Cover not available

Article published In: Teaching Creole-Speaking Children: Issues, concerns and resolutions for the classroom
Edited by Gillian Wigglesworth
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 36:3] 2013
► pp. 267–284

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF

Aboriginal English

Some grammatical features and their implications

 | Edith Cowan University
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 1 January 2013
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.36.3.03mal
Aboriginal English has been documented in widely separated parts of Australia and, despite some stylistic and regional variation, is remarkably consistent across the continent, and provides a vehicle for the common expression of Aboriginal identity. There is, however, some indeterminacy in the way in which the term is used in much academic and public discourse. There are diverse assumptions as to its relation to pidgin, creole and interlanguage varieties, as well as to Australian English.
In an attempt to provide some clarification, this paper compares Aboriginal English with the main varieties with which it bears some relationship, either historically (as in the case of the English of Southeast England and Ireland) or geographically (as in the case of Australian English and Australian pidgins and creoles). It does this by employing the morphosyntactic database of the World Atlas of Varieties of English (Kortmann & Lunkenheimer, 2012).
The electronic database on morphosyntactic variation in varieties of spoken English (eWAVE) isolates 235 variable features and enables their relative prevalence to be compared across varieties. A comparison of Aboriginal English with six relevant varieties on this database leads to the view that it retains significant influence from the English varieties of Southeast England and of Ireland, in many ways not shared with Australian English and that it has a great deal more feature overlap with Australian creoles than with Australian English, though a significant percentage of its features is shared only with other English varieties rather than creoles. The findings support the view that Aboriginal English is an English variety of post-creole origin, though not a creole, and that it is not directly related to Australian English. In the light of these findings, it is argued that Aboriginal English speakers will be disadvantaged in an education system which assumes that they are speakers of Australian English.
In the light of these findings, it is argued that Aboriginal English speakers will be disadvantaged in an education system whichassumes that they are speakers of Australian English.
References (36)
Allridge, C. (1984). Aboriginal English as a post-pidgin. Sub-thesis submitted as partial requirement for a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree at the Australian National University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Angelo, D. (2009). Language perspectives. Cairns: Department of Education, Training and the Arts, Queensland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burridge, K. & Kortmann, B. (Eds.). (2008). Varieties of English 3: The Pacific and Australasia. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Butcher, A. (2008). Linguistic aspects of Australian Aboriginal English. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 22(8), 625–642. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Collins, P. & Blair, D. (2000). Language and identity in Australia. In D. Blair & P. Collins, (Eds.), English in Australia (pp. 1–13). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eagleson, R., Kaldor, S. & Malcolm, I. (1982). English and the Aboriginal child. Canberra: Curriculum Development Centre.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fritz, C. (2004). From Plato to Aristotle – Investigating Early Australian English. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 24(1), 57–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harkins, J. (1994). Bridging two worlds: Aboriginal English and crosscultural understanding. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, J. W. (1993). Losing and gaining a language: the story of Kriol in the Northern Territory. In M. Walsh & C. Yallop, (Eds.), Language and culture in Aboriginal Australia (pp. 145–154). Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaldor, S. & Malcolm, I. G. (1982). Aboriginal English in country and remote areas: A Western Australian perspective. In R. D. Eagleson, S. Kaldor & I. G. Malcolm, (Eds.), English and the Aboriginal child (pp. 75–112). Canberra: Curriculum Development Centre.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1985). Aboriginal children’s English – educational implications. In M. Clyne, (Ed.), Australia, meeting place of languages (pp. 223–240). Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kiesling, S. F. (2004). English input to Australia. In R. Hickey, (Ed.), Legacies of Colonial English: Studies in transported dialects (pp. 418–439). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kortmann, B. & Lunkenheimer, K. (Eds.). (2010). The electronic World Atlas of Variation in English [eWAVE]: Grammar. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Retrieved from [URL].
