Introduction to Language, Land & Song: Studies in Honour of Luise Hercus

Luise Hercus, who celebrated her 90th birthday on 16 January 2016, has been a leading figure in the documentation of Australian Indigenous languages for more than 50 years. This work began in 1962, in a decade when research on these languages intensified considerably. Luise�s work ranged from salvage studies of barely remembered languages in Victoria to full grammars and dictionaries of languages of South Australia. Her research has been characterised by a broad study of language in its total context, and includes considerable documentation of the songs, stories, geographical knowledge and biographies of the speakers. The 37 chapters of this volume pay tribute to Luise�s accomplishments and present further studies, primarily relating to Indigenous Australia, in the spirit of her inter-disciplinary approach to language documentation.