Language of the Week: Week Twelve - Pitta Pitta...

On the State Library Spoken exhibition webpages, view a digital story from Central West Queensland featuring community members from neighbouring languages to Pitta Pitta sharing their language journeys.

Join State Library for next week's Language of the Week - Saibai from the Top Western Torres Strait!

Desmond Crump

Indigenous Languages Coordinator, State Library of Queensland

State Library of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Webpages

State Library of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Map

Spoken: Celebrating Queensland languages exhibition

Spoken Virtual Tour

Jarjum Stories exhibition

Minya Birran: What next for Indigenous Languages?

Images

Camel train in front of Fielding's general store in Boulia, Queensland. C. 1893. Negative number: 146128

Map of Western Queensland Languages, Breen (1990) J 499.15 BRE

Extract of No 104 Bitta Bitta Tribe, Boulia from Curr (1887).

Section of Pitta Pitta vocabulary from Blake, (1981).

Desert Channels Queensland language resources.

References and Further Reading

State Library collections have some material relating to Pitta Pitta; however, some of these are part of texts or items referring to Aboriginal languages of  North-West Queensland, particularly work undertaken by Barry Blake and Gavan Breen.

Relevant items in the collections include the following:

Blake, B.J. (1979) “Pitta-Pitta”. In Dixon, R. M. W. & Blake, B. (Eds), The handbook of Australian languages 1, 182-242. G 499.15 1979

Blake, B.J. (1991) Australian Aboriginal languages : a general introduction. 2nd Edn. J 499.15 BLA

Breen, J.G. (1990) Salvage Studies of Western Queensland Aboriginal Languages. Pacific Linguistics Series B – No. 105. Australian National University: Canberra. J499.15 BRE

Curr, E. M. (1887) The Australian Race: its origins, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over that continent. John Ferres Government Printer: Melbourne. RBF 572.994 cur

Desert Channels Queensland (2013) Pitta Pitta Pictorial Dictionary. JUVQ 499.9915 PIT

Oates, W. J. and Oates, L. (1970) A revised linguistic survey of Australia. Q 499.15 OAT

Tindale, N. B. (1974) Aboriginal tribes of Australia: their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits and proper names. Q 994.0049915 tin