Aboriginal English
BACKGROUND
Introduction
Aboriginal English is the name given to the various kinds of English spoken by
Aboriginal people throughout Australia. Technically, the language varieties are
dialects of English. They have much in common with other varieties of Australian
English, but there are distinctive features of accent, grammar, words and meanings,
as well as language use. These Aboriginal English features often show continuities
with the traditional Aboriginal languages. In many subtle ways Aboriginal English is a
powerful vehicle for the expression of Aboriginal identity.
History
Before the British invasion of Australia at the end of the eighteenth century, there
were approximately 250 different indigenous languages spoken throughout the
country, with approximately 600 dialects. The languages were very complex, and the
differences between neighbouring languages were often as complicated as the
differences between English and Spanish, for example.
The British were generally reluctant to learn any of the Aboriginal languages.
Consequently, since the first contact with the invaders, it was left up to Aboriginal
people to use some English in their dealings with them. At first this was a simplified
kind of language, used only between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in
situations of limited contact. This kind of English is referred to by linguists as 'pidgin
English'.
But within a few generations this pidgin began to develop an important
communicative function between different Aboriginal groups who did not have a
shared language, and so it expanded linguistically, as well as socially. The social
and linguistic development of the early pidgin English gave birth to Aboriginal
dialects of English all over the country, as well as to two creole languages in some
northern areas (Kriol and Torres Strait Creole).
But in some areas it seems that Aboriginal English developed not from pidgin
English, but from the Aboriginalization of English as speakers learnt the language.
That is, Aboriginal people in areas where there was no pidgin language made
English into an Aboriginal English by bringing into it accents, words, grammar and
ways of speaking from their Aboriginal languages and those of their parents.
It is both linguistically inaccurate and derogatory to use the term 'pidgin English' to
refer to the kinds of English spoken by Aboriginal people today.
Attitudes and current use
Aboriginal English is probably the first language of the majority of Aboriginal people
in Australia, who make up approximately 2% of the total population of the country.
While many people speak it as their 'mother tongue', in more remote areas it is
spoken as a second or third or fourth language, by speakers of 'traditional' Aboriginal
languages and the creole languages.
Aboriginal English is important to Aboriginal identity, both in terms of self-identity and
the identification of other Aboriginal people, particularly in parts of Australia where
the traditional languages and cultural practices no longer survive, or are no longer
strong. Although it is primarily an oral language, Aboriginal English is now being
used in some published literature.
Like many other non-standard language varieties, Aboriginal English has a history of
being dismissed as 'bad English'. It is only since the 1960s that linguists and
educators have recognized it as a valid, rule-governed language variety.
Today many, if not most, non-Aboriginal Australians are still ignorant about
Aboriginal English. However, it does have recognition at a number of levels of
government. Departments of education around the country are well aware of the fact
that they will not succeed in providing successful literacy education for speakers of
Aboriginal English unless they recognize and accept Aboriginal English as the home
language of many students. Several states have literacy programs for Aboriginal
English speakers which build on the students' home language.
And there have been some important developments in the recognition and
understanding of Aboriginal English in the legal system, following a number of key
criminal cases involving Aboriginal English speaking witnesses. (See for example the
Queensland handbook Aboriginal English and the Courts
http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/2985.htm .)
Varieties
There is quite a bit of variation in the different varieties of Aboriginal English
throughout Australia, but probably not as much as is found in English in Britain
(compare the differences in grammar, sound systems, and vocabulary between
Cockney, Scottish and 'Geordie' English). It is an oversimplification to speak of one
dialect of Aboriginal English, just as it would be to speak of one dialect of British
English.
There are a number of Aboriginal English dialects, or more accurately, there are a
number of continua of Aboriginal English dialects, ranging from close to Standard
English at one end ( the 'light' varieties), to close to Kriol at the other (the 'heavy'
varieties). Heavy Aboriginal English is spoken mainly in the more remote areas,
where it is influenced by Kriol, while light varieties of Aboriginal English are spoken
mainly in urban, rural and metropolitan areas. But even in these areas, some
Aboriginal people in certain Aboriginal situations use a heavier Aboriginal English.
VOCABULARY
In the area of lexicon or vocabulary there is often regional variation. So, for example,
the word for policeman is:
monatj in Western Australia
booliman in Queensland
gunji or gunjibal in New South Wales
And the word for white man is:
balanda in Arnhem Land (Northern Territory)
gubba or gub in south eastern Australia
migaloo in Queensland
wajala in Western Australia
walypala in parts of northern Australia
There are also some English words used with different meanings in Aboriginal
English. In many varieties of Aboriginal English, the word mother means 'the woman
who gave birth to a person, and that woman's sisters'. This shows the continuity of
Aboriginal kinship where a mother's sister often is treated as a mother, and a single
word in many Aboriginal languages would translate into standard English as both
'mother' and 'mother's sister'.
