Professor Ilana Mushin
Deputy Head of School
Linguistics Major Convenor
Professor
School of Languages and Cultures
+61 7 336 56810
Researcher biography
I am a linguist whose research interests include: interactions between discourse, cognition and grammar, pragmatics, perspective-taking in discourse, Conversation Analysis, typology, narrative structure, language shift and language maintenance, Australian First Nations Languages.
I am currently a Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project 'Conversational interaction in Aboriginal and Remote Australia' (CIARA - https://www.ciaraproject.com).
Author of:
- Articles on interactions between discourse and grammar in Garrwa and other Australian First Nations Languages, including A Grammar of (Western) Garrwa. Mouton De Gruyter. 2012
- Publications on epistemics and evidential pragmatics, including Evidentiality and Epistemological Stance: Narrative Retelling. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 2001
- Publications on Aboriginal English in Queensland Aboriginal Communities
- Publications on classroom interaction in Early Years and First Nations schooling.
Editor of:
- Interactional Linguistics (Journal co-edited with Prof. Simona Pekarek Doehler, https://benjamins.com/catalog/il)
- Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages (With Brett Baker, Amsterdam: John Benjamins 2008)
- Indigenous Language and Social Identity (With Brett Baker, Mark Harvey and Rod Gardner, Canberra:Pacific Linguistics, 2011)
| Featured projects | Duration |
|---|---|
|
Talking knowledge, doing learning: the early years ARC Discovery Projects |
2015–2018 |
|
Conversational Interaction in Aboriginal and Remote Australia (CIARA) ARC Discovery Project |
2018–2022 |
Publications
Books
Mushin, Ilana, Gardner, Rod and Gourlay, Claire (2022). Effective task instruction in the first year of school: what teachers and children do. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780367809379
McDinny, Dinny, Rory, Don, Rory, Eileen, Shadforth, Kathleen, George, Doreen, Dixon, Thelma, Dixon, Roy, Dixon, Lena, Keighran, Marjorie, Mawson, Peggy, Baker, Katie, Mawson, Daphne, Charlie, Miriam, Godfrey, Hazel, Simon, Shirley, Baker, Alan, Kidd, William, Noble, Muldoon, McDinny, Linda, Rogers, Alan, Mushin, Ilana, Stuckey, Ben and Wightman, Glenn (2021). Garrwa, Gunindirri and Gudanji Plants and Animals: Aboriginal Biocultural Knowledge from the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Australia. Borroloola, NT, Australia: Northern Territory Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security.
Mushin, Ilana (2012). A grammar of (Western) Garrwa. Boston, MA , United States: De Gruyter Mouton. doi: 10.1515/9781614512417
Mushin, Ilana Evidentiality and Epistemological Stance: Narrative Retelling 87 ed. Edited by Jucker, Andreas Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing company, 2001.
