Thursday, October 01, 2009

Australian Indigenous Languages Database

AUSTLANG The Australian Indigenous Languages Database was launched at the National Indigenous Studies Conference today. One of my former students at ANU worked on this
The AUSTLANG system assembles information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages from various sources. The core of AUSTLANG is the AUSTLANG database (online Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages database) which is linked to Google Maps. The system also facilitates access to other databases, PDF files and links to websites, which all provides information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. AUSTLANG enables users to search for a language by a language name or a place name, or by navigating Google Maps, and to view a variety of information on the language. AUSTLANG users can also launch a catalogue search of the AIATSIS collection catalogue, MURA.

1 comment:

Catherine Menon said...

Interesting - I very much like this idea (look at the trouble people faced when reviving Cornish because of the lack of records!).

Do you know how often this is updated? I'd be curious to see whether it eventually becomes integrated into other online linguistic tools.