‘Nhill’ and the Aboriginal Language Revival movement: relational identity, short story titles and ‘contracts of homophony’ West, Patrick 2017, ‘Nhill’ and the Aboriginal Language Revival movement: relational identity, short story titles and ‘contracts of homophony’, Text: Journal of writing and writing courses, vol. 21, no. 1, Autumn00. Title ‘Nhill’ and the Aboriginal Language Revival movement: relational identity, short story titles and ‘contracts of homophony’ Author(s) West, Patrick orcid.org/0000-0003-4957-4294 Journal name Text: Journal of writing and writing courses Volume number 21 Issue number 1 Season Autumn Article ID 6 Total pages 15 Publisher AAWP: Australasian Association of Writing Programs Place of publication Canberra, A.C.T. Publication date 2017-04-28 ISSN 1327-9556 Keyword(s) Aboriginal Language Revival Contracts Ethics Homophony Nhill Place Post-Colonial Practice-Led Research Short Story Summary This article takes a practice-led research approach to engage with a current debate in Australian post-colonialism centred on the language issues involved with the Aboriginal Language Revival movement. Using the author’s own short story, ‘Nhill’, as a case study, the article develops Amos Oz’s notion of the beginning of a story as a ‘contract’ that all texts make with their readers. ‘Nhill’ is a provocative instance of this sort of contract because it is an English-language corruption, and mis-hearing, of the Aboriginal word, ‘nyell’. Nhill is also a town on the edge of the Little Desert in the Wimmera region of Western Victoria. The article explores the relationship of this place to the implications of the contract that the title ‘Nhill’ makes with its readers. By tracking the practice-led shift in the title of the story from, originally, the English-language name ‘Little Desert’, through to ‘Nhill’ as a homophonic echo of ‘nyell’, the article explores the ethical implications of a ‘contract of homophony’ for the current debate around the Aboriginal Language Revival movement. However, because ‘Nhill’s’ author is a non-indigenous researcher involved in the field of Aboriginal Language Revival, the article’s focus on ‘homophonic ethics’ must itself be situated ethically. Language eng Field of Research 190402 Creative Writing (incl Playwriting) 1904 Performing Arts And Creative Writing Socio Economic Objective 970119 Expanding Knowledge through Studies of the Creative Arts and Writing HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Copyright notice ©2017, The Author Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30094709 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education School of Communication and Creative Arts Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (open access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 01 May 2017, 17:58:26 EST Tue, 02 May 2017, 05:03:30 EST Tue, 02 May 2017, 08:21:17 EST Thu, 25 May 2017, 06:05:37 EST Wed, 31 May 2017, 15:47:02 EST Wed, 31 May 2017, 15:48:48 EST Tue, 29 May 2018, 16:53:24 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 312 Abstract Views  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 01 May 2017, 17:58:26 EST

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