The story of Old Man Frank: A narrative response to questions about language shift in northern Cape York Peninsula

Title
The story of Old Man Frank: A narrative response to questions about language shift in northern Cape York Peninsula
Publication Date
2016
Author(s)
Harper, Helen
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1882-1977
Email: hharper2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:hharper2
Editor
Editor(s): Jean-Christophe Verstraete and Diane Hafner
Type of document
Book Chapter
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Place of publication
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Edition
1
Series
Culture and Language Use: Studies in Anthropological Linguistics
DOI
10.1075/clu.18.19har
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/31084
Abstract
In this chapter I present a story that was told to me in the early 1990s by Goodie Massey, an Atambaya man who grew up at Injinoo in northern Cape York Peninsula. The story is set in the early years of the settlement at Injinoo, at a time when children began to adopt the new regional lingua franca, Torres Strait Creole, as their everyday language. As a background to the discussion of this story I explore the historical and linguistic context of the colonial era in northern Cape York Peninsula and posit some explanatory accounts of language shift in Injinoo. I argue that, while language shift can be seen as a function of hegemonic pressures, Goodie Massey’s story offers more nuanced insights into the complex linguistic and social landscape of his childhood.
Link
Citation
Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country, p. 409-431
ISBN
9789027267603
9789027244543
Start page
409
End page
431

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