AIATSIS Research
Research grants
Resources
Public programs
Sarah Cutfield
Sarah Cutfield, BA (Hons), University of Melbourne, PhD Candidate, Monash University.
Contact:
I work as a documentary linguist, descriptive linguist and language activist. I have diverse research 
interests in Aboriginal languages, including:
- issues in endangered language description
- the morphosyntax-semantics-pragmatics interface(s)
- discourse analysis
- deixis
- gesture
- contact languages
- corpus design
- language repatriation and revitalisation
- perceptions of, and public dialogues about, Aboriginal languages
After completing my honours degree with a thesis on the Lardil language of Mornington Island, I worked as a community linguist at Diwurruwurru-jaru Aboriginal Corporation (Katherine Regional Aboriginal Language Centre) from 2002-2004. In this role I developed language resources and facilitated language revitalisation programs for the Mayali, Rembarrnga, Dalabon, Mangarrayi and Kriol languages. I also delivered Kriol Awareness training courses to non-Indigenous people.
In 2004 I commenced my PhD at Monash University, studying the demonstrative system of Dalabon. I was awarded an Individual Graduate Studentship from the ELDP at SOAS, to document the oral histories of Dalabon master speakers. I have also worked as a contract linguist for Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language centre, and as a sessional lecturer in Own Language Work certificate courses at the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.
Current Research Focus
- Developing an online Dalabon corpus
- Dalabon ethnobiology documentation
Completed research projects
Dalabon Oral Histories Project 2006-2009
This project was funded by the ELDP (IGS 0040) and was a collaborative project between myself, Dalabon master speakers, and younger Dalabon people who are working to learn their language. Younger Dalabon people were trained to record the oral histories of their elders. Together we transcribed and translated these stories, and a series of DVDs has been produced. I also conducted research-oriented recordings on demonstrative use for my PhD.
Dalabon Way of Life 2003
This project was funded by an AIATSIS Grant (2003/6849), and documented a number of traditional practices on video, together with a Dalabon narration for these practices. Themes of resulting short films include Bush Medicine, Bush Tucker, Fishing, and Producing Artefacts.
Publications
- Musgrave, Simon, and Sarah Cutfield. 2009. Language Documentation and an Australian National Corpus. In Selected Proceedings of the HCSNet Workshop on Designing the Australian National Corpus, edited by Kate Burridge, Michael Haugh, Jean Mulder and Pam Peters. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings.
- Cutfield, Sarah. 2006 - 2008. Langguj Gel. Blogspot.
Presentations
2011
- The AIATSIS Language Unit and Indigenous Languages Infrastructure in Australia. Paper presented at the International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation, Honolulu.
- Whitefellas using Language in Public. Seminar presented in the AIATSIS Research Seminar Series Language in Public, Canberra.
2010
- The Unfamiliar Demonstrative in Dalabon. Paper presented at the Australian Linguistics Society annual conference, Brisbane.
2009
- Emotional deixis in Dalabon. Paper presented at the Australian Languages Workshop, Kioloa.
- Bias, Elicitation and Endangered Language Description. Paper presented at the International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation, Honolulu.
- Cutfield, Sarah. A Strategic Direction for the AIATSIS Language Program. Paper presented at the Western Australia Language Centres Conference, Perth.
- Dislocation and Word Order in Dalabon. Paper presented at the Australian Linguistics Society Conference, Melbourne.
- Making and monitoring demonstrative deixis in Dalabon interactions. Paper presented at the International Pragmatics Association Conference in Melbourne.
- Cutfield, Sarah. A Strategic Direction for the AIATSIS Language Program. Paper presented at the Australian Linguistics Society Conference, Melbourne.
- Cutfield, Sarah, Margaret Katherine, Lily Bennett, Queenie Brennan. Documenting and describing the Dalabon language of south-western Arnhem Land. Seminar presented in the AIATSIS Research Seminar Series Worldwide knowledge and understanding of Australian Indigenous cultures, past and present: Research and collections at AIATSIS, Canberra.
- Cutfield, Sarah, Di Hosking and Jeni Wie. Australian Indigenous Languages in the AusNC: the AIATSIS perspective. Paper presented at HCSNet SummerFest Workshop on Building the Australian National Corpus: Data Sources and Tools, Sydney.
2008
- Exophoric Uses of the Dalabon Demonstratives. Monash University Linguistics Program Seminar Series.
2007
- Discourse uses of the nominal demonstratives in a Dalabon narrative, seminar presentation in the Linguistics Program, Monash University Linguistics program.
- Discourse uses of the nominal demonstratives in a Dalabon narrative, paper presented to a specialist audience at ‘Blackwood by the beach’, Australianist Linguistics Workshop, hosted by the University of Sydney, Pearl Beach.
- Issues in Language Endangerment, plenary delivered at the Western Australian State Language Centres Conference, Wangka Maya, Port Hedland.
- Making a Putijarra dictionary: process, practice and principles, plenary delivered at the Western Australian State Language Centres Conference, Wangka Maya, Port Hedland.
- Referring Strategies in Aboriginal Languages, plenary delivered at the Western Australian State Language Centres Conference, Wangka Maya, Port Hedland.
- Dalabon Oral Histories, paper co-presented with Rachel Willika at the Indigenous Languages Conference, University of Adelaide.
2005
- A preliminary survey of demonstratives in Dalabon, paper presented to a specialist audience at ‘Blackwood by the beach’, Australianist Linguistics Workshop, hosted by the University of Sydney, Pearl Beach.
- Demonstratives, spatial reference and gesture in Dalabon, PhD Confirmation Seminar presented to staff and guests of the Linguistics Program, Monash University.
- Pointing Gestures in Dalabon, paper presented to members of the Australian Linguistics Society at its Annual Conference, hosted by Monash University, Melbourne.
2001
- Argument structure in Lardil, paper presented at Three-place Predicates workshop, hosted by University of Melbourne Linguistics Department.
- Give as a three-place verb in Lardil, paper presented at the Postgraduate conference, hosted by the University of Melbourne School of Languages.
- Three-participant Events in Lardil, poster presented at Honours poster presentation, hosted by University of Melbourne Linguistics Department.
Guest Lectures
2010
- Ethical fieldwork. Guest lecture presented to Field Methods class at the Australian National University, Canberra.
- Making a Putijarra Dictionary. Guest lecture presented to Lexicography class at the Australian National University, Canberra.
2009
- Working as a linguist in Aboriginal communities. Guest lecture presented to Language in Indigenous Australia class at the Australian National University, Canberra.
Professional events convened
2009
- AIATSIS Research Symposium: Bilingual Education in the Northern Territory: Principles, policy and practice
- AIATSIS National Indigenous Studies Conference: Perspectives on urban life: connections and reconnections. Language sessions convened:
- Language, Kinship and Heritage
- Language, Revitalisation and Education
2011
- AIATSIS Research Seminar Series: Language in Public
- AIATSIS National Indigenous Studies Conference: Young and old: connecting generations. Language session convened:
- Inaugural National Indigenous Interpreting Meeting: Getting the Conversation Started