Another important example is the word country which refers to land generally, but
also has a more specific meaning of 'place of belonging'. Some other examples are:
Aboriginal English
camp
mob
big mob
lingo
sorry business
grow [a child] up
growl
gammon
cheeky
solid
to tongue for
standard Australian English
home
group
a lot of
Aboriginal language
ceremony associated with death
raise [a child]
scold
pretending, kidding, joking
mischievous, aggressive, dangerous
fantastic
to long for
An interesting Aboriginal English word is deadly which would translate as 'really
good or impressive' in standard English. It appears that this is a word which is
spreading from Aboriginal English into general Australian usage, especially among
young people (compare the way that the African American English word 'bad' to
describe something very good has spread into many other varieties of English).
SOUNDS
The sound system of Aboriginal English has been influenced by the traditional
languages, as well as the different kinds of British and Irish English brought to
Australia.
One of the most distinctive features of the Aboriginal English sound system is found
in the many words which start with a vowel, where the standard English translation
starts with 'h', for example
Aboriginal English standard English
Enry's at
Henry's hat
This feature is shared with many other varieties of English around the world, such as
Cockney English. The traditional Aboriginal languages have no 'h' sound. Over the
generations, Aboriginal speakers have learnt English with an Aboriginal accent. So
when they have learnt standard English words which start with an 'h' sound, the
Aboriginal accent has produced such words without this 'h' sound. This pronunciation
is probably also influenced by the accent of many of the early non-Aboriginal
Australians (especially Cockney convicts), and it also coincides with some other
nonstandard varieties of English. But it is a mistake to assume that the pronunciation
of words without 'h' is 'uneducated' English. It is just as much a part of the Aboriginal
accent, as the 'sophisticated and charming' vowel pronunciations of French speakers
of English are part of the French accent. It should be respected as part of the
Aboriginal accent, and recognized as a feature of which many Aboriginal people are
proud.
While this feature of Aboriginal English pronunciation is shared with a number of
other non-standard English varieties, there is a related characteristic of Aboriginal
English pronunciation which is much less commonly found in non-Aboriginal varieties
of English: namely the addition of the h sound to English words which start in a
vowel, as in:
Aboriginal English
Huncle Henry
standard English
Uncle Henry
This tendency to overcompensate in using the 'h' sound at the beginning of a word is
an example of a general linguistic pattern, technically known as 'hypercorrection'.
Different examples of hypercorrection can be found in diverse language situations
throughout the world.
In heavy varieties of Aboriginal English we see a different pattern of consonants
when compared to Standard English and General Australian English, for example:

initial 'd' in AE corresponds to initial 'th' in SE
Aboriginal English
dere
dat

standard English
there
that
initial 'b', 'p' in AE corresponds to initial 'v', 'f' in SE
Aboriginal English
bight
standard English
fight
SOME GRAMMATICAL FEATURES
Question structure
Perhaps one of the most persistent and widespread grammatical features of
Aboriginal English involves the structure of questions. It is common for Aboriginal
English speakers to ask a question using the structure of a statement with rising
(question) intonation. This structure is also used sometimes in colloquial Standard
English. It is common for Aboriginal English questions like this to be finished with a
question tag. In much of Australia this tag is eh?, in South Australia it is inna, and in
the south west of Western Australia, it is unna.
Aboriginal English
standard English
You were still sitting there then?
You still sitting there that time?
Were you still sitting there then?
They bite, eh?
They bite, don't they?
Sentences formed by joining two phrases
One of the most persistent features of Aboriginal English is the expression of
equational, descriptive and locational sentences with the joining of two phrases
without adding any endings or extra words (like the verb 'to be'). This characteristic
feature of Aboriginal English is one which appears not to be shared with other
nonstandard varieties of English in Australia. It also parallels the grammatical
structure of Aboriginal languages.
Aboriginal English
E my cousin brother.
They just normal, but they steel.
My uncle back there.
E big.
Noun Phrase + there
standard English
He's my cousin.
They're just normal, but they're steel.
My uncle's back there.
He's big.
Existential sentences are sometimes expressed with the structure Noun Phrase
followed by there, which translates to standard English 'It's a ... ' (followed by Noun
Phrase) or 'there is/are...' (followed by Noun Phrase).
Aboriginal English
Three pies there, eh?
When the river go down,
this little island there.
standard English
Are there three pies?
When the river goes down,
there's a little island
PRAGMATICS
Pragmatics is the term linguists use to refer to the way language is used (rather than
the way it is structured, for example). Many Australians do not recognize important
pragmatic differences between Aboriginal English and other varieties of Australian
English.
For example, in many varieties of Aboriginal English, questions are often not used to
seek important information. People use more indirect ways of finding things out,
using hinting or triggering statements. Silence is also important to many Aboriginal
interactions, and unlike the use of silence in many Western interactions, it is not
seen to be an indication that communication has broken down.
Such pragmatic features of Aboriginal English are widespread, even where grammar
and accent are very close to other kinds of Australian English. The recognition and
understanding of Aboriginal English pragmatics is essential to effective cross-cultural
communication.