Aboriginal Languages of Australia

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Aboriginal Languages of Australia
Elsa Bledsoe
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History First Explorers

• 50,000 BC low sea levels allowed first people to
  migrate from southeast Asia
• 17th Century Dutch explorers map the coastline of
  Australia and name the land New Holland
• 1770 Explorer Captain James Cook claims all of
  Eastern Australia for Great Britain, named New
  South Wales

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History British Colonization

• 1785 the British declare New Holland to be Terra
  Nullius, no mans land
• 1787 first British settlement at Sydney, a penal
  colony

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HistoryBritish Colonization

• 1829 Britain claims entire western area and
  established capital at Perth, now controls entire
  continent

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HistoryBritish Colonization

• Further European settlement and expansion
  displaces natives
• 1836 colony of South Australia
• 1851 colony of Victoria

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History British Colonization

• Conflicts between white settlers and natives
  result in bloodshed
• Aborigines decline in numbers from 300,000 strong
  to a mere 60,000 due to disease and massacre

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History Oppression

• Killed by disease and massacres
• White Australia policy
• Relocation to reserves
• Forced onto dry outback lands of interior
• Numbers dwindled
• Rights ignored until 1950s

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HistoryReform

• 1946 Inmigration of Europeans to Australian
  cities and suburbs
• 1960s Aborigines finally recognized and gain
  some social civil rights
• 1967 Aborigines granted voting rights
• 1992 Land rights granted
• Continuing struggle for equality
• Predjudice
• Financial
• Social
• Health
• educational

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Ethnic Distribution
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The Aboriginal People

• Strong connection to Nature
• Spiritual legends and religion
• Knowledge land, nutrition, medicine, animals
• Can the new generation carry on customs?

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About the LanguagesGeneral Trends

• Complex Grammar
• endings
• neremenhthinepirnai Tiwi for I kept on hitting
  you
• Similar to Latin
• Specialized in kinship and nature terms
• Not Numerical
• Many languages dont have words for numbers above
  3
• Have words for many or few

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Major Language Groups

• Kriol
• Many forms.
• English influence (Aboriginal English)
• Walpiri
• Over 3,000 speakers
• Arrernte
• Over 3,000 speakers
• Pitjantjatara
• Dialect of Western Desert Language
• 5,000 speakers

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Tindale's Map of Tribal boundaries was in four
sections - click to zoom in
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Languages in Decline

• Past
• 250 separate languages
• Present
• only about 170 remain (2/3)
• Future
• 20 predicted to survive (8)

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Factors of Decline

• Years of oppression and dispossesion
• Decrease of aboriginal population
• Most speakers are over 40
• Children speak mostly English
• Few still practice a traditional way of life
• Northern territory
• Isolated rural areas

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Geography
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Education

• Until 1940
• Aborigines could legally be prohibited from
  attending state schools
• Schools were segregated
• Native language was prohibited
• European clothing required
• Today
• Integration
• 1990s government increased funding
• Increased emphasis on Aboriginal languages and
  culture

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Language Revival

• Teach native language and then English
• Record culture and languages
• Organizations
• FATSIL, VACL
• Media
• CAAMA radio
• Imparja TV
• Some native language programs with English
  subtitles
• Popular programs in English

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Words of Aboriginal Descent

• Billabong
• Dunny
• Squatter
• Geek
• True blue
• Swag

• Kangaroo
• Koala
• Boomerang
• Illywhacker
• spunk

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Language and Nationalism

• Remember several distinct languages, no
  Aboriginal Language
• Aboriginal Nationalism created only when tribes
  united against oppression

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The Situation Today

• Struggle for equality
• Aborigines occupy lower rung of society