Margaret Florey

Margaret Florey
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Hawaii
Scientific career
FieldsLinguistics

Margaret Florey is an Australian linguist whose work focuses on the revitalization and maintenance of Indigenous Australian languages.[1][2][3][4][5] She has documented changes in contemporary speech, such as the expression Yeah, no which is becoming more prevalent in Australia.[6][7][8]

Florey received her PhD in 1990 from the University of Hawaii. Her linguistic fieldwork experience focuses on endangered Austronesian languages of Central Maluku, eastern Indonesia, and Australian languages of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. She is a co-founder of the Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity and is the creator of the Documenting and Revitalising Indigenous Languages Training Program, which has reached over 50 Australian communities.[9] She contributed to international training workshops, including InField: Institute on Field Linguistics and Language Documentation (2008, 2010), CoLang: Institute on Collaborative Language Research (2014, 2016, 2018), and the Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Institute (2009, 2010). She was the founding co-director (2009-1012) of the Consortium for Training in Language Documentation and Conservation and has served on its steering committee since 2012. She is a past chair of the International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics steering committee, the Pacific region delegate for Linguapax, Barcelona, and served on the Board of Governors of Terralingua.

  1. ^ Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 53, No. 1, SPRING 2011, positive book review here Retrieved February 13, 2015, "...continuing and successful efforts to defend the linguistic rights of communities whose languages are truly small and often very endangered.."
  2. ^ Thomas Oriti, April 22, 2014, ABC, Digital lifeline for Aboriginal languages facing extinction Retrieved February 13, 2015, "..Linguist Margaret Florey is coordinating the digital archive project....Margaret Florey is hoping to complete high quality digital scans of thousands of documents...."
  3. ^ Emma Sleath, 24 April 2014, ABC, Veteran linguist's work preserved: The decades-old work of a Territory linguist is now providing a vital link to lost Aboriginal languages Retrieved February 13, 2015, "...Putting these materials online allows community members easy access... said RNLD's Managing Director and Senior Linguist Margaret Florey..."
  4. ^ Alice Roberts, 25 January 2012, ABC Capricornia, Elders track lost Indigenous languages: According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics over 250 Indigenous languages were spoken in Australia before white settlement, just over half of those still exist today Retrieved February 13, 2015, ".. Margaret Florey, who runs a national program for training and support for language workers..."
  5. ^ Landweer, M. Lynn, 2012, SIL, Review of: Endangered languages of Austronesia, Margaret Florey, editor. Retrieved February 13, 2015, "..The purpose of Florey's book is to canvas a range of language endangerment scenarios encountered across Austronesia ..."
  6. ^ Bridie Smith, June 11, 2004, The Age, Slang's 'yeah no' debate not all negative Retrieved February 13, 2015, "...with colleague Margaret Florey wrote Yeah-no he's a good kid: A discourse analysis of yeah-no in Australian English,.."
  7. ^ June 19, 2004, The Age, Too much speech-junk? Yeah-no! Retrieved February 13, 2015, "..Florey "yeah-no" has become entrenched in Australia over the past six years - and its use is on the increase. Moreover, they maintain that it's a very effective communication tool - not just a glorified "um, ah", but a form of "verbal cuddling"...."
  8. ^ David Campbell, June 21, 2004, Sydney Morning Herald, Words we use when the brain lags Retrieved February 13, 2015, ".. it might appear instead of "yes" in the answer to the question: Did you enjoy your holiday? "Yeah no, I had a terrific time." ... They argue: "It can emphasise agreement, it can downplay disagreement or compliments and it can soften refusals."..."
  9. ^ "DRIL". 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2018.