About the Language and Culture Research Centre
The primary aim of the Language and Culture Research Centre (LCRC) is to investigate the relationship between language and the cultural behaviour of those who speak it, and the relations between anthropology, cognition studies and linguistics.
The LCRC sits within the College of Arts, Society and Education (associated with the Cairns Institute) at James Cook University.
The Language and Culture Research Centre (LCRC) brings together linguists, anthropologists, educationalists, other social scientists and those working in the humanities.
Our research focus
The primary intent of the LCRC is to investigate the relationship between language and the cultural behaviour of those who speak it. It also studies the relations between archaeology, prehistory, human biology, cognition studies and linguistics, based on in-depth empirical investigations of languages and cultures primarily in the tropical areas, including those of the Pacific (especially the Papuan languages of New Guinea), those of Southeast Asia, and of those of Indigenous Australia. We focus on studying the relationship between language and the cultural behaviour of those who speak it, and the relations between human biology, cognition studies and linguistics.
The LCRC is concerned with the fundamental business of linguistics and especially anthropological linguistics — our faculty and research students undertake intensive studies of previously undescribed (or barely described) languages. We also study minority languages, including languages of immigrants, within the context of the majority populations.
Our Research
We seek to provide anthropologically informed grammars and analyses of languages and linguistic areas. Our work has a sound empirical basis but also shows a firm theoretical orientation, seeking for explanation hand-in-hand with description.
Building on reliable descriptive studies, the LCRC also puts forward generalisations about human languages, cultural practices and cognition. We enquire how a language reflects the environment in which people live, their system of social organisation, food production techniques, and the ways in which a community views the world. For instance, groups living in mountainous terrain often have to specify, for any object, whether it is uphill, downhill or at the same level as the speaker. And if there is a chiefly system, a special term of address may be required for speaking to a high chief, and a different term for a minor chief.
Why are languages the way they are? We seek scientific explanation and motivation, combining the expertise of linguists, anthropologists and social scientists from other domains.
Another focus of study concerns the ways in which languages influence each other. What kind of words, and meanings, are likely to be borrowed between two languages spoken next to each other, and under what social circumstances? Are some kinds of systems particularly open to diffusion, so that they are likely to spread over all the languages in a geographical area, and are other kinds of systems less likely to be diffused?
The Language and Culture Research Centre (LCRC) promotes interdisciplinary research leading to comprehensive documentation of indigenous languages and cultures. This feeds into generalisations concerning human language capacity, and the interaction between parameters of linguistic and cultural behaviour. Our core members are anthropologically-oriented linguists and we maintain a dialogue with anthropologists, sociologists, archaeologists, educationalists and other scholars in the humanities, social sciences and relevant natural sciences. The LCRC's primary focus is on the autochthonous peoples of New Guinea, Australia, Amazonia, East Asia and South Asia.
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide anthropologically informed grammars and analyses of languages and linguistic areas. Our endeavour has a sound empirical basis but also shows a firm theoretical orientation, seeking for explanation hand-in-hand with description.
Building on reliable descriptive studies, the LCRC also puts forward generalisations about human languages, cultural practices and cognition. We enquire how a language reflects the environment in which people live, their system of social organisation, food production techniques, and the ways in which a community views the world. For instance, groups living in mountainous terrain often have to specify, for any object, whether it is uphill, downhill or at the same level as the speaker. And if there is a chiefly system, a special term of address may be required for speaking to a high chief, and a different term for a minor chief.
Why are languages the way they are? We seek scientific explanation and motivation, combining the expertise of linguists, anthropologists and social scientists from other domains.
Another focus of study concerns the ways in which languages influence each other. What kind of words, and meanings, are likely to be borrowed between two languages spoken next to each other, and under what social circumstances? Are some kinds of systems particularly open to diffusion, so that they are likely to spread over all the languages in a geographical area, and are other kinds of systems less likely to be diffused?
LCRC organises International Workshops and Colloquia, regular roundtable meetings, and various events through the year. We reach out to the community, through advising and assisting concerning language renewal and revitalisation.
The vision driving the Language and Culture Research Centre (LCRC) is to deepen our understanding of interrelationship between language, culture and cognition, addressing the issues of language and culture loss and the impact of globalisation, documentation and maintenance of indigenous languages and indigenous knowledge with a focus on tropical areas known for their linguistic diversity (and also for biodiversity). We also address practical outcomes (such as educational initiatives for the regional communities). Building on reliable descriptive studies, members of the LCRC put forward generalisations about human languages, cultural practices and cognition.
This vision is realised through a plethora of joint research projects involving members of the LCRC and national and international scholars, in addition to members of indigenous communities.
Our objectives include:
- Investigating interrelationships between language, culture and cognition, with a focus on peoples of the tropical areas, especially the Pacific, Amazonia and Aboriginal Australia, via empirical research and fieldwork.
- Understanding the key issues relevant to language and culture survival and maintenance for the peoples of the focal areas, through developing educational resources and conducting workshops.
- Investigating bio-cultural diversity, including linguistic diversity, among the peoples of the focal areas, and its importance for well-being and sustainable development.
- Investigating indigenous knowledge of environment and its sustainable use, within the context of western scientific knowledge and current economic developments.
- Salvaging and preserving indigenous knowledge through recording and documenting languages, cultures and histories of the focal peoples, in close collaboration with communities in PNG, Amazonia and North Queensland.
- Establishing and maintaining an electronic archive of Languages and Cultures of the Tropics (Tropical languages and cultures archive), as an international interactive resource for storing and disseminating data and results.
- The LCRC remains committed to organising national and international conferences, workshops and forums, dealing with the interaction between language and culture, producing high-quality publications, conducting various events, and attracting high-status International Visiting Fellows, with a further aim of creating a highly productive intellectual and research environment across the University, and an avenue for formulating policies relevant for preservation and maintenance of linguistic and cultural resources world-wide.
The LCRC is a major focus of linguistic typology and linguistic analysis in the Southern Hemisphere.