Book Chapters
Blythe, Joe and Mushin, Ilana (2023). Discourse and social interaction. The Oxford guide to Australian languages. (pp. 538-547) edited by Claire Bowern. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198824978.003.0045
Theobald, Maryanne, Busch, Gillian, Mushin, Ilana, O’Gorman, Lyndal, Nielson, Cathy, Radanovic, Shelley, Briant, Elizabeth, Curtis, Lisa, Mirah, Erin, Rana, Louise, Moore, Tyler and Danby, Susan (2023). Children as citizens of a global society. International perspectives on educating for democracy in early childhood. (pp. 297-320) edited by Stacy Lee DeZutter. New York, NY, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003229568-23
Mushin, Ilana (2018). Diverging from 'business as usual': turn-initial ngala in Garrwa conversation. Between Turn and Sequence Turn-initial particles across languages. (pp. 119-153) edited by John Heritage and Marja-Leena Sorjonen. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi: 10.1075/slsi.31.05mus
Fraser, Henry, Mushin, Ilana, Meakins, Felicity and Gardner, Rod (2018). Dis, that and da other: variation in Aboriginal children's article and demonstrative use at school. Language practices of Indigenous children and youth: the transition from home to school. (pp. 237-269) edited by Gillian Wigglesworth, Jane Simpson and Jill Vaughan. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-60120-9_10
Gardner, Rod and Mushin, Ilana (2017). Epistemic trajectories in the classroom: how children respond in informing sequences. Children's knowledge-in-interaction: studies in conversation analysis. (pp. 13-36) edited by Amanda Bateman and Amelia Church. Singapore, Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-1703-2_2
Mushin, Ilana and Gardner, Rod (2016). Establishing connections: a tale of two communities. Doing research within communities: stories and lessons from language and education field research. (pp. 105-114) edited by Kerry Taylor-Leech and Donna Starks. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315628875-12
Gardner, Rod and Mushin, Ilana (2016). The impact of interaction and language on leading learning in Indigenous classrooms. Leadership in diverse learning contexts. (pp. 289-309) edited by Johnson, Greer and Dempster, Neil. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-28302-9_15
Mushin, Ilana, Angelo, Denise and Munro, Jennifer M. (2016). Same but different: understanding language contact in Queensland Indigenous settlements. Land and language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country. (pp. 383-408) edited by Jean-Christophe Verstraete and Diane Hafner. Philadelphia, PA, United States: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi: 10.1075/clu.18.18mus
Mushin, Ilana and Watts, Janet (2016). Identifying the grammars of Queensland ex-government Reserves: the case of Woorie Talk. Loss and Renewal: Australian Languages Since Colonisation. (pp. 57-85) edited by Felicity Meakins and Carmel O'Shannessy. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.
Mushin, Ilana (2014). "Watching for witness": evidential strategies and epistemic authority in Garrwa conversation. Evidentiality in Interaction. (pp. 103-126) edited by Janis Nuckolls and Lev Michael. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing. doi: 10.1075/bct.63.07mus
Mushin, Ilana (2014). Liminal pronoun systems: evidence from Garrwa. Language description informed by theory. (pp. 99-122) edited by Rob Pensalfini, Myfany Turpin and Diana Guillemin. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing. doi: 10.1075/slcs.147.06mus
Gardner, Rod and Mushin, Ilana (2013). Language for learning in indigenous classrooms: foundations for literacy and numeracy. Pedagogies to enhance learning for indigenous students: evidence-based practice. (pp. 89-104) edited by Robyn Jorgensen, Peter Grootenboer and Peter Sullivan. Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-4021-84-5_6
Mushin, Ilana and Gardner, Rod (2011). Turn management in Garrwa mixed-language conversations. Indigenous language and social identity: Papers in honour of Michael Walsh. (pp. 207-221) edited by Brett Baker, Ilana Mushin, Mark Harvey and Rod Gardner. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Pacific Linguistics.
