The Proto-Australian Aboriginal Language, Dr. Chris Illert
| Origins: Australian Aborigines | Chris Illert CV | Proto-Australian Language | Traditional Aboriginal Languages |
Introduction
Dr. Chris Illert, UWS, 2013 (3rd from left) |
Dr. Chris Illert (PhD University of Western Sydney 2013) is an independent researcher and scholar
who, since 1998, has published a number of papers on what he terms the
"Proto-Australian" Aboriginal language, with specific reference to
south-eastern Australia. These papers are of both a scientific and ethno-historic
nature, with the most significant appearing in the international, peer-reviewed
Journal of Applied Statistics between 2003-2006, and within his 2013 University of Western Sydney Ph.D. thesis (refer citations and links below). Dr.
Illert is primarily a mathematician and quantum physicist whose research during
the late 1990s resulted in an unlocking of the primary structure of the original Australian
Aboriginal language as spoken at the time of the arrival of the First Fleet at
Sydney in January 1788, and during the immediate period thereafter when European records were first kept as a result of interviews with numerous First Nations Peoples. Illert's
discoveries in regards to the structure and development of Proto-Australian
are, in the present writer's opinion, ground breaking and immensely
significant. They allow, for the first time, modern researchers and cultural
historians to better understand many of the archival records of early
Australian Aboriginal language from the time the first transcriptions were made
by individuals such as Lt. Dawes at Sydney in 1788, through to the demographers
and ethno-historians of the 1890s and beyond.
Dr. Illert obtained his B.Sc.(Hons) in Applied
Mathematics from Flinders University, South Australia, and in 2013 his Ph.D.
from the University of Western Sydney. In 2004 he had commenced his Ph.D. studies
in linguistics at that university, attempting to reconstruct and salvage
'extinct' south-east Australian Aboriginal languages. Dr. Illert's publications
at the time were an element of that work, whilst also including strong links to
local Aboriginal communities through the inclusion of songs and stories. From the 1980s Dr. Illert was active in those
communities, serving for a time as Secretary of the Northern Illawarra
Aboriginal Co-op (NIAC) and working with several Aboriginal corporations on Native
Title claims in the Illawarra and Blue Mountains region. Dr. Illert has several
published books and scholarly papers on the topic of the Australian Aboriginal
language, including one produced in collaboration with Andrew Allison of the
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Adelaide.
Danielle Reverberi also assisted Dr. Illert in the compilation and presentation of works for publication. In addition, many include black ink line drawings by Dr. Illert. This webpage exists to disseminate the linguistic findings specifically relating to Proto-Australian, or including elements
of his research in this area within the body of the work.
1996
1) Chris Illert, Djilimban the echidna: Aboriginal
language stories from south-eastern Australia, Chris Illert, Corrimal, 1996.
[Booklet]
1998
2) Chris Illert, The Mayran Clan on Gungungara, Northern
Illawarra Aboriginal Co-operative, 1998. [Booklet]
1999
3) Chris Illert, 'Maria's Lullaby', in K. Kituai (ed.),
There is no mystery: an artistic response to Lake George, Ginninderra Press,
Canberra, 1999, 47-48, 172. [Booklet]
4) Don Bell and Chris Illert, Mununja the Butterfly - the
first storybook in traditional Aboriginal language from south-eastern Australia,
Nurgunwal A.C.T and District Aboriginal Council of Elders, 1999. [Booklet]
2000
5) Chris Illert, 'The Last Shoalhaven Lore Master?',
Shoalhaven Chronograph, Shoalhaven Historical Society, 22(10), 2000, 1-5.
[Journal article]
2001
6) Chris Illert, The Centenary of Mary Everitt’s
Gundungurra Grammar, Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New
South Wales, 134(1/2), 2001, 19-44. [Journal article] *
7) Chris Illert, Lexigenesis in ancestral
south-east-Australian Aboriginal language, Preprint Series, School of Languages
and Linguistics, University of Western Sydney , 2001, 42p. [Booklet]
2003
8) Chris Illert, Lexigenesis in ancestral south-east-Australian Aboriginal language, Journal of Applied Statistics,
30(2), 2003, 113-143. [Refereed journal article] *
Abstract: The 1/x frequency distribution is known to
researchers ranging from economists and biologists to electronic engineers. It
is known to linguists as Zipf's Law (Zipf, 1949) and has recently been shown
not to be a consequence of the Central Limit Theorem (Troll & Graben,
1998), leaving an "unsolved problem' in information theory (Jones, 1999).
