About the Project

The occupation of Nyiyaparli land by our people spans at least 41,000 years, making it the second oldest recorded in Australia. Like many Australian indigenous languages, Nyiyaparli faces critical endangerment, with fewer than 10 fluent senior language speakers.

In July 2022, KNAC launched the Nyiyaparli Living Language Project (NLLP) with the aim of preserving our critically endangered Nyiyaparli language, forever.

The project’s initial phase (Stage 1) established a strong foundation through collaborative workshops, cultural interviews, and comprehensive language assessments.

Moving on to Stage 2

The NLLP working group brainstormed various innovative language documentation, digitisation, promotion, and education initiatives. These include educational posters, daily Nyiyaparli word-of-the-day text message alerts, a digital language centre, and an engaging smartphone game.

In fact, the Nyiyparli Living Language Project masterplan comprises 26 unique project initiatives over a 3-year period..

The NLLP is governed by the NLLP Cultural Working Group comprising a number of senior Nyiyaparli language speakers and members of the community in addition to community, media and production staff from KNAC. Day-to-day, the project is delivered by a small team including an NLLP Executive Producer who reports to the KNAC CEO.

With the support of the KNAC Board and full project funding from AET for the next three years, we are excited to have begun our projects and to further deepen our commitment to the Nyiyaparli language starting from FY23/24 onwards.