Current Research Projects in European Languages
Research in the Department of European Languages is focused on the nexus between Language and Culture, with a majority of researchers working in fields that can be loosely grouped under Multicultural, Intercultural and Cross-Cultural Studies. An emerging research area is the impact of globalisation and migration processes on cultural productions - such as literature, film and theatre - in the European and Australian context:
Multi-cultural identities in transition: case studies of migrant identities in Australian and German Literature
Dr Ulrike Garde (in collaboration with Dr Anne-Rose Meyer, Universität Hamburg)
The project applies an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural approach to the problem how migration as topic and experience shape the creation of cultural identities. It focuses on Australian and German literature, theatre, film and media as aesthetic reflections of cultural and social developments. (MURDG $21,900)
Voices from the fringe of a multicultural society: Feridun Zaimoglu's "Kanak Sprak"
Prof Martina Möllering (in collaboration with Prof Ortrud Gutjahr, Universität Hamburg)
The project analyses the concept of 'Kanak-Sprak' [Wog-Speak], employed by Feridun Zaimoglu, a prominent - and somewhat notorious - new German writer, who started transforming hybrid forms of Turkish-German into a highly stylised language form, thus, triggering a very public discussion on issues of language and identity in a multicultural society. (MURDG $18,750)
Multicultural identity on screen: three generations of Italo-Australian filmmakers
Dr Kerstin Pilz
The project provides the first systematic study of the films by first, second and third generation Italo-Australian filmmakers. It examines how multicultural forms of identity are constructed through film and the impact these new forms of subjectivity might have upon the construction of Australian identity. (MURDG $19,720)
Multicultural Narrative and Croatian Community: A transdisciplinary project about history, narrative, social and cultural changes in transitional Croatian Australian Community
Dr Boris Skvorc, Mr Luka Budak
This interdisciplinary project represents a case study of historical developments, narratives, social and cultural changes in the Croatian Australian community by 1. Positioning of the community narrative within the realm of Australian multicultural environment; 2. Recognising trends in community demographics and evolving patterns of transitional space, that is, links between 'second homeland' and Croatia; and 3. Laying the foundation for further interdisciplinary projects with internationally based investigators.
Other projects are directed at language, e.g. historical and linguistic description of languages:
The Development of the Western Variety of Ukrainian under Soviet Rule (1945-1991) and since the Independence of Ukraine (1991 - )
Dr Halyna Koscharsky (in collaboration with A/Prof Geoffrey Hull, University of Western Sydney)
The Ukrainian vocabulary is not fully unified because for centuries there have been two parallel varieties of the language: a Russian-influenced variety in the east and a Polish-influenced variety in the west. Since independence (1991), the eastern variety has prevailed as the standard. However, most Ukrainian communities abroad (including those in Australia) remain strongly attached to the western variety. Given the practical problems caused by this split, especially in the Australian educational context and with new migrants from Ukraine, there is an urgent need for researchers to describe accurately the current state of the language at home and abroad. This project is funded under the Macquarie University External Collaborative Research Grants Scheme ($11,200).
French language and cultural values
Dr Bert Peeters
The project aims to show how, through study of key words, phrases, syntactic patterns and communicative norms, cultural values typically associated with a particular linguistic community can be corroborated; and also how study of key words etc. can itself lead to the discovery of putative cultural values which are then to be further investigated. The project advocates the use of a 'natural semantic metalanguage' to overcome the hurdles of ethnocentric description and culture-specific jargon, and has repercussions for foreign language teaching. The research is expected to show how intricately the cultural values of a community are woven into its language. (MUNSRG $ 17,859)
The Role of Reunion Creole in the Linguistics Ecology of Nineteenth-Century Saint-Louis and the Implications for the Development of Tayo
Dr Karin Speedy
This two-year project aims to shed greater light on how a French Creole language emerged in one particular village in New Caledonia and nowhere else in the Pacific by examining the linguistics ecology of Saint-Louis in the 19th century. It also aims to determine the extent to which Tayo owes its existence to the presence of Reunion Creole speakers in the 19th century contact situation. Situated within the context of current debates ("superstratist", "substratist", "universalist" and "creativist") in the field of Creole linguistics, this project will examine the question of whether the notion of "generations" of Creoles can be upheld or whether Creole languages in a contact situation are simply part of the "feature pool" along with all the other languages spoken in the contact situation. In addition, it will investigate the role of (imperfect) second language acquisition of "appropriation" and the notion of a "target" language as factors in the development of Tayo. The findings that shall emerge from this aspect of the research may be applicable to other contact languages. A more in-depth understanding of the social and linguistic factors at play in this particular contact situation will thus advance our knowledge as to the way in which speakers of mutually unintelligible languages living in a contact situation select linguistic features from the "feature pool" of linguistic resources available to them in order to "create" a new community language. This is a question of prime interest in creolistics today. (MURDG $34,918)