One of the best subjects I've taken! Rachel was just an amazing lecturer and could always explain things perfectly clearly. She was even happy to walk and talk after class to explain things I didn't quite get during the lecture. The weekly 2 hour lecture format is excellent, but I wish there was more tutorial time because the 1 hour per week never felt like enough. Tula was an excellent tutor as well, and was really good at explaining all the concepts and making sure we understood them. The two problem-solving assignments were really fun and great if you enjoyed the ones in Secret Life, Syntax, or Morphology. As the other reviewer says, the structure involves picking a language at the start (you randomly choose a language from a spreadsheet) and reading through a description of its grammar as the subject progresses. Each week, you'll read the bit in the grammar that corresponds to the weekly lecture topic, which is a great way to synthesise your understanding of not only the grammatical concepts but a bit of typology as well. This was aided by a weekly google doc where everyone answered questions about their language (roughly) to do with the weekly topic. The final 2500 word essay is really fun and you get a lot of freedom to do whatever interests you! Again, as mentioned by the other reviewers this subject is very syntax- and grammar-heavy, but if you like that stuff (like me) then you'll just love this subject. It presents a beautiful (and brief) overview of the incredible grammatical diversity of Australian languages, and highlights some interesting and unique features they have compared to the rest of the world's languages. Certainly a must if you like descriptive linguistics and grammar.

I absolutely loved this subject and would highly recommend it to anyone, with the caveat that it is very difficult. If you're looking to learn more about Australian languages in general, and in particular the role language has in indigenous culture, then I would recommend taking Language in Aboriginal Australia (LING20009) instead. If you're a full-on linguistics nerd, then this subject is the one for you. Out of all the linguistics subjects I've done, this is the one that goes most in-depth into complex grammatical topics, including nonconfigurationality, case multifunctionality and case stacking, subordination, pronominal systems, complex predicates, and polysynthesis. A lot of background knowledge is therefore assumed, but as long as you're on top of the core Linguistics subjects (Syntax and Phonetics), you should be fine. Both Rachel (the lecturer) and Tula (my tutor) are fantastic at explaining and breaking down these difficult concepts however, and were always available to provide extra help if needed. The core assessment for this subject is based around adopting a grammar from a list of Australian languages. Each week you have to read a section of your grammar and then discuss it in class, looking at how the concepts taught in the lectures are or aren't realised in your language. Reading the grammars can be quite dry and technical, but the tutes are there in part to help you learn to navigate and critique grammars. There are two assignments, each of which consists of a short answer question about your adopted grammar and a language data problem. The problems were quite tricky, but also a great way to experience what actual analysis of Australian languages is like. The final assessment is a 2500 word essay comparing grammatical structures in Australian languages. There's a lot of scope for personalising the essay topic if you're interested in a particular area of Australian linguistics as well. Overall, this is an absolutely fantastic subject that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in Australian languages, in particular from a technical linguistic perspective.

Despite this being a very challenging subject, it was extremely interesting and I wish more students had taken it (there were only around 30 students this semester). It was very grammar and syntax-heavy, but Rachel, the lecturer, made sure to revise any necessary concepts and although a lot of knowledge was assumed, she always made sure that everyone was on the same page. The tutor, Tula, was fantastic! She was very knowledgeable about Australian languages, as was Rachel, and they both worked very well together. The assessments were actually quite fun, although challenging, and involved deciphering how a certain grammatical element worked in a made-up Australian language. There were also multiple topics to choose from for the final essay, which allowed you to focus on a field of interest, as well as the option to choose your own topic entirely. Would highly recommend taking this unit when it runs (only every second year) because it's a great way to learn more about Australian Indigenous languages, as well as to actually apply your knowledge of syntax in real-world language analysis.