Indigenous Perspectives on the Vitality of Murrinh-Patha

Abstract. This paper reports on recent research into community atti-tudes around the vitality of Murrinh-Patha; a polysynthetic, non-Pama-Nyungan language spoken by approximately 2000 speakers liv-ing in and around Wadeye (Port Keats) in the Daly River region of the Northern Territory of Australia. The report is part of an ongoing re-search program that aims to identify the role of the community in the strong maintenance of this language in Wadeye, when so many other Indigenous communities are in the process of rapid language loss or change. This research has a two-fold motivation of investigating both why the language is robust and, if it is to remain robust, what is the situation with language-learning children? In a national language en-vironment in which Indigenous languages are on the decline the ro-bustness and seeming vitality of Murrinh-Patha is striking and raises questions about why this language continues to remain so strong. In the current study we investigate issues of linguistic vitality by ex-amining the language attitudes of Murrinh-Patha speakers. Through the use of semi-formal interviews and observation we establish the pri-mary domains (home, school, work, media etc.) in which Mur-rinh-Patha, English, and other languages are used by members of the community. Additionally, we report on perceptions regarding the on-going vitality of Murrinh-Patha and the interaction with English