Simpson, Jane and Mushin, Ilana (2008). Clause-initial position in four Australian languages. Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages. (pp. 25-57) edited by Mushin, Ilana and Baker, Brett. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Mushin, Ilana (2008). Diverging paths: Variation in Garrwa tense/aspect clitic placement. Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages. (pp. 87-109) edited by Mushin, Ilana and Baker, Brett. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Baker, Brett and Mushin, Ilana (2008). Discourse and grammar in Australian languages. Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages. (pp. 1-23) edited by Mushin, Ilana and Baker, Brett. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Mushin, I (2006). Remembering another's experience: Epistemological stance and evaluation in narrative retelling. Language and Memory: Aspects of Knowledge Representation. (pp. 387-408) edited by H. Pishwa. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Journal Articles
Mushin, Ilana, Blythe, Joe, Dahmen, Josua, de Dear, Caroline, Gardner, Rod, Possemato, Francesco and Stirling, Lesley (2023). Towards an interactional grammar of interjections: Expressing compassion in four Australian languages. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 43 (2), 158-189. doi: 10.1080/07268602.2023.2244442
de Dear, Caroline, Blythe, Joe, Possemato, Francesco, Stirling, Lesley, Gardner, Rod, Mushin, Ilana and Kofod, Frances (2022). Locational pointing in Murrinhpatha, Gija, and English conversations. Gesture, 20 (3), 417-452. doi: 10.1075/gest.20035.dea
Nguyen, Ngoc Thi Bich and Mushin, Ilana (2022). Understanding equivocal feedback in PhD supervision meetings: a conversation analysis approach. Teaching in Higher Education, 29 (6), 1-17. doi: 10.1080/13562517.2022.2068348
Mushin, Ilana (2022). Editorial: Turn design and epistemic management in small communities. Journal of Pragmatics, 193, 21-26. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2022.03.007
Blythe, Joe, Mushin, Ilana, Stirling, Lesley and Gardner, Rod (2022). The epistemics of social relations in Murrinhpatha, Garrwa and Jaru conversations. Journal of Pragmatics, 191, 175-193. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2022.01.006
Stirling, Lesley, Gardner, Rod, Mushin, Ilana, Blythe, Joe and Possemato, Francesco (2022). On the road again: displaying knowledge of place in multiparty conversations in the remote Australian outback. Journal of Pragmatics, 187, 90-114. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2021.10.026
Mushin, Ilana and Doehler, Simona Pekarek (2021). Linguistic structures in social interaction: moving temporality to the forefront of a science of language*. Interactional Linguistics, 1 (1), 2-32. doi: 10.1075/il.21008.mus
Gourlay, Claire, Mushin, Ilana and Gardner, Rod (2020). Young children’s responses to teachers’ metacognitive questions. International Journal of Early Years Education, 29 (4), 1-20. doi: 10.1080/09669760.2020.1742671
Mushin, Ilana, Gardner, Rod and Gourlay, Claire (2019). Preparing for task: linguistic formats for procedural instructions in early years schooling. Linguistics and Education, 54 100749, 100749. doi: 10.1016/j.linged.2019.100749
Wilks, Matti, Redshaw, Jonathan, Mushin, Ilana and Nielsen, Mark (2019). A cross-cultural investigation of children’s willingness to imitate prosocial and antisocial groups. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 185, 164-175. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.04.018
Blythe, Joe, Gardner, Rod, Mushin, Ilana and Stirling, Lesley (2018). Tools of engagement: selecting a next speaker in Australian Aboriginal multiparty conversations. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 51 (2), 1-26. doi: 10.1080/08351813.2018.1449441
Redshaw, Jonathan, Suddendorf, Thomas, Neldner, Karri, Wilks, Matti, Tomaselli, Keyan, Mushin, Ilana and Nielsen, Mark (2018). Young children from three diverse cultures spontaneously and consistently prepare for alternative future possibilities. Child Development, 90 (1), 51-61. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13084
Neldner, Karri, Mushin, Ilana and Nielsen, Mark (2017). Young children's tool innovation across culture: Affordance visibility matters. Cognition, 168, 335-343. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.07.015
Watts, Janet, Gardner, Rod and Mushin, Ilana (2017). Da Symbol Dat Under da Stuffs: teaching the language of maths to Aboriginal learners of standard Australian English as a second dialect. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 48 (01), 1-13. doi: 10.1017/jie.2017.29
Munro, Jennifer and Mushin, Ilana (2016). Rethinking Australian Aboriginal English-based speech varieties: evidence from Woorabinda. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 31 (1), 82-112. doi: 10.1075/jpcl.31.1