This 1/x distribution, associated with scale-invariant physical systems
(Machlup & Hoshiko, 1980), is a special case of the general power law xλ
arising from the Lagrangian L(x, (x)) = x1-λ2 and, as λ need not be an integer,
some related research understandably involves fractals (Allison et al., 2001).
The present paper generalizes this Lagrangian to include a van der Waals
effect. It is argued that ancestral Aboriginal language consisted of
root-morphemes that were built up into, and often condensed within, subsequent
words or lexemes. Using discrete-optimization techniques pioneered elsewhere
(Illert, 1987; Reverberi, 1985), and the new morpho-statistics, this paper
models lexeme-condensation in ancestral south-east Australian Aboriginal
language.
9) Chris Illert, Three Sisters Dreaming, or, did Katoomba
get its legend from Kangaroo Valley, Shoalhaven Chronograph, Shoalhaven Historical Society, 2003, (Special
Supplement), 40p. [Booklet] *
10) Chris Illert, Early Ancestors of Illawarra’s Wadi-WadiPeople - Part 1, Illawarra Historical Society Bulletin, November 2003 (Special
Supplement), 50p. [Booklet] *
2004
11) Chris Illert and Andrew Allison, Phono-genesis and the Origin of Accusative Syntax in Proto-Australian Language, Journal of Applied
Statistics, 31(1), 2004, 73–104. [Refereed journal article] *
Abstract: It is claimed that a set of 62 known (Illert,
2003) ancient Aboriginal words constitute a representative sample of the
original proto-Australian lexicon whose maximum likelihood (Fisher, 1912)
'power law signature' is determined and shown to precisely fit genetically
related 'modern' lexicons from south-eastern-Australia. This measure of
'sameness' builds the confidence required to justify inter-lexicon diachronic
word- frequency comparisons which provide a powerful new statistical tool
capable of revealing important features of ancestral grammar. This paper
supplies the first ever published modern translations of authentic traditional
language documented in obscure literary and archival sources which have, until
recently, been lost (Dawes, 1790b; Wood, 1924; Troy, 1992) or overlooked
(Everitt et al., 1900; Illert, 2001) for centuries. These newly found examples
of accusative syntax supported by word- frequency data may come as quite a
surprise to some linguists (Dixon, 1980; Osmond, 1989; Troy, 1992; Nichols,
1993) who, in the absence of adequate evidence, seem to have long-imagined that
language from this region—if not the entire continent— simply had to be
inherently and at the core ergative. On the contrary we find that changing
word-frequencies, from proto-Australian to modern times, supply overwhelming
evidence of the emergence of ancient accusative prefixes which have even
survived into recent centuries in the Sydney region. Additionally it is found
that, over millennia, words die-off in a lexicon, replaced by others, according
to the famous "mortality law' of Gompertz (1825) which also describes the
likelihood of death of biological organisms within populations and is the basis
for modern actuarial science (Bowers et al., 1997). Just as disease and
epidemics can wipe out entire cohorts of creatures from a population, so too
can syntactic change annihilate word-classes in an evolving lexicon.
12) Chris Illert, The use of entropy-maximising power law
signatures in studying Aboriginal language, research seminar, University of
Adelaide, Special Joint Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Applied
Mathematics & Linguistics seminar, 8 March 2004. [Presentation]
Abstract: A set of 62 newly discovered proto-Australian
words obey a maximum-likelihood "power law" suggesting a
"representative lexicon" from truly ancient ancestral language with a
simpler sound-system. The changing
frequencies of word-initial consonants, from proto-Australian to modern times,
enables entropy maximising signatures to be calculated from historic word-lists
and census forms gathered in recent centuries over large geographical areas. In
turn these signatures enable the poorly recorded boundaries of extinct
traditional languages to be determined, to previously unimaginable degrees of
geographical precision, throughout entire regions of the continent. Although
this initial study is limited to south-eastern-Australia, its methodology
provides the first real hope of obtaining a detailed understanding of language
dispersal throughout the entire continent over the past 60,000 years.
Signatures also provide a basis for constructing tree diagrams linking the
different language superfamilies.
