Pama Language Centre - Cape York Partnership

Pama Language Centre

Recording and reviving our ancestral languages

Overview

Pama Language Centre works to record, revive, revitalise and maintain the ancestral languages of Cape York Peninsula.

Many of our languages are fragile and immediately threatened.

To ensure their viability, we work with Language Champions to record existing language information so that it can be preserved for future generations.

A significant amount of linguistic detail and oral traditions remain to be recorded in Cape York Peninsula, however this work needs to be done quickly to keep our languages and cultures rich and viable.

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speakers participated in language work (Jan-Jun 2021)

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visitors to Thudaan Diini early childhood YouTube channel

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Aurukun students accessed Wik-Mungkan resources

Why it Matters

Cape York Peninsula is widely recognised as a linguistic treasury.

Before the establishment of Pama Language Centre in 2015, there was no facility to enable the maintenance of our 42+ languages and numerous dialects. Many are still at risk of being lost forever.

Our ancestral languages are the unique inheritance of our children and are often the key to the passing down of ancient stories, songs and knowledge.

This integral piece of our nation's cultural puzzle is worth preserving for all Australians.

What we are Doing

Pama Language Centre harnesses 21st century tools to save the knowledge and culture of our ancestors.

Intergenerational transmission is the internationally recognised measure of language strength and language endangerment, so we work on the development of new genres, such as children’s literature, children’s songs, poetry and theatre. This keeps speakers thinking and talking about new ways to say things and new ways to use their beautiful First Nations languages.

To see the languages currently targeted, please visit the Pama Language Centre website.

Pama Language Centre

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LEARN MORE

The Pama Language Centre website is a rich resource of language maps, resources and educational material.

help save our languages

Pama Language Centre continues to seek partners to help us support more Cape York languages.

STAY INFORMED

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