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Article published In:
Asia-Pacific Language Variation
Vol. 8:1 (2022) ► pp.1–31

Intergenerational changes in Gurindji Kriol

Comparing apparent-time and real-time data

| University of Queensland
| University of Queensland
| University of Queensland | Karungkarni Art and Culture Aboriginal Corporation

This paper explores intergenerational changes in Gurindji Kriol, in order to determine whether differences between adults and children are the result of an abrupt generational shift or an extended acquisition process. We analyse the production of Gurindji in the speech of five age groups of Gurindji Kriol speakers, using a set of 176 picture-prompt narratives from 70 different speakers. The data is analysed both synchronically (in apparent-time) and diachronically (in real-time). The synchronic snapshot of the data reveals that adults use significantly more Gurindji than children which can be interpreted as a generational shift towards Kriol. Nonetheless the real-time data shows that most children increase their use of Gurindji as they age which suggests an extended acquisition of Gurindji. Although contradictory on the surface, this study argues that these processes are occurring in tandem, with the extended acquisition of Gurindji by children slowing down the intergenerational shift towards Kriol.

Keywords: language change, acquisition, Gurindji Kriol, mixed languages
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Language change in the Gurindji community
    • 2.1The origins of Gurindji Kriol
    • 2.2The source languages of Gurindji Kriol
      • 2.2.1Gurindji
      • 2.2.2Kriol
    • 2.3Structure of Gurindji Kriol
    • 2.4Previous intergenerational studies of Gurindji Kriol
      • 2.4.1Changes to the spatial relations system
      • 2.4.2Changes in case marking strategies
      • 2.4.3Changes in lexical comprehension
    • 2.5Perspectives on intergenerational changes to Gurindji Kriol
  • 3.Inter-generational differences in the use of nouns and verbs
    • 3.1Corpus
    • 3.2Elicitation materials
    • 3.3Datasets
      • 3.3.1Apparent-time data
      • 3.3.2Real-time data
      • 3.3.3Child-directed data
    • 3.4Results
      • 3.4.1Apparent time data
      • 3.4.2Real time data
      • 3.4.3Child-directed data
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Extended acquisition or generational shift?
    • 4.2Understanding shifts towards Kriol and Gurindji
    • 4.3Differences between noun and verb production
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 14 February 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.21001.slo
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