SIX STORIES IN AMURDAK TOLD BY BILL NEIDJIE AND NELSON MULURINJ

This is the first book and audio CD ever produced in Amurdak, an Indigenous Australian language traditionally spoken in the stone country of the Mt. Borradaile area northwest of Oenpelli in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

The six stories by Bill Neidjie and Nelson Mulurinj have been transcribed and translated into English and are narrated on the accompanying audio CD. Even though Amurdak is no longer spoken, and it is too late to bring it back to life as a tool for daily communication, the senior custodians of the language maintain strong affiliations to it and to the land throughout which it was once widely spoken. They have a strong interest in making it accessible to the younger generation and the wider public.

As well as making available in written and audio form a selection of Amurdak stories, the aim of this book and CD is to provide historical background information on the Amurdak people, their country and their language, together with notes on the grammar and the sound system of Amurdak. It is hoped that through materials like this, a small sample of the Amurdak language and the millennia of accumulated knowledge that it encodes will be preserved for posterity.

All profit from sales of this book will go to the Iwaidja language team for recording and publishing their endangered cultural knowledge. Your support will help maintain the linguistic and cultural diversity of northwestern Arnhem Land.

>>back