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Part of
Variation Rolls the Dice: A worldwide collage in honour of Salikoko S. Mufwene
Edited by Enoch O. Aboh and Cécile B. Vigouroux
[Contact Language Library 59] 2021
► pp. 105–131

Acquisition or shift?

Interpreting variation in Gurindji children’s expression of spatial relations

| ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland
| ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland
| ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland

This chapter examines the spatial description system employed by Gurindji children in Kalkaringi (Northern Territory, Australia) to describe ternary relations in small-scale space. While Gurindji is the traditional language of Kalkaringi, a new variety, Gurindji Kriol, has developed as a result of language contact, and is now the first language of young adults and children. Speakers of Gurindji use cardinal directions in descriptions of both small-scale and large-scale space, whereas cardinal terms are almost never used to describe small-scale in naturally-occurring Gurindji Kriol speech. We show that the strategies preferred by children differ from those used by their parents, who produce predominantly cardinal descriptions. Instead, Gurindji Kriol-speaking children show variable use between cardinals and landmark-based strategies.

Keywords: language contact, mixed languages, spatial relations, cardinal directions, language change
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The absolute FoR, bilingualism and language change
  • 3.Changes in the use of the absolute frame of reference
  • 4.Experimental task: “Man and Tree”
    • 4.1Procedure
    • 4.2Participants
    • 4.3Coding
    • 4.4Summary of major strategies used
      • 4.4.1Children’s use of cardinals
      • 4.4.2Children’s use of landmarks
    • 4.5Discussion
      • 4.5.1Acquisition or language change?
      • 4.5.2A landmark-based or quasi-absolute system?
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/coll.59.05dun
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