Embedding cultural conception within an adopted language: The english of Aboriginal Australia
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
International Journal of Language and Culture
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Place of Publication
Netherlands
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
26555
Abstract
Although a minority of Indigenous Australians still use their heritage languages, English has been largely adopted by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as their medium of communication both within and beyond their communities. In the period since English first reached Australia in 1788, a dialect has emerged, drawing on English, contact language, and Indigenous language sources, to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander speakers to maintain cultural conceptual continuity while communicating in a dramatically changed environment. In the perspective of Cultural Linguistics it can be shown that many of the modifications in the lexicon, grammar, phonology, and discourse of English as used by Indigenous Australians can be related to cultural/conceptual principles, of which five are illustrated here: interconnectedness, embodiment, group reference, orientation to motion, and orientation to observation. This is demonstrated here with data from varieties of Aboriginal English spoken in diverse Australian locations. 1 The understanding of Aboriginal English this gives has implications for cross-cultural communication and for education.
DOI
10.1075/ijolc.4.2.02mal
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Malcolm, I. (2017). Embedding cultural conception within an adopted language: The english of Aboriginal Australia. International Journal of Language and Culture. 4(2), 149-169. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.4.2.02mal