Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages - Volume 39, Issue 1, 2024

Abstract

Linguistic research with Indigenous communities over several decades has shown that Indigenous contact languages have a large presence in the contemporary Indigenous landscapes of Australia, but this is not reflected in an equitable presence in policy or programs. Policy has not taken up or responded to the available language research and recommendations, nor is policy reliably informed by solid government language data. As a response to such issues, the Indigenous Language Ecologies framework has been developed. It is designed as a tool to assist policy makers to see and include the needs of contact language-speaking communities. The simple framework differentiates the main configurations of multilingualism in Indigenous communities in Australia today, comparing and contrasting the typical repertoires of speakers of contact languages, of Englishes and of traditional languages. It is intended to function as a useful heuristic and, as such, represents an example of translational research where specialist linguistic knowledge has been distilled for a non-specialist policy audience. The paper lays out the rationale for, and design of, this language ecologies approach, and its impact on policy and research to date.

Abstract

Contemporary contact languages used by Indigenous people in Australia share many words and grammatical features and structures. I trace the development of contact varieties in Australia between 1788 to 1848, arguing that their similarities arise from the dominance of English-speakers among the invaders, their ways of talking to people who did not speak English fluently, the transfer of people between penal settlements, and the fact that sea traffic was the fastest form of travel between colonies. Evidence for zones of influence in which particular features appear is drawn from geographic distribution and time of first attestation. I use four types of reports for locating features: outsiders’ reports of direct speech by Aborigines and of outsiders’ speech to Aborigines, imitations by outsiders of Aboriginal speech, and outsiders’ comments on Aboriginal speech. Another kind of evidence comes from the adoption of contact variety words into Aboriginal languages. This is illustrated with a case study of words for ‘white woman’ in Aboriginal languages.

Abstract

A mixed language is formed through the systematic combination of subsystems from two source languages (Bakker 2017: 219). Defining features include the social history of a language and the ways in which the source language components are distributed in the mixed language, showing significant amounts of lexicon and/or grammar from each source. Yet it is possible for a language of this type to also have identifiable influence from a third language, still showing a dichotomy of source in that the three sources can be categorised into two groups. The Australian mixed language, Light Warlpiri, shows evidence of contributions from Warlpiri, on the one hand, and Kriol and English on the other. Interestingly, the reflexive-reciprocal subsystem of Light Warlpiri shows clear influence of English, in contrast to that of Kriol. Subsystems can each operate somewhat independently of other subsystems in terms of which sources they draw on and how they do so.

Abstract

This paper explores Alyawarr English, a new contact language spoken in Ipmangker, a remote Alyawarr community of Central Australia. Focusing on language use by children and drawing on a corpus of 50+ hrs of naturalistic video recordings, several aspects of Alyawarr English are examined in detail. The analysis centres on the origins of nominal and verbal morphology, with comparison to the patterns of replication evidenced in other new Australian contact languages. This reveals that children’s Alyawarr English has several points of symmetry with these languages. Nominal inflectional morphology is primarily derived from Alyawarr sources. Verb morphology is primarily derived from Kriol/English sources. The lexicon is derived from both Kriol/English and Alyawarr sources. Variation between morphology of Alyawarr and Kriol/English sources is also considered in each domain, to further elucidate what gets replicated and why in the ongoing development of new Australian contact languages.

Abstract

The verbal suffix ‑(a)bad is a frequent form in Australian Kriol and is well attested across all described varieties of the language. Despite the prevalence of this suffix, its precise semantics have so far gone undescribed in the literature. In this article, we present a semantic analysis of this suffix, drawing on data from a variety of Kriol spoken in the north-east Kimberley region of Western Australia. We argue that the diverse set of readings associated with ‑(a)bad can be best unified under an analysis of this form as a marker of verbal plurality (i.e. pluractionality). The suffix derives a set of plural events from a modified verb stem, which then interacts with aspect and argument structure to produce a wide range of readings, particularly readings of temporal, participant, and spatial plurality.

Abstract

Yarrie Lingo is the local name for the English-lexified creole language spoken in the Aboriginal community of Yarrabah in far north-eastern Queensland, Australia. This creole has only recently been gaining recognition but it is the main language of everyday interactions in Yarrabah. This study describes the recognitional trajectory of Yarrie Lingo and what has fostered this language awareness. With a focus on the experiences of the local Aboriginal educator, language activist and researcher, Bernadine Yeatman, we showcase a range of grounded methodologies, including devices like language posters, interviews and illustrative stories, along with maps, timelines and cartoons developed in conjunction with a linguist, Denise Angelo. This shines a light onto the practical ‘how to’ of language awareness for under-recognised language communities and the potential support a linguist can provide. It exemplifies a research approach which engages linguistic knowledge with local language expertise to co-design materials for community members, educators and service providers.

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