Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:36:28.211Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

*The Creole Language Debate and the Use of Creoles in Australian Schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

J. Harris
Affiliation:
Darwin Community College, N.T.
J. Sandefur
Affiliation:
Ngukurr, N.T.
Get access

Extract

The English-based Creoles, which are spoken by a very large number of Aboriginal Australians, are so named because it is obvious that a large proportion of their lexicon is derived from English. This fact alone, however, does not indicate that they are merely regional varieties of English. They are distinct languages. Together with other world Creoles, they are at the frontier of linguistic research and the subject of considerable controversy. One critical forum of debate centres on the validity of Creoles as languages of education. It is the intention of the authors that this paper should achieve two things. Firstly, it is intended to contribute constructively to that debate. Secondly, it is intended to provide an overview of the present use of some creole languages in Australian schools.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aitchison, J., 1981: Language Change : Progress or Decay? London: Fontana.Google Scholar
Bailey, C, Maroldt, J.N. and , K., 1977: The French lineage of English. In Meisel, J.M., (Ed.), Pidgins-Creoles-Languages in Contact. Tuebingin: T.B.L. Verlag G. Narr.Google Scholar
Baker, S.J., 1966: The Australian Language. Sydney: Currawong Publishing Co. (1945).Google Scholar
Bauer, F.H., 1964: Historical Geography of White Settlement in Part of Northern Australia. Part 2 : The Katherine-Darwin Region. Canberra: CSIRO.Google Scholar
Bourhis, R.Y.et al., 1979: Psycholinguistic distinctiveness : language and divergence in Belgium. In Giles, H. and St Clair, R. (Eds): Languages and Social Psychology. Oxford: Basil BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Cole, E.K., (n.d.): A Short History of the C.M.S. Roper River Mission, 1908–1968. Melbourne: Church Missionary Society.Google Scholar
Craig, D.R., 1977: Creole languages and primary education. In Valdman, A. (Ed.): Pidgin and Creole Linguistics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
DeCamp, D., 1971: The study of pidgin and creole languages. In Hymes, D. (Ed.): Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
de Rieux, D.D’O., 1980: Creole and educational policy in the Seychelles. In Valdman, A. and Highfield, A. (Eds): Theoretical Orientations in Creole Studies. New York, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dominingue, N.Z.,: Middle English – another creole? Journal of Creole Studies, 1:1, 1977.Google Scholar
Eades, D,: That’s our way of talking : Aborigines in Southeast Queensland. Social Alternatives, 2:2, 1981.Google Scholar
Fishman, J.A., 1972: Language and Nationalism. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury.Google Scholar
Fishman, J.A., 1977: Ethnicity and language. In Giles, H., (Ed.), Language, Enthnicity and Intergroup Relations. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fishman, J.A.: Bilingualism and biculturalism as individual and as societal phenomena. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 1:1. 1980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giles, H.et al., 1977: Toward a theory of language in ethnic group relations. In Giles, H., (Ed.): Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gunn, J., 1908: We of the Never Never. London: Hutchinson and Co.Google Scholar
Hancock, I.F., 1971: A survey of the pidgins and creoles of the world, in Hymes, D., (Ed.), Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Harris, Stephen,: Bilingual education in the Northern Territory : a sharp tool easily blunted? Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 1982, 5:1.Google Scholar
Hart, M., 1970: A history of the education of full-blood Aborigines in South Australia with reference to the Northern Territory. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Adelaide.Google Scholar
Joynt, R.D., 1918: Ten Years Among the Aborigines. Melbourne: H. Hearne and Co.Google Scholar
McGill, G. (Ed.), 1980: Handbook for Teachers in Bilingual Schools in the Northern Territory of Australia (3rd edition). Darwin: N.T. Education Department.Google Scholar
Mühlhaüsler, P.: Remarks on the pidgin and creole situation in Australia. AIAS Newsletter, 12, 1979.Google Scholar
Murtagh, E.J., 1979: Creole and English used as languages of instruction with Aboriginal Australians. Unpub. Ed. D. thesis, Stanford University.Google Scholar
O’Donneil, W.R., and Todd, L., 1980: Varieties in Contemporary English. London: George Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
O’Grady, G. and Hale, K., 1974: Recommendations Concerning Bilingual Education in the Northern Territory. Darwin, NT Education Department.Google Scholar
Ryan, E.B.: Why do low-prestige languages varieties persist? In Giles, H., and St. Clair, R., (Eds): Language and Social Psychology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sandefur, J., 1979: An Australian Creole in the Northern Territory : a description of Ngukurr-Bamyili dialects. Work Papers of SIL-AAB, Series BV.8.Google Scholar
Sandefur, J. and Sandefur, J.L.: Pidgin and creole in the Kimberleys, Western Australia. AIAS Newsletter, No.14, 1980.Google Scholar
Sandefur, J.R.et al.: Looking for Kriol in Queensland. AIAS Newsletter, No.17, 1982.Google Scholar
Sims, R.,: A point of view…outstation education in the N.T. Developing Education, 8:6, 1981.Google Scholar
Strehlow, T.G.H., 1966: On Aranda traditions. In Hymes, D., (Ed.): Language in Culture and Society. New York: Harper Internat.Google Scholar
Taylor, D.A., et al.,: Dimensions of ethnic identity : an example from Quebec. Journal of Social Psychology, V.89, 1973.Google Scholar
Todd, L., 1974: Pidgins and Creoles. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Turner, G.W., 1966: The English Language in Australia and New Zealand. London, Longmans.Google Scholar
Waters, N., 1913: Report of the Inspector of Police for 1912. Northern Territory of Australia. Report of the Administrator for the Year 1912.Google Scholar
Willshire, W.H. 1896: The Land of the Dawning. Adelaide: W.K. Thomas.Google Scholar
Woodford, E., 1983: Introduction : the social content of creolization. in Woodford, E. and Washabaugh, W., (Eds): The Social Context of Creolization. Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers.Google Scholar