Aboriginal English

Abstract

Aboriginal English is the name given to the dialectal varieties of English spoken by the majority of Aboriginal people throughout Australia. Malcolm (e.g. 2008a) reports that the origins of Aboriginal English varieties are diverse. The most important influence in many regions was the earlier pidgin language known as Aboriginal Pidgin English (also called NSW Pidgin, see Meakins (this volume) for further discussion), which resulted from contact between Aboriginal people in the Sydney area and the British settlers beginning in the late 18th century (see Malcolm 2000c; Troy 1994). Malcolm (2000c) reports that the input for this pidgin language included 18th-century varieties of British English, local Aboriginal languages, and English-based contact language varieties from maritime sources, such as whaling. In parts of northern Australia, Aboriginal English may have developed instead from decreolisation of varieties of the Aboriginal creole language, Kriol. And in some regions Aboriginal English may be the result of the Aboriginalisation of English, without significant influence from pidgin or creole varieties. Malcolm (2008a: 127) explains that the "strong resemblances between Aboriginal English varieties Australia-wide, and their maintenance as distinct from Australian English, suggest that to a large extent convergence has taken place upon an agreed ethnolect."