Philological methods for Australian languages

Abstract

For many Australian languages, the available material exists primarily in historical (written and audio) sources. For language description, comparison, and revitalization, the information in these sources needs to be interpreted. We describe ‘philological methods’, the processes required for this interpretation—which are different from the methods that can be used with languages that are currently spoken. Written sources may be restricted in their scope (e.g. mere word lists), be recorded with ambiguous spelling, either lack a grammatical analysis or use one based on inadequate models, and texts may be highly simplified and have only an approximate translation. The first task is to establish the correct phonological form of words (reconstitution or reconstruction). We discuss the possible sources of errors, provide practical steps in philological analysis—in the domains of phonology, grammar, texts—and make suggestions regarding the prospects for using the results of this philological processing for purposes of language revival.