13) Chris Illert and Danielle Reverberi, Wundjigaribay and
the White Waratah, Northern Illawarra Aboriginal Collective Incorporated, 2004,
CD + CD-ROM. [Audio file]
2005
14) Chris Illert, Origins of linguistic zonation in theAustralian Alps. Part 1 – Huygens' principle, Journal of Applied Statistics,
32(6), 2005, 625–659. [Refereed journal article] *
Abstract: The hitherto poorly recorded boundaries of
extinct traditional south-east-Australian Aboriginal languages can now be
redetermined with greatly improved precision using an entropy-maximizing
phonetic-signature calculated from existing data sources, including old
word-lists and census forms, that have, until now, largely been considered
informationally worthless. Having thus determined traditional Aboriginal
language zones to a previously unimaginable degree of geographical precision,
it is argued that these boundaries should not be viewed merely as a static
'snapshot' but, instead, as the end-product of a knowable dynamic process
(Gillieron wave propagation) governed by well-known physical rules (such as
Huygens' principle and Snell's Law) and operating over 'deep' time-scales more
familiar to the archaeologist than the linguist. Although this initial study is
limited to south-eastern Australia, the new methodology provides the first real
hope of obtaining a detailed understanding of language dispersal throughout the
entire continent over the past 60,000 years.
15) Chris Illert, The Traditional Story of the Great Walk
down George's River to La Perouse in about 1890, Northern Illawarra Aboriginal
Collective Incorporated, 2005, 75p. [Booklet]
2006
16) Chris Illert, Origins of Linguistic Zonation in theAustralian Alps. Part 2 – Snell's Law, Journal of Applied Statistics, 33(9),
2006, 989–1030. [Refereed journal article] *
Abstract: In this second paper, analysing archival
SE-Australian Aboriginal word/name lists, Snell's Law is used to deduce the
likely minimal sound-systems of pre Ice-Age language superfamilies - some
probably dating back beyond the first occupation of Australia by humans. The
deduced 'Turuwal-like' ancestral sound-system is then used as a basis for
reconstructing deictic forms apparently so ancient that they seem to even unify
'PamaNyungan' and 'non-PamaNyungan' language within a single system of formal
logic which, having apparently provided the semantic basis for at least 60,000
years of speech throughout the entire Australian continent, deserves to be
called proto-Australian regardless of whether or not it arose in SE-Asia tens
of millennia before. Whatever the exact age of this reconstructed
proto-Australian, presented here for the first time, it is an order of
magnitude older than any known human language and, as such, a 'Rosetta Stone'
for human languages worldwide. It also provides an unprecedented window into
human consciousness and perception of the world up to 75,000 years ago, which
is especially significant given that humans can only have engaged in finely
controlled speech and fully modern language since chance mutation of our FOXP2
gene about 120,000 years ago. These truly ancient deictic forms dating halfway
back to the beginning of modern human speech, retrieved only through modern
statistical analysis, provide insight into our very origins and as such are
perhaps amongst the most precious cultural treasures that humanity currently
possesses.
17) Chris Illert, Emergency Listing of Westcliff Colliery
Area 5, Longwall Blocks 31-33, under the EPBC Act, Northern Illawarra
Aboriginal Collective Incorporated, Submission to the Department of Environment
and Heritage, Canberra, 12 January 2006. Includes copy of Great Walk 1890
(2005) as Appendix 1. [Report] *
18) Chris Illert and Danielle Reverberi, Twinkle Twinkle
Little Star in the Gundungara Aboriginal language of the NSW Southern
Highlands, Northern Illawarra Aboriginal Collective Incorporated, 2006, CD +
CD-ROM. [Audio file]
**) Report on "Diddycoolum" site visit with BIOSIS, Lyrebird Creek, Menangle, Northern
Illawarra Aboriginal Collective Incorporated, 26 June 2006, 5p.
**) Comment by NIAC on Sandy Creek (AHIMS site number 52-2-2043 and surrounds) for Alistair Grinbergs Heritage Solutions and NSW Department of Commerce, Northern
Illawarra Aboriginal Collective Incorporated, 24 July 2006, 6p.
**) NIAC comment on "Metropolitan Colliery longwall 14-17, draft Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment", Northern
Illawarra Aboriginal Collective Incorporated, August 2006, 9p.
2007
19) Chris Illert, Report on Wongonbra proposed 400 ha
Subdivision Application, Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment, Northern
Illawarra Aboriginal Collective Incorporated, January 2007, 13p. [Report] *
20) Chris Illert, Report to the Growth Centres Commission
in relation to proposed urban development in the uppermost catchment of South
Creek, Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment, Northern Illawarra Aboriginal
Collective Incorporated, March 2007, 29p. [Report] *
21) Chris Illert, The Sydney Catchment Authority's Borehole
Project in and about Kangaloon's EPBC Act listed Endangered Ecological
Community Swamplands, Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment, Northern
Illawarra Aboriginal Collective Incorporated, April 2007, 54p. Includes a
discussion on the significance of the white waratah and other local plants.
