Cover not available

Article published In: Australian Contact Languages
Edited by Carmel O'Shannessy, Denise Angelo and Jane Simpson
[Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 39:1] 2024
► pp. 34–70

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

Indigenous Language Ecologies framework

A tool for inserting Indigenous contact languages and their speakers into policy in Australia

ORCiD logo with link | Australian National University
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

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

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Australian National University.

Published online: 8 March 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.00138.ang
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.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Languages in contemporary Indigenous repertoires
    • Language repertoires and language categorisation
    • Traditional Indigenous languages
    • English and Englishes
    • Indigenous contact languages
    • Contact language recognition
  • An under-recognised contact language-speaking community
    • National Census – Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
    • Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)
    • National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA)
    • State government
    • Local government
  • Language policy
    • Indigenous policy
    • Indigenous language policy
    • International policy supporting contact languages and their speakers
  • Indigenous Language Ecologies framework
    • Unpacking the design of the Indigenous Language Ecologies framework
    • Impact of the Indigenous Language Ecologies framework
    • Limitations
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (99)
References
Alpher, Barry. 1991. Yir-Yoront lexicon: sketch and dictionary of an Australian language. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Angelo, Denise. 2021a. Countering misrecognition of Indigenous contact languages and their ecologies in Australia. Canberra: Australian National University PhD. [URL]
. 2021b. Creoles, education and policy. In Umberto Ansaldo & Miriam Meyerhoff (eds), The Routledge handbook of pidgin and creole languages, 286–301. London/New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2023a. Contact language case studies. In Claire Bowern (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Australian Languages, 765–780. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2023b. Language contact. In Claire Bowern (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Australian Languages, 656–666. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Angelo, Denise, & Samantha Campbell, Samantha. (2022). Language for Littlies. A handbook about how to add English when young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children speak other languages at home with their families or carers. Melbourne: Education Services Australia. [URL]
Angelo, Denise & Nina Carter. 2015. Schooling within shifting langscapes: Educational responses in complex Indigenous language contact ecologies. In Androula Yiakoumetti (ed.) Multilingualism and language in education: Current sociolinguistic and pedagogical perspectives from Commonwealth countries, 119–140. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Angelo, Denise, Henry Fraser & Bernadine Yeatman. 2019. The art of recognition. Visualising contact languages with Community Vernacular Language Posters. Babel (Journal of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers’ Associations) 541. 34–40. [URL]
Angelo, Denise & Catherine Hudson. 2018. Dangerous conversations: Teacher-student interactions with unidentified English language learners. In Gillian Wigglesworth, Jane Simpson & Jill Vaughan (eds), Language practices of Indigenous children and youth: The transition from home to school, 207–235. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. From the periphery to the centre: Securing the place at the heart of the TESOL field for First Nations learners of English as an Additional Language/Dialect. TESOL in Context 291. 5–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Angelo, Denise & Sophie McIntosh. 2014. Anomalous data about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language ecologies. In Elke Stracke (ed.) Intersections: Applied linguistics as a meeting place, 270–293. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Angelo, Denise, Carmel O’Shannessy, Jane Simpson, Inge Kral, Hilary Smith & Emma Clare Browne. 2019. Well-being and Indigenous Language Ecologies (WILE): a strengths-based approach: Literature review, National Indigenous Languages Report, Pillar 2. ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Angelo, Denise & Susan Poetsch. 2019. From the ground up: How Aboriginal Languages teachers design school-based programs in their local language ecology, With Carmel Ryan, Marmingee Hand, Nathan Schrieber and Michael Jarrett Babel (Journal of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers’ Associations) 541. 11–20. [URL]
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 2016. Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL), 1267.0. Australian Federal Government. [URL]
. 2021. Language statistics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Australian Federal Government. [URL]
Australian Government Productivity Commission. n.d. Socioeconomic outcome area 16. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and languages are strong, supported and flourishing. In Closing the Gap Information Repository. Canberra: Australian Federal Government. [URL]
