Studying the Birth of a New Language

While working in schools in northern Australia, Carmel O’Shannessy realized the children there had invented an entirely new language.

By Brendan Borrell
Feb 28, 2014 6:00 AMNov 12, 2019 6:01 AM
LajamanuWarlpiriFamily.JPG
Carmel O’Shannessy stands with Gracie White Napaljarri and her family members in Lajamanu. | Courtesy of Carmel O’Shannessy

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The indigenous village of Lajamanu, population 600, sits on the southern edge of the subtropics of northern Australia. It’s the kind of place where a truck rumbles in once a week to deliver staples to the local store, and where electricity comes from diesel and solar generators. It’s so remote that the oldest members of the community still remember the first time they saw a white person in the 1930s.

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