Nielsen, Mark, Mushin, Ilana, Tomaselli, Keyan and Whiten, Andrew (2016). Imitation, collaboration, and their interaction among Western and Indigenous Australian preschool children. Child Development, 87 (3), 795-806. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12504
Mushin, Ilana (2016). Linguistic cues for recipient design in an Indigenous Australian conversational narrative. Narrative Inquiry, 26 (2), 217-256. doi: 10.1075/ni.26.2.03mus
Gardner, Rod and Mushin, Ilana (2015). Expanded transition spaces: the case of Garrwa. Frontiers in Psychology, 6 (MAR) 00251, 1-14. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00251
Gourlay, Claire and Mushin, Ilana (2015). 'Up dere la': final particle la in a Queensland Aboriginal vernacular. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 35 (1), 76-101. doi: 10.1080/07268602.2015.976902
Nielsen, Mark, Tomaselli, Keyan, Mushin, Ilana and Whiten, Andrew (2014). Exploring tool innovation: a comparison of Western and Bushman children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 126, 384-394. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.05.008
Nielsen, Mark, Mushin, Ilana, Tomaselli, Keyan and Whiten, Andrew (2014). Where culture takes hold: "overimitation" and its flexible deployment in Western, Aboriginal, and Bushmen children. Child Development, 85 (6), 2169-2184. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12265
Mushin, Ilana (2013). Making knowledge visible in discourse: implications for the study of linguistic evidentiality. Discourse Studies, 15 (5), 627-645. doi: 10.1177/1461445613501447
Mushin, Ilana, Gardner, Rod and Munro, Jennifer M. (2013). Language matters in demonstrations of understanding in early years mathematics assessment. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 25 (2), 415-433. doi: 10.1007/s13394-013-0077-4
Gardner, Rod and Mushin, Ilana (2013). Teachers telling: informings in an early years classroom. Australian Journal of Communication, 40 (2), 63-81.
Mushin, Ilana (2012). "Watching for witness": evidential strategies and epistemic authority in Garrwa conversation. Pragmatics and Society, 3 (2), 270-293. doi: 10.1075/ps.3.2.07mus
Mushin, Ilana (2010). Code-switching as an interactional resource in Garrwa/Kriol talk-in-interaction. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 30 (4), 471-496. doi: 10.1080/07268602.2010.518556
Gardner, Rod and Mushin, Ilana (2010). An Introduction to 'Studies in Australian Indigenous Conversation'. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 30 (4), 393-396. doi: 10.1080/07268602.2010.518552
Mushin, Ilana and Gardner, Rod (2009). Silence is talk: Conversational silence in Australian Aboriginal talk-in-interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 41 (10), 2033-2052. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2008.11.004
Gardner, Rod, Fitzgerald, Richard and Mushin, Ilana (2009). The underlying orderliness of turn-taking: Examples from Australian talk. Australian Journal of Communication, 36 (3), 65-90.
Mushin, Ilana and Simpson, Jane (2008). Free to bound to free? Interactions between pragmatics and syntax in the development of Australian pronominal systems. Language, 84 (3), 566-596. doi: 10.1353/lan.0.0048
Gardner, R. and Mushin, I. (2007). Post-start-up overlap and disattentiveness in talk in a Garrwa community. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 30 (3), 35.1-35.14. doi: 10.2104/aral0735
Mushin, Ilana (2006). Review of: Epistemic stance in English conversation: A description of its interactional functions, with a focus on I think By Elise Kärkkäinen. Discourse Studies, 8 (3), 463-464. doi: 10.1177/146144560600800306
Mushin, Ilana (2006). Motivations for second position: Evidence from North-Central Australia. Linguistic Typology, 10 (3), 287-326. doi: 10.1515/LINGTY.2006.010
Mushin, Ilana (2005). Word order pragmatics and narrative functions in Garrwa. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 25 (2), 253-273. doi: 10.1080/07268600500233027
Mushin, I. (2005). Narrative Functions of Clause Linkage in Garrwa: a perpective analysis. Studies in Language, 29 (1), 1-33. doi: 10.1075/sl.29.1.02mus
Conference Paper
Gardner, Rod and Mushin, Ilana (2012). Teachers telling students: informings in an Indigenous classroom. AIEMCA 2012 Biennial Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29-30 November 2012.
Creative Work
Round, Erich, Mushin, Ilana, Alvey, Elizabeth, Yu, Fei and Hornsby, Eric (2015). Indigenous voices of Queensland. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.