Save the Yinggarda Language!

People + Culture

Yinggarda is a dialect from the central western coast of Australia. "It is one of the Kartu languages of the large South-West branch of the Pama-Nyungan family." As of 1981, there were five remaining speakers. In 1987, it was estimated that there were no remaining speakers, and that it was extinct. Its close relative, Malgana, has also been thought to be extinct and to have no remaining speakers.

http://www.enotes.com/topic/Yinggarda_language

Save itA dictionary of Yinggarda words was published in 1992. The dictionary is a mere 69 pages long. The Bible has yet to be published in this language either.

http://books.google.com/books/about/A_dictionary_of_Yinggarda_Western_Austra.html?id=RXlkAAAAMAAJ

Images

There are no main photos of the Yinggarda people or anything pertaining to the dialect, so attached are two photos, first of a photo of the central western coast of Australia, and secondly a whole map of Australia.

Hand of Fatima

The Hand of Fatima; Khamsa

1. Khamsa is the word for the number 5 in Arabic; in religion / prophecy, it is the hand of the Prophet's favorite daughter. It is a major symbol in Judaism and Islam.

2. The Khamsa represents luck, good fortune, prosperity, and health. The Khamsa takes a great role in religions.

3. The symbol is ambiguous because it can represent many things, and is represented in different religions.

4. People who do not know what the actual meaning of this symbol may wear it just for fashion purposes because it is a popular symbol to me made with jewelry, such as rings and necklaces. It is commonly made with the "Evil Eye" as well because the eye also steers away evil and bad auras.

Language as a Way of Knowing: Perspectives on the brain, thought and culture

Q: If people speak more than one language, is what they know different in each language? Does each language provide a different framework for reality?

A: Knowledge, in my opinion, is everything that you have learned and experienced throughout your life. Therefore, knowledge isn’t necessarily different in each language, but there can be more or less things that you know in a different language. In a primary language which you may learn in or speak/read/write in, you may be more well informed with that language rather than a secondary or third language which a learner may not have greater learning or knowledge in. When I was a child growing up, my primary language was Portuguese, and therefore my experiences with that language caused my knowledge to be in that language, with those experiences. However, now that my primary language is English, and it's the language that I most commonly read and write and speak with, my knowledge is incorporated with this language. As an IB learner taking HL French, I also have gained knowledge in this language, because with language comes learning about culture and way of life of the people who speak that language, as it was for me when I grew up speaking Portuguese, which also allowed me to learn about my own culture and the ways that my parents and people from my country lived.