Berry, Rosalind & Joyce Hudson. 1997. Making the jump: a resource book for teachers of Aboriginal students. Broome, W.A.: Catholic Education Office, Kimberley Region.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bowen, Alex. 2019. ‘You don’t have to say anything’: Modality and consequences in conversations about the right to silence in the Northern Territory. Australian Journal of Linguistics 391. 347–374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bowern, Claire (ed.) 2023. The Oxford guide to Australian languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brandl, Maria & Michael Walsh. 1982. Speakers of many tongues: toward understanding multilingualism among Aboriginal Australians. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 1982. 71–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carter, Nina, Denise Angelo & Catherine Hudson. 2020. Translanguaging the curriculum: A critical language awareness curriculum for silenced Indigenous voices. In Peter Mickan & Ilona Wallace (eds), The Routledge handbook of language education curriculum design, 144–174. New York/London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clutterbuck, Jennifer, Ian Hardy & Sue Creagh. 2023. Data infrastructures as sites of preclusion and omission: the representation of students and schooling. Journal of Education Policy 381. 93–114. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coalition of Peaks. 2020. A report on engagements with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: to inform a new national agreement on Closing the Gap. [URL] (4 February 2024)
Commonwealth of Australia. 2012. Our Land Our Languages: Language learning in Indigenous communities. The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. [URL] (4 February 2024)
Crowley, Terry, and Bruce Rigsby. 1979. Cape York Creole. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Languages and their status, 153–207. Cambridge MA: Winthrop Publishers Inc.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dickson, Greg. 2019. Aboriginal English(es). In Louisa Willoughby & Howard Manns (eds), Australian English reimagined: Structure, features and developments, 134–154: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2023. Kriol. In Claire Bowern (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Australian Languages, 667–679. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dinku, Yonatan, Francis Markham, Denise Angelo & Jane Simpson. 2022. Wellbeing in diverse language ecologies: Do the relationships between social and emotional wellbeing and using Indigenous languages vary across different language contexts in Australia? Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dinku, Yonatan, Francis Markham, Danielle Venn, Denise Angelo, Jane Simpson, Carmel O’Shannessy, Janet Hunt & Tony Dreise. 2020. Language use is connected to indicators of wellbeing: Evidence from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey 2014/15. Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Disbray, Samantha. 2008. More than one way to catch a frog: Children’s discourse in a contact setting. Melbourne: University of Melbourne PhD. [URL]
. 2016. The development of reference realization and narrative in an Australian contact language, Wumpurrarni English. Frontiers in Psychology 71. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Disbray, Samantha & Jane Simpson. 2005. The expression of possession in Wumpurrarni English, Tennant Creek. Monash University Linguistics Papers 41. 65–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. Alyawarr children’s variable present temporal reference expression in two closely-related languages of Central Australia. Canberra: Australian National University PhD. [URL]
Eades, Diana. 2014. Aboriginal English. In Harold Koch & Rachel Nordlinger (eds), The languages and linguistics of Australia: A comprehensive guide, 417–448. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Freier, Philip L. 1999. Living with the Munpitch: the history of Mitchell River Mission, 1905 – 1967. Townsville: James Cook University PhD. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gardiner-Garden, John. 2013. Closing the gap. In Parliamentary Library Briefing Book – 44th Parliament (ed.) Parliamentary Librarian. Canberra: Parliament of Australia. [URL]
Goldberg, Michelle P. 2006. Discursive policy webs in a globalisation era: a discussion of access to professions and trades for immigrant professionals in Ontario, Canada. Globalisation, Societies and Education 41. 77–102. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harkins, Jean. 1994. Bridging two worlds: Aboriginal English and crosscultural understanding. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2000. Structure and meaning in Australian Aboriginal English. Asian Englishes 31. 60–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Horton, David R. 1999. Aboriginal Australia [map]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hudson, Catherine & Denise Angelo. 2020. Teacher views on the implementation of English language proficiency scales for young Indigenous learners of Standard English. Language Assessment Quarterly 171. 491–518. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hudson, Catherine, Denise Angelo & Sue Creagh. 2023. Instantiating justice, fairness and inclusiveness in English as an Additional Language/Dialect assessment frameworks: Unpacking the evidence base for the Bandscales State Schools (Queensland). Studies in Language Assessment 121. 235–271. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hudson, Joyce. 1983. Grammatical and semantic aspects of Fitzroy Valley Kriol. Darwin: Summer Institute of Linguistics – Australian Aborigines Branch. [URL]