(Eds.). (2012). The World Atlas of Variation in English [pWAVE]: Grammar. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kortmann, B. & Schneider, E. W. (2008). General introduction. In B. Kortmann & C. Upton, (Eds.), Varieties of English 1: The British Isles (pp. 1–22). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kortmann, B., Schneider, E. W., Burridge, K., Mesthrie, R. & Upton, C. (Eds.). (2004). The handbook of varieties of English. A multimedia reference tool. [21 volumes plus CD–ROM]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kortmann, B. & Upton, C. (Eds.). (2008). Varieties of English 1: The British Isles. Berlin: Mouton de GruyterGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lonergan, D. (2003). An Irish–centric view of Australian English. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 23(2), 151–159. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Malcolm, I. G. (2000). Aboriginal English research: an overview. Asian Englishes, 3(2), 9–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003, June 5–6). Simplification, nativisation and restructuring: Linguistic processes impacting on Indigenous education. Paper presented to the 8th annual Round Table of the Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Research, “Language, Learning and Change”, Rendezvous Observation City Hotel, Scarborough, W.A.
(2013). Aboriginal English and associated varieties: shared and unshared features. In B. Kortmann & K. Lunkenheimer, (Eds.). The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English (pp. 596–619). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Malcolm, I. G. & Koscielecki, M. M. (1997). Aboriginality and English. Mount Lawley, W.A.: Centre for Applied Language Research, Edith Cowan University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mesthrie, R. (Ed.). (2008). Varieties of English 4: Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mühlhäusler, P. (1991). Overview of the pidgin and creole languages of Australia. In S. Romaine, (Ed.), Language in Australia (pp. 159–173). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nero, S. (Ed.). (2006). Dialects, Englishes, creoles, and education. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pawley, A. (2008). Australian vernacular English: some grammatical characteristics. In K. Burridge & B. Kortmann, (Eds.), Varieties of English 3: The Pacific and Australasia (pp. 362–397). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, G., Rivalland, J., Tyler, W., Lea, T., Bartlett, C., Morrison, P., Cooper, J., Emmett, S. & Dunn, B. (2009). The National Accelerated Literacy Program in the Northern Territory 2004– 2008, Implementation and outcomes: Final evaluation report, Volume 1. Darwin: School for Social and Policy Research, Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rose, D., Gray, B. & Cowey, W. (1999). Scaffolding reading and writing for Indigenous children in school. In P. Wignell, (Ed.), Double power: English literacy and Indigenous education (pp. 23–60). Melbourne: Language Australia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sandefur, J. (1985). English–based languages and dialects currently spoken by Aboriginal people: suggestions towards a consensus on terminology. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 51, 67–78. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schneider, E. W. (Ed.). (2008). Varieties of English 2: The Americas and the Caribbean. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). English around the world: An introduction. Leiden: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siegel, J. (2010). Second dialect acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, A. J. (2011). Coming, ready or not: Aboriginal children’s transition to school in urban Australia and the policy push. International Journal of Early Years Education, 11, 1–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, B. (2000). Australian English in interaction with other Englishes. In D. Blair & P. Collins, (Eds.), English in Australia (pp. 317–340). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). Englishes in Sydney around 1850. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 23(2), 161–183. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Troy, J. (1993). Language contact in colonial New South Wales 1788–1791. In M. Walsh & C. Yallop, (Eds.), Language and culture in Aboriginal Australia (pp. 33–50). Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Oliver, Rhonda & Carly Steele
2025. Applied Linguistics in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts (1977–2026). Australian Review of Applied Linguistics DOI logo
Loakes, Debbie & Adele Gregory
2024. Acoustic Analysis of Vowels in Australian Aboriginal English Spoken in Victoria. Languages 9:9 ► pp. 299 ff. DOI logo
Tan, Siew Imm
2021. A Corpus-Based Exploration of Aboriginal Australian Cultural Conceptualisations in John Bodey’s The Blood Berry Vine. In Cultural Linguistics and World Englishes [Cultural Linguistics, ], ► pp. 37 ff. DOI logo
Malcolm, Ian G.
2017. Terms of Adoption: Cultural Conceptual Factors Underlying the Adoption of English for Aboriginal Communication. In Advances in Cultural Linguistics [Cultural Linguistics, ], ► pp. 625 ff. DOI logo
Jorgensen, Robyn
2015. Language, culture and access to mathematics: a case of one remote Aboriginal community. Intercultural Education 26:4 ► pp. 313 ff. DOI logo
O’Shannessy, Carmel
2015. Multilingual children increase language differentiation by indexing communities of practice. First Language 35:4-5 ► pp. 305 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue