Felicity Meakins is a linguist specialising in Australian Indigenous languages,

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

and

language contact Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact with and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. Language contact can occur at language borders, between adstratum ...

, who was one of the first academics to describe Gurindji Kriol. As of 2022, she is a professor at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

and Deputy Director of the University of Queensland node of the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

(ARC) Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. She holds an ARC Future Fellowship focusing on language evolution and contact processes across northern Australia.

Education and career

Meakins received her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Master of Arts at the

. She completed her master's thesis, ''Lashings of Tongue: A Relevance Theoretic Account of Impoliteness'', in 2001. Meakins earned her Ph.D. from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in 2008 for her work with the Aboriginal Child Language Project. Rachel Nordlinger was main supervisor for Meakins' dissertation, ''Case-marking in contact: the development and function of case morphology in Gurindji Kriol, an Australian mixed language.'' A Professor at The University of Queensland, Australia, Mekins also serves as a chief investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL). Meakins and Patrick McConvell were the first linguists to describe Gurindji Kriol, a

mixed language A mixed language, also referred to as a hybrid language or fusion language, is a type of contact language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. ...

which emerged in the Kalkarindji community of northern Australia post-1970s. She has performed fieldwork and facilitated language revitalisation work in this region since 2001 and published extensive documentation of languages in the Ngumpin-Yapa family, including a grammar of Bilinarra and dictionaries of Bilinarra and Gurindji. Meakins has publicly advocated for greater awareness of Australian Indigenous languages, the benefits of bilingualism and bilingual education for Indigenous children, and Gurindji history. She has published several articles in ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

'' (one of which has been republished in German), performed a TEDx talk and collaborated with Karungarni Arts and rangers from the Murnkurrumurnkurru Central Land Council. Her work chronicling Gurindji oral histories in particular attracted media attention around the fiftieth anniversary of the

Wave Hill walk-off The Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike, was a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, starting on 23 August 1966 and lasting for seven years. It took place at Wave Hill, a cattle stati ...

Awards

In June 2017 Meakins was awarded an

(ARC) Future Fellowship, a four-year mid-career award of $896,163, to focus on language evolution and contact processes across northern Australia. The purpose of Future Fellowships is "to attract and retain the best and brightest mid-career researchers". Meakins had previously received an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2014–2017) and two ARC Discovery Projects awards (2009–2013 and 2015–2018). In 2020 Meakins was elected Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...

(FASSA) and in 2022, Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australi ...

. The Kenneth L. Hale Award was awarded to Meakins in 2022, for her interdisciplinary work with Australian aboriginal communities in northern Australia, including helping with revitalization efforts.

Selected publications

Meakins has authored and edited more than fifty publications as of 2018.

Books

*''Introducing Linguistic Fieldwork''. Meakins, Felicity, Jennifer Green and Myfany Turpin. London: Routledge, 2018 *''Loss and Renewal: Australian Languages Since Colonisation''. Edited by Felicity Meakins and Carmel O'Shannessy Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton, 2016. * ''Mayarni-kari Yurrk: More Stories from Gurindji Country''. Edited by Erika Charola and Felicity Meakins Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Press, 2016. * ''Yijarni: True Stories from Gurindji Country''. Edited by Erika Charola and Felicity Meakins Canberra, Australia: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2016. * ''Kawarla: how to make a coolamon''. Wadrill, Violet, Wavehill Yamawurr, Biddy and Meakins, Felicity. Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Press, 2015. * ''A grammar of Bilinarra: an Australian Aboriginal language of the Northern Territory''. Meakins, Felicity and Nordlinger, Rachel. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter, 2014. * ''Bilinarra to English dictionary''. Meakins, Felicity. Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Press, 2013. * ''Gurindji to English dictionary''. Meakins, Felicity, McConvell, Patrick, Charola, Erika, McNair, Norm, McNair, Helen and Campbell, Lauren. Batchelor, NT, Australia: Batchelor Press, 2013. * ''Bilinarra, Gurindji and Malngin plants and animals: Aboriginal knowledge of flora and fauna from Judbarra/Gregory National Park, Nijburru, Kalkarindji and Daguragu, Northern Australia''. Hector, Ivy Kulngari, Jungurra Kalabidi, George, Banjo, Spider, Nangari Ngarnjal Dodd, Topsy, Jangala Wirrba Wavehill, Ronnie, Danbayarri, Dandy, Nanaku Wadrill, Violet, Puntiyarri, Bernard, Bernard Malyik, Ida, Wavehill, Biddy, Morris, Helen, Campbell, Lauren, Meakins, Felicity and Wightmann, Glenn. Katherine, NT, Australia: Bilinarra, Gurindji and Malngin People; Department of Land Resource Management, 2012. * ''Case-marking in contact: The development and function of case morphology in Gurindji Kriol''. Meakins, Felicity. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2011.

Other

* Meakins, Felicity (2014). Language contact varieties. In Harold Koch and Rachel Nordlinger (Ed.), ''The languages and linguistics of Australia: a comprehensive guide'' (pp. 365–416) Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783110279771.365 * Meakins, Felicity (2013)
Mixed languages
In Peter Bakker and Yaron Matras (Ed.), ''Contact languages: a comprehensive guide'' (pp. 159–228) Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. * Meakins, Felicity (2011)
Borrowing contextual inflection: evidence from northern Australia
''Morphology'', ''21'' 1: 57-87. doi:10.1007/s11525-010-9163-4

References

External links

*
Academia:Felicity Meakins
– Downloadable publications by Meakins
ngumpin.org.au
– Online dictionaries and language resources compiled by Meakins
Unlocking Science: Giving new life to old languages in Australia
– BBC Storyworks
Exhibition explores Wave Hill Walk-Off through Gurindji eyes

New Languages Spotlight

Talking book gives new voice to indigenous languages

Bilingual dictionary preserves Gurindji language

Yijarni: True Stories from Gurindji Country – a sad, marvellous historical canon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meakins, Felicity Linguists from Australia Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Linguists of Australian Aboriginal languages Australian women linguists Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities University of Queensland alumni University of Melbourne alumni