International Center for Caribbean Language Research. 2011. Charter on Language Policy and Language Rights in the Creole-Speaking Caribbean January 2011. Jamaica Language Unit/ Unit for Caribbean Research, University of the West Indies. [URL] (8 February 2020)
Knight, Libby. 2003. Right Talk Right Place: A resource book for teachers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in north Queensland schools. Townsville: Catholic Education Office.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koch, Harold & Rachel Nordlinger. 2014. The languages of Australia in linguistic research: context and issues. In Harold Koch & Rachel Nordlinger (eds), The languages and linguistics of Australia: A comprehensive guide, 3–21. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kral, Inge, Lyn Fasoli, Hilary Smith, Barbra Meek and Rowena Phair. 2021. A strong start for every Indigenous child. OECD Education Working Paper No. 251. [URL]
Lo Bianco, Joseph. 1987. National policy on languages. Australian Government Publishing Service. [URL]
. 2022. Reconceptualizing literacy for a new Australia. The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 451. 281–296. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Louro, Celeste R. & Glenys Collard. 2021. Australian Aboriginal English: Linguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives. Language and Linguistics Compass 151. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Malcolm, Ian G. 2018. Australian Aboriginal English: Change and continuity in an adopted language. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marmion, Douglas Edric, Kazuko Obata & Jakelin Troy. 2014. Community, identity, wellbeing: the report of the Second National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS2). Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies 9781922102249. [URL]
McConvell, Patrick. 2010. Contact and Indigenous languages in Australia. In Raymond Hickey (ed.) The handbook of language contact, 770–794. Chichester UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McConvell, Patrick & Felicity Meakins. 2005. Gurindji Kriol: a mixed language emerges from code-switching. Australian Journal of Linguistics 251. 9–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McIntosh, Sophie, Renae O’Hanlon & Denise Angelo. 2012. The (in)visibility of “language” within Australian educational documentation: Differentiating language from literacy and exploring particular ramifications for a group of “hidden” ESL/D Learners. In Christina Gitsaki & Richard Baldauf (eds), Future directions in applied linguistics: Local and global perspectives, 448–468. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meakins, Felicity. 2008. Unravelling languages: Multilingualism and language contact in Kalkaringi. In Jane Simpson & Gillian Wigglesworth (eds), Children’s language and multilingualism: Indigenous language use at home and school, 247–264. London: Continuum International.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. The development of asymmetrical serial verb constructions in an Australian mixed language. Linguistic Typology 141. 1–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Gurindji Kriol. In Susanne Michaelis, Philippe Maurer, Martin Haspelmath & Magnus Huber (eds), The survey of pidgin and creole languages (Vol III Contact languages based on languages from Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas), 131–139. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mittag, Joanna. 2016. A linguistic description of Lockhart River Creole. PhD: University of New England. [URL]
Mühlhäusler, Peter. 1996. Pidgins and creoles in Queensland. In Stephen A. Wurm, Peter Mühlhäusler & Darrell F. Tryon (eds), Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas, 67–82. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Munro, Jennifer & Ilana Mushin. 2016. Rethinking Australian Aboriginal English-based speech varieties: Evidence from Woorabinda. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 311. 82–112. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Shannessy, Carmel. 2005. Light Warlpiri: a new language. Australian Journal of Linguistics 251. 31–57. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. The role of codeswitched input to children in the origin of a new mixed language. Linguistics 501. 305–340. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. The role of multiple sources in the formation of an innovative auxiliary category in Light Warlpiri, a new Australian mixed language. Language 891. 328–353. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. How ordinary child language acquisition processes can lead to the unusual outcome of a mixed language. International Journal of Bilingualism 251. 458–480. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Shannessy, Carmel & Denise Angelo. 2023. Insights from the perspective of language ecologies and new contact languages in Australia. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 131. 88–92. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Office for the Arts (OFTA). 2013. Creative Australia: national cultural policy. Australian Federal Government. [URL] (4 February 2024)
. 2020. National Indigenous Languages Report (NILR). Australian Federal Government. [URL]
. 2023. Creative Australia: national cultural policy. Australian Federal Government. [URL] (4 February 2024)
