The preservation of languages is critical to strengthening the cultures, identities, and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. Dictionaries play an important role in language preservation and revitalisation, both in schools and communities, and also as a way to share knowledge about languages with non-Indigenous Australians. There are many cases where a good dictionary database has been created for a language, perhaps over decades of work, but a lack of funding has prevented publication from taking place. In numerous other cases publication has taken place, but in low-quality physical formats which have now deteriorated, leaving the community without a dictionary.
AIATSIS has launched a project to support the publication of Indigenous language dictionaries. The project aims to identify dictionaries that are in an advanced stage of development and develop a process for their publication. We have developed a process to enable community groups to submit an Expression of Interest to be considered for funding support. These submissions will be assessed following which high quality dictionary projects will be offered funding for their publication.
For further enquiries, the AIATSIS Dictionaries team can be contacted at: dictionaries@aiatsis.gov.au
The Dictionaries Project is proudly funded by the National Indigenous Australians Agency.
