Weekend of Ideas

Writer Don Watson looks at the triumph of modern management-speak and how those who favour the deliberately obscure and the falsely scientific are driving us all nuts.

Author David Malouf talks about the importance of language and literacy, and his love of language, but also laments its overuse and debasement.

Jagera and Dulingbara woman Jeanie Bell talks about the importance of language to Indigenous identities, the impact of the forcible loss of language and culture, and the attempts to revive Indigenous languages.

Julian Burnside reflects on the importance of words in his life as a barrister, an activist, and a writer.

Bruce Moore, from the Australian National Dictionary Centre, describes how his life in dictionaries, and in Australian English, began when he was teaching army cadets Old and Middle English languages.

Susan Butler and Roly Sussex discuss the idea that a living Australian English is all about change and infiltration by ‘multiple, parallel streams’ as spoken by Aboriginal people, southern European migrants, English-speakers in other countries and so on.