Collection details
Collection ID WDVA1
Title Western Desert Verbal Arts Project
Description This is a collection of verbal arts and speech styles from the Western Desert of Australia, in particular those of the Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra peoples. The mutually intelligible Western Desert dialects Ngaanyatjarra, Ngaatjatjarra and Pitjantjatjara are still spoken by approximately 2000 people who reside in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands region of south-east Western Australia. Their oral traditions are central to cultural practice and social interaction. They embrace sign language and gesture, narrative practices as well as the use of graphic symbols that accompany sand story narratives and turlku (song and dance) and games. These multimodal speech arts are a valued aspect of the traditions of Western Desert people, yet they are highly endangered.

From 2012-2019 Ngaatjatjarra linguist Elizabeth Marrkilyi Ellis worked with linguistic anthropologist Inge Kral and linguist Jennifer Green to document these endangered verbal arts. With women and girls we filmed the traditional practice of mirlpa, or sand storytelling, and with younger storytellers we recorded their adaptation of this drawing practice to iPads. Tjuma or other oral stories were documented, with male and female storytellers. We also recorded children's games and songs 'Tjilkuku - for children' as well as traditional sign language. This collection draws on various project sources.

The research was supported by ELDP (Endangered Languages Documentation Programme) Small Grant SG0187. Jennifer Green was supported by an ARC (Australian Research Council) Fellowship (DP110102767) and Inge Kral by an ARC DECRA Award (DE120100720). The next phase (2015-2019) was supported by an ARC Discovery Indigenous Fellowship (IN150100018) for Elizabeth Marrkilyi Ellis. And an ARC DECRA Award (DE160100873) for Jennifer Green. Enormous support also came from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CE140100041).


In 2020 two books were published by UWAP (University of Western Australia Publications):

Kral, I. & E. M. Ellis (2020) In the Time of Their Lives. Wangka kutjupa-kutjuparringu: How talk has changed in the Western Desert. Perth, WA: UWA Publishers. Awarded: Honorable Mention - Society for Linguistic Anthropology Edward Sapir Book Prize (2021).

https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/in-the-time-of-their-lives

Kral, I., J. Green & E.M. Ellis (Eds.) (2020) i-Tjuma: Ngaanyatjarra stories from the Western Desert of Central Australia, Perth, WA: UWA Publishers.

https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/collections/elizabeth-marrkilyi-ellis-inge-kral/products/i-tjuma

We have had an issue with the online storage of the QR Codes for i-Tjuma and In the Time of their Lives.
If you have either of these books the original QR codes in the published books are unfortunately defunct.

New QR codes for each book can be found in this collection, held in item BOOK_QR_Codes:

i-Tjuma: WDVA1-BOOK_QR_Codes-i_Tjuma.pdf
In the Time of Their Lives: WDVA1-BOOK_QR_Codes-In_the_time_of_their_lives.pdf
Archive link https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/repository/WDVA1
Collector
Inge Kral
Find similar
Operator Julia Colleen Miller
Originating university Australian National University
Countries
Australia - AU
To view related information on a country, click its name
Languages
Ngaanyatjarra - ntj
To view related information on a language, click its name
Region / village
DOI 10.26278/5b589e9084c3b
Cite as Inge Kral (collector), 2012. Western Desert Verbal Arts Project. Collection WDVA1 at catalog.paradisec.org.au [Open Access]. https://dx.doi.org/10.26278/5b589e9084c3b
Access information
Edit access Inge Kral
Data access conditions Open (subject to agreeing to PDSC access conditions)
Data access details
Items in Collection (105)

Item Title Actions
BOOK_QR_Codes New Book QR Codes View
IPAD_01 Tjarlaku View
IPAD_02 Tjarlaku - Going for honey ants View
IPAD_03 Kukaku - A hunting story View
IPAD_04 Tjukurla View
IPAD_05 Tjarlirli - One day in Tjukurla… View
IPAD_06 Desert Dust-up Disco View
IPAD_07 Going out bush View
IPAD_08 Camels at Tjarlirli View
IPAD_09 Tjukurla View
IPAD_10 Gypsy the camel View
IPAD_11 Warnampi View
IPAD_12 Tjarla View
IPAD_13 Tjarlirli View
IPAD_14 Tjarlaku View
IPAD_15 Tjarlaku - Going for honey ants View
IPAD_16 Disco at Warakurna View
IPAD_17 Warakurna View
IPAD_18 Warakurna my home View
IPAD_19 One day in Warakurna View
IPAD_20 Warakurna View
IPAD_21 Kuulpangka - A school day View
IPAD_22 Yuruku - Going swimming View
IPAD_23 Going to the roadhouse View
IPAD_24 Disco story View
IPAD_process Images of iPad story process View
MIR_01 Introduction View
MIR_02 Pangkupirri View
MIR_03 Marlu View
MIR_04 Wiluna View
MIR_05 Kukaku View
MIR_06 Kukaku View
MIR_07 Tirnkaku View
MIR_08 Pangkupirri View
MIR_09 Introduction to WDVA project part 1 View
MIR_10 Introduction to WDVA project part 2 View
MIR_11 Kapi View
MIR_12 Walytja View
MIR_13 Purtitjanu View
MIR_14 Leaf story View
MIR_15 Warnngi View
MIR_16 Leaf story View
MIR_17 Family hunting story View
MIR_18 Wiltjaku View
MIR_19 Travelling story View
MIR_20 Kukaku View
MIR_21 Tjarlaku View
MIR_22 Tali View
MIR_23 Kukaku View
MIR_24 Tjarlirli View
MIR_25 Tjarlaku View
MIR_26 Disco View
MIR_27 Kukaku View
MIR_28 Kurrirarra View
MIR_29 Tjarlaku View
MIR_30 Disco View
MIR_31 Introduction to Western Desert Verbal Arts Storytelling View
SIGN_01 Hand signs View
SIGN_02 Hand signs View
SIGN_03 Signals and sounds View
SIGN_04 Hand signs View
SIGN_05 Hand signs View
SIGN_06 Hand signs View
SIGN_07 Signals View
SIGN_08 Hand signs View
SIGN_09 Hand signs View
SIGN_10 Hand signs View
SIGN_11 Hand signs View
SIGN_12 Hand signs View
SIGN_13 Hand signs View
SIGN_14 Hand signs View
SIGN_15 Hand signs View
SONG_01 Tjartiwan View
SONG_02 Laka View
SONG_03 Laka View
TJILK_01 Mamuritiriti View
TJILK_02 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju View
TJILK_03 Mamuritiriti View
TJILK_04 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 1 View
TJILK_05 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 2 View
TJILK_06 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 3 View
TJILK_07 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 4 View
TJILK_08 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 5 View
TJILK_09 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 6 View
TJILK_10 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju 7 View
TJILK_11 Mama Mama Ngunytju Ngunytju View
TJILK_12 i-Mama Ngunytju View
TJILK_13 Tjilkuku View
TJILK_14 Mamu 1 View
TJILK_15 Mamu 2 View
TJILK_16 Mamu 3 View
TJILK_17 Mamu 4 View
TJU_01 Tjuma kutjulpirtu-Olden days story View
TJU_02 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu-Kitjitjitarn View
TJU_03 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu-Minyma kutungu View
TJU_04 Tjuma kutjulpirtu-Olden days story View
TJU_05 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu View
TJU_06 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu-Lupurl View
TJU_07 Tjuma tjukurrtjanu-Wati kinara View
TJU_08 Tjuma kutjulpirtu-Olden days story View

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