Oliver, Rhonda, Gillian Wigglesworth, Denise Angelo & Carly Steele. 2020. Translating translanguaging into our classrooms: Possibilities and challenges. Language Teaching Research 251. 134–150. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peters, Pam. 2014. Differentiation in Australian English. In Sarah Buschfeld, Thomas Hoffmann, Magnus Huber & Alexander Kautsch (eds), The Evolution of Englishes: The Dynamic Model and beyond, 107–125. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poetsch, Susan, Denise Angelo & Rhonda Radley. in press. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, families, communities and languages. In R. Maloney, L. Harbon & S. Ogururo (eds), Multilingualism for teachers: Cambridge University Press.
Ponsonnet, Maïa. 2010. “Brainwash from English?” Barunga Kriol speakers’ views on their own language. Anthropological linguistics 521. 160–183. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rumsey, Alan. 1993. Language and territoriality in Aboriginal Australia. In Michael Walsh & Colin Yallop (eds), Language and culture in Aboriginal Australia. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. The sociocultural dynamics of indigenous multilingualism in northwestern Australia. Language & Communication 621. 91–101. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rusho, Dima. 2021. Cross-currents: Indigenous language interpreting in Australia’s justice system. Melbourne: Monash University PhD. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sandefur, John R. 1979. An Australian creole in the Northern Territory: A description of Ngukurr-Bamyili dialects (Part 1). Summer Institute of Linguistics, Australian Aborigines Branch. [URL]
Sandefur, John R., Michael Gumbali, Dan Daniels & Mal Wurramara. 1982. Looking for Kriol in Queensland. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) Newsletter [New Series] 171. 35–40.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidt, Annette. 1990. The loss of Australia’s Aboriginal language heritage. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schultze-Berndt, Eva, Meakins, Felicity, and Denise Angelo. 2013. Kriol. In Susanne Maria Michaelis, Philippe Maurer, Martin Haspelmath and Magnus Huber (eds), The survey of pidgin and creole languages Volume 1: English-based and Dutch-based languages, 241–251, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shnukal, Anna. 1988. Broken: an introduction to the creole language of Torres Strait. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Australian National University. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Simpson, Jane. 2008. Language landscapes of children in remote Australia. In Robert Amery & Joshua Nash (eds), Warra wiltaniappendi: Strengthening Languages: Proceedings of the Inaugural Indigenous Languages Conference (ILC), 24 – 27 September 2007, 51–60. Adelaide: University of Adelaide.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Simpson, Jane, Denise Angelo, Emma Clare Browne, Inge Kral, Francis Markham, Carmel O’Shannessy & Danielle Venn. 2018. Census data on Australian Languages. In Sebastian Drude, Nicholas Ostler & Marielle Moser (eds), Endangered languages and the land: Mapping landscapes of multilingualism (Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of the Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL XXII / 2018), 115–120. London: FEL & EL Publishing. [URL] (23 May 2019)
Simpson, Jane & Gillian Wigglesworth. 2019. Language diversity in Indigenous Australia in the 21st century. Current Issues in Language Planning 201. 67–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sommer, Bruce A. & James Marsh. 1969. Vernacular and English: Language comprehension by some North Queensland Aborigines. Anthropological linguistics 111. 48–57. [URL]
Tresize, Patricia. 1996. Use of language and the Anunga Rules: R v Jean Denise Izumi. Aboriginal Law Bulletin 201. [URL]
UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). 1953. The use of vernacular languages in education. Paris: United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. [URL] (4 February 2024).
. 2001. UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, 2 November 2001. [URL] (4 February 2024)
UN General Assembly. 1948. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 10 December 1948, 217 A (III). [URL] (4 February 2024)
UN General Assembly. 1966. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 999, p. 171. [URL] (4 February 2024)
UN General Assembly. 2007. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: resolution / adopted by the General Assembly. In 2 October 2007, A/RES/61/295. [URL] (4 February 2024)
Vaughan, Jill & Ruth Singer. 2018. Indigenous multilingualisms past and present. Language & Communication 621. 83–90. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, Gillian & Rosey Billington. 2013. Teaching creole-speaking children: Issues, concerns and resolutions for the classroom. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 361. 234–249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, Gillian & Jane Simpson. 2008. The language learning environment of preschool children. In Jane Simpson & Gillian Wigglesworth (eds), Children’s language and multilingualism: Indigenous language use at home and school, 13–29. London: Continuum International.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Dinku, Yonatan, Francis Markham, Denise Angelo & Jane Simpson
2025. The connection between social and emotional wellbeing and Indigenous language use varies across language ecologies in Australia. Social Science & Medicine 364 ► pp. 117547 ff. DOI logo
Jia, Furui
2024. A Study of the Impact of Internet Technology on Minority Languages and Cultures. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences 9:1 DOI logo
O’Shannessy, Carmel
2024. The longitudinal corpus of language acquisition, maintenance and contact: Warlpiri & Light Warlpiri. Australian Journal of Linguistics 44:2-3 ► pp. 127 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 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