Who was Patyegarang?
Patyegarang
was a young speaker of the Sydney Language, credited with being
the main teacher of Lieutenant William Dawes, whose notebooks form
the major documentary source for the revival of that language. We
have named this site after Patyegarang in honour of her role as
possibly the first Australian languages educator. You can find out
more about Patyegarang, the Sydney Language, Lieutenant Dawes, and
access his notebooks at the Notebooks
of William Dawes website.
What is this site about?
Patyegarang
has been designed to answer questions about the teaching of
Australian languages, with a particular focus on language revival. These are modelled on
the kinds of questions we are regularly asked by Australian
languages educators and revivers.
It is planned that Patyegarang will offer both original material and links to existing resources that will assist educators to improve their teaching as part of their language revival process. However, we also expect much of the material eventually published will also be useful to those engaged in language maintenance or second language teaching. Patyegarang is very much a work-in-progress that will grow over time, and is open to suggestions and contributions from users and others working in the field. We hope you find it useful!
It is planned that Patyegarang will offer both original material and links to existing resources that will assist educators to improve their teaching as part of their language revival process. However, we also expect much of the material eventually published will also be useful to those engaged in language maintenance or second language teaching. Patyegarang is very much a work-in-progress that will grow over time, and is open to suggestions and contributions from users and others working in the field. We hope you find it useful!
Who is responsible for this site?
The original
developers of Patyegarang were John Hobson and Susan
Poetsch, two lecturers from the Indigenous
Languages Education Program at the University of Sydney with
many decades experience in Australian languages, language revival,
linguistics and languages education between them. Since 2021 the
site has been operated by First
Languages Australia.
What is on this site?
Our first
pages included a guide to filling gaps in
reviving languages, answers to questions about language learning, developing language skills for teachers,
the use of technology in language
teaching, and a guide to further
reading. We have recently added several pages on language teaching and others on reviving and speaking language. Keep
visiting to check on our progress!
Where can I find out more about Australian languages?
Patyegarang
does not attempt to educate people about any specific language or
Australian languages generally. To find out more about Australian
languages we recommend you consult David Nathan's Aboriginal
Languages of Australia virtual library, David Nash's Australian
Languages page, the AIATSIS Languages
Resources page, or First Languages
Australia. To find out about what is happening with the
revival of Australian languages, we suggest you download the book
Re-awakening
Languages. To find out more about languages revival more
broadly, we suggest you download some of the titles from Jon
Reyhner's Teaching
Indigenous Languages site. To find more detailed information
about language revival, acquisition and teaching, visit our further reading page.
Why 'Australian languages'?
Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander languages are the only languages that
originate from this country. Linguists have long referred to them
as Australian languages in contrast to more recent arrivals, such
as English, which is an Indo-European language and definitely not Australian. We use
'Australian languages' throughout this site in recognition of this
fact.
