The relation of aboriginality to English has important implications for communication between Aborigines and other Australians, and especially for the education of Aboriginal and other Australian children within a context of reconciliation.
The investigation of which this is the final report derives from the assumptions that Aboriginal English has been maintained at least in part because of its function' as a bearer of aboriginality and that, by exploring the nature of the distinctiveness of this dialect and the historical circumstances of its formation and ongoing development we may better understand how to provide appropriately for the communicative and educational needs of its speakers within a society where the dialect operates alongside the significantly different variety which is generally called Australian English.