2026 Linguistics Lecture

Many words, many worlds: rising to the challenge of language diversity

Alice Gaby | Monash University  

Tuesday, 11 August | 5:45pm doors for 6:00pm start

Some of the most influential theories of human language have been built on information from just a handful of languages. But how can we understand the human capacity for language without accounting for the staggering diversity of the world’s 7000+ languages? This talk surveys some of the crucial contributions the Aboriginal languages of Australia have made to linguistics and our understanding of the human mind. The importance of these languages to science, let alone their immeasurable value to their communities, is in stark contrast to the devastating impact of colonisation on Australia’s linguistic diversity. Only 12 of the 500+ languages spoken at the time of European invasion have been passed without disruption from one generation to the next. But trying to revive a language by having non-Indigenous academics like me write a grammar and dictionary is like trying to save an endangered species through taxidermy. The second part of this talk considers the raft of ethical challenges introduced by Indigenous languages being analysed by outsider researchers based at wealthy and prestigious institutions. I will also discuss new initiatives working to reunite archival and academic language records with the communities who are working to breathe new life into their ancestors’ words. 

ABOUT ALICE GABY:

Alice Gaby is Professor of Linguistics at Monash University and Professor Extraordinarius at the University of South Africa. She is a non-Indigenous linguist who has collaborated with speakers of Paman languages since 2002, and has supported language reclamation efforts around Australia. Her other research interests include: the relationship between language, culture and cognition; grammatical description; semantic and structural typology

Join us for some refreshments after the lecture.

Images: courtesy of Alice Gaby