The Sydney Language

Drawing on the small amount of surviving historical information about the language of the first nations people in the area we now call the Sydney region, Professor Jakelin Troy, a Ngarigu woman and Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research at The University of Sydney, has written this comprehensive book. 

Chapters explain first contact communication and the phonetics, orthography, grammar and extensive wordlists of languages that tragically declined with the Aboriginal population of Sydney. 

The language is now called by its many clan names, including Gadigal in the Sydney city area and Dharug in Western Sydney. 

The Sydney Language is ideal for anyone interested in learning more about the language and culture of the Aboriginal owners of what is now called Sydney.

"The Waratah on the cover is symbolic of my hope that this book will revive popular interest in the Sydney Language. Aboriginal people in the Sydney area used the waratah in burial ceremonies to help resurrect the spirit of the deceased. It will become clear to the reader that the language still exists in a shadowy form as part of the vocabulary of Australian English. A number of words in modern Australian English were borrowed into early Australia English from the Sydney Language within the first few years of English settlement."

Professor Troy's research and academic interests focus on languages, particularly endangered Aboriginal and 'contact languages', language education, linguistics, anthropology and visual arts.

ISBN: 9781925302868

Format: Paperback, 119pages

Size: 240mm x 170mm x 9mm

Weight: 378g