hearing loss and their caregivers provides an initial examination of the cultural and linguistic diversity and heritage language attrition of this population. The findings of this study have implications for the development of resources and the provision of early education services to the families of children with hearing loss, especially where the caregivers use a language that is not the lingua franca of their country of residence.

Learning from children and their teachers in Tonga

During the first week of July I took annual leave and traveled with my family to Tonga in the South Pacific. We went as a part of a delegation to bring laptops and a library of children's books to a small village school on Tongatapu (the main island). We had corresponded with the village for about 18 months, and this was our first visit. We were overwhelmed by the welcome from the children, teachers, parents and villagers. We were even on Tonga TV for four days in a row! On Sunday, after spending a few days in the school, we went to the village church service where the choirmaster had composed an anthem in our honour. The Prime Minister of Tonga, Nobel Tu'ivakano, also came to the service, and sat at the head table with us at the feast after the service. The speeches during the feast acknowledged the strength of our ongoing relationship and we look forward to returning in the future.

Playing snap with the boys (a new game for them)

Speeches at the primary school

My family after the Tongan feast

Tongan children's literature: "Pato Puku" by Meleane Faufe'ulungaki

International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association Executive Committee

I am very honoured to be the Vice President of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association. I am now half way through my second term of office, so have been in the role for 6 years. The most challenging role for the committee over the past 2 years was to work with academics from Christchurch, New Zealand, who were to host the 2012 ICPLA conference, decide that this was not possible due the earthquakes, then find an alternative venue. We were very thankful that Prof Fiona Gibbon and Dr Alice Lee from University College Cork agreed to host the conference at short notice. It was an extremely successful conference. The next conference, will be held in June 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden. We are hoping that Christchurch will be ready to host the 2016 conference.



ICPLA executive committee: Martin Ball, Sara Howard, Sharynne, Ben Rutter, Tom Powell



L-R: Alice Lee, Tom Powell, Martin Ball, Fiona Gibbon, David Crystal,
Sara Howard, Ben Rutter, Sharynne McLeod

David Crystal receives honours of ICPLA

In conversation with David Crystal (note the Waterford Crystal bowl)

During the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association Conference, Professor David Crystal received the honours of the association. This was the first time ICPLA has bestowed an award to anyone, and David Crystal was a very worthy recipient. He was the founder of the field of clinical linguistics and phonetics, and has written many many books and articles on the topic. After being presented with an engraved Waterford Crystal bowl, the delegates of the ICPLA conference were treated to a Conversation with David Crystal. During the conversation, David outlined his long held belief that there should be a linguistics lab, much like a blood pathology lab, for speech-language pathologists to send language samples to. He also described the 3 things influencing the world's languages: the globalization of English, the digitization of language, and the extincion of languages. In addition, he said that he would not change his "bucket theory" regarding the influence of different components of language on one another.

Dr Karla Washington, Professor David Crystal, and Kate Crowe

Being in the same room as my distance collaborators

Most of the writing I do is with people who are in a different city or country to myself. Every so often I have the opportunity of being in the same room as them. While at the ICPLA conference in Cork, I was able to spend time with Bill Hardcastle and Sara Wood from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, to continue to work on our EPG book. I also had the opportunity to meet Elspeth McCartney from Strathclyde University in Glasgow. Elspeth, Jane McCormack and I recently wrote a book chapter for a book on the ICF-CY - and this was the first time we had met!

Elspeth McCartney and Sharynne

Sara Wood, Bill Hardcastle and Sharynne

International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association Conference

This week is the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association Conference held at University College Cork, in Ireland. I always enjoy ICPLA conferences, because they are times to meet with old friends and make many new ones. I always learn so many new things and come away brimming with new ideas for research and collaborations.

This year there are 250 delegates from 33 different countries. There will be 4 keynotes, 9 thematic panels, 60 oral presentations, and 160 posters. Professor David Crystal will receive honours of the association, the first award to ever be made by the association. 

During the conference I am co-presenting 3 papers and 2 posters with my colleagues and students:

• Lockart, R. & McLeod, S. (2012, June). Accuracy of identification and transcription of speech sound errors in a non-native language. (paper)
• Wren, Y., McLeod, S., White, P., Miller, L., & Roulstone, S. (2012, June). Speech characteristics of 8-year-old children with speech difficulties: Findings from a prospective population study. (paper)
• Crowe, K. & McLeod, S. (2012, June). Case studies of the use of extIPA transcription. (invited paper)
• Crowe, K., McLeod, S., Ching, T. (2012, June). Multilingualism and multi-modalism in children with hearing loss and their families. (poster)
• Washington, K. N. & McLeod, S. (2012, June). Bi-dilectal considerations for Jamaican Creole: A focus on phonology (poster)

Fiona Gibbon (conference co-chair) and Sara Howard (ICPLA president)

Margaret Kehoe (Switzerland), Sharynne, Jan van Doorn (Sweden), David Snow (USA)

•  

International expert panel on multilingual children's speech

Today I chaired an international expert panel on multilingual children's speech in Cork, Ireland. This was the first meeting of the panel, and subsequent meetings with a larger group of participants will be held virtually. The aims of the panel are to:

• Define international best practice guidelines for working with multilingual children with speech sound disorders.
• Identify practical pathways for improvement of international practices for working with multilingual children with speech sound disorders.
• Share resources, current research, and exemplary practices regarding multilingual children’s speech.
• Plan collaborative projects to advance knowledge about multilingual children’s speech.

 We had a very rich discussion throughout the day, that was inspired by the following quote: How do we “close the gap between the linguistic homogeneity of the profession and the linguistic diversity of its clientele” ?(Caesar & Kohler, 2007, p. 198) 

By the end of the day we had outlined issues to enable us to prepare the draft of a position paper on multilingual children's speech. 

The international expert panel hard at work

The panel was still smiling at the end of our stimulating day together

Growing up in Ireland

Today I visited University College Cork, and spoke with colleagues in the speech therapy department who are using the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study data to consider prevalence of speech and language impairment in 9-year-old children in Ireland. They have been using papers that we have published from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) study in Australia to compare with their data. It was interesting to discuss the similarities and differences between the two studies and the two sets of results. A number of questions asked in the LSAC study about speech and language have also been used in the Growing Up in Ireland study. However, while LSAC began data collection with two waves at 0 and 4 years, Growing Up in Ireland began data collection with two waves at 9 months and 9 years.

Dr Ciara O'Toole, Zoe Rooke, Prof Fiona Gibbon - University College Cork

Kissing the Blarney Stone!

While in Cork I had to visit Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone, that is said to give you the "gift of the gab" or the "gift of eloquence". My speech-language pathology colleagues and I thought it was worth the effort to lie on our backs and hang over a sheer drop to kiss the stone so that we increased our ability to talk (although some of our family did suggest that we did not need to). We were thankful for the gentleman who made sure we did not fall. We wondered if early speech therapy in Ireland involved a visit to the castle!