[Report] *
**) Response to Navin Officer Draft Report "Locality LB, Edmondson Park - Archaeological Subsurface Testing Program", Northern
Illawarra Aboriginal Collective Incorporated, January 2007, 7p. *
2008
22) Chris Illert, On
the threat to AHIMS-list midden and burial sites in the Bellambi sand
dunes, posed by Wollongong City Council's (WCC) environmental
mismanagement and compounded by the Illawarra District(Noxious) Weed
Authority's (IDWA) Bitou Bush aerial spraying program, Report to
DECC, IDWA and Wollongong City Council, 19 May 2008, 22p. Part 1. [Report]
23) Chris Illert, On the threat to AHIMS-list midden and burial sites in the Bellambi sand dunes, posed by Wollongong City Council's (WCC) environmental mismanagement and compounded by the Illawarra District(Noxious) Weed Authority's (IDWA) Bitou Bush aerial spraying program, Report to
DECC, IDWA and Wollongong City Council, 19 May 2008, 38p. Part 2. [Report]
2013
24) Chris Illert, A mathematical approach to recovering the original Australian Aboriginal language, Ph.D., School of Languages and
Linguistics, University of Western Sydney, 2013, 277p. [Thesis]
2018
25) Chris Illert and John Murphy, The Tharumba Language of Southern New South Wales: Part 1 of Who was right - P.G. King or C. Darwin?, 2018, 24p. [Booklet]
2019
26) Chris Illert, John Murphy and Michael Organ, The Three Traditional Aboriginal Languages of Victoria: Part 2 of Who was right - P.G. King or C.Darwin?, 2019, 41p [Booklet].
2021
27) Chris Illert, John Murphy and Michael Organ, The Traditional Aboriginal Languages of Original-A and Original-B in western New South Wales: Part 3 of Who was right - P.G. King or C.Darwin?, 2021, 48p [Booklet]. *
--------------------------
Postscript
Dr. Illert has published a number of works in areas of mathematics and quantum physics, including the following:
- Sea-Shell Mathematics, South Australia, 1976, 64p.
- Commemorative Biography Of Maximilian Ferdinand Weidenbach, outstanding 19th century Egyptologist, artist, explorer and humanitarian, Adelaide, 1981, 84p.
- The mathematics of gnomonic sea shells, South Australia, 1982, 68p.
- Introduction to the exact science of theoretical embryogenesis, South Australia, 1983, 44p.
- Formulation and solution of the classical seashell problem - I.-Seashell geometry, Il Nuovo Cimento D., 9, 1987, 791-814. DOI: 10.1007/BF02453750.
- Formulation and solution of the classical seashell problem - II.-Tubular three-dimensional seashell surfaces, Il Nuovo Cimento D., 11, 1989, 761-780. DOI: 10.1007/BF02451562.
- The new physics of ultrathin elastic conoids, Il Nuovo Cimento D., 12, 1990, 1611-1632. DOI: 10.1007/BF02451262.
- Nipponites Mirabilis - A challenge to seashell theory?, Il Nuovo Cimento D., 12, 1990, 405-1421. DOI: 10.1007/BF02452108.
- Chris Illert & Clifford Pickover, Generating Irregularly Oscillating Fossil Seashells, Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE, 12, 3, May 1992, 18-22. DOI: 10.1109/38.135910.
- Chris Illert and R.M. Santilli, The Foundations of Theoretical Conchology, Hadronic Press, Florida, 1992.
- Platonic Geometries in Nuclear Physics, Science Art Library, Wollongong, volume 1, 1992.
- A beginner's guide to Hadronic circuit diagrams, and the secrets of cold nuclear fusion, Science Art Library, Wollongong, volume 2, 1993.
- Chris Illert and R.M. Santilli, The Foundations of Theoretical Conchology, Hadronic Press, Florida, 2nd edition, 1995, 204p.
- South Coast's little known wonders: the Bass Point, Shellharbour, reef, Australian Geographic, 1999.
- The Physics of Stargate, Corrimal, 2001, 34p. Presented at The Best of Both Worlds 2000 - Second Australian Stargate Convention.
- The Celestial Code: An interpretation of Starcode symbols based on Renaissance cosmology, Corrimal, 2001, 38p.
- Essays on the Structure of Atomic Nuclei, from a Newtonian perspective, Wollongong, 2003.
- Forms of Nuclear Fusion Energy, Paper presented to the conference on Physical Interpretations of Relativity Theory, Imperial College, London, 12-15 September 2008.
- Nuclear structure from Naive Meson Theory, University of Western Sydney, 2008.
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| Origins: Australian Aborigines | Chris Illert CV | Proto-Australian Language | Traditional Aboriginal Languages |
Last
updated: 12 January 2023.
Michael Organ
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