Language is an essential part of society and identity. Although languages have been lost throughout history, globalization has contributed to the loss of languages around the world. As a result, interest in language reclamation is growing among linguists, governments, and cultural and community groups. 

Click on play to learn:

• How revival languages are different from original languages.
• What are the benefits of reviving lost languages.
• Why we should revive lost languages.

Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann is a language revivalist and linguist whose work focuses on linguistics, lexicology and study of language, culture, and identity. He uses the term the “lost-heritage peoples” to describe indigenous peoples whose culture and language were stolen from them by more dominant cultures.

For the past 11 years Ghil’ad Zuckermann has been working on revitalizing the Aboriginal languages of Australia. He has been working with the Barngarla community to help them revive and reclaim their Barngarla Aboriginal language. To reach the goal of reviving this long-sleeping language, Professor Zuckermann has been traveling to villages in rural areas in Australia to help the Barngarla people learn about their original language.

Zuckermann shares his knowledge of linguistics and language reclamation, which is a new transdisciplinary field, through his book, Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to the Reclamation of Australia and Beyond. The book tells the story of language from Israel to Australia. He also teaches a five-week online course, Language Revival Securing the Future of Endangered Languages that focuses on the language revival movement. 

To learn more visit:

Website: professorzuckermann.com

Also, Check out these:

Israelit Safa Yafa (Israeli – A Beautiful Language), Am Oved, 2008: http://www.zuckermann.org/israelit.html

Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003: http://www.zuckermann.org/enrichment.html

Engaging – A Guide to Interacting Respectfully and Reciprocally with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, and their Arts Practices and Intellectual Property, 2015: http://www.zuckermann.org/guide.html

Dictionary of the Barngarla Aboriginal Language of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, 2018: https://www.barngarlalanguage.com/dictionary

Barngarlidhi Manoo (Speaking Barngarla Together), 2019.

Part 1: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/ghilad.zuckermann?dsn=directory.file;field=data;id=41076;m=view ,

Part 2: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/ghilad.zuckermann?dsn=directory.file;field=data;id=41096;m=view