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Article published In:
Australian Contact Languages
Edited by Carmel O'Shannessy, Denise Angelo and Jane Simpson
[Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 39:1] 2024
► pp. 34–70

Indigenous Language Ecologies framework

A tool for inserting Indigenous contact languages and their speakers into policy in Australia

ORCID logo | Australian National University

Linguistic research with Indigenous communities over several decades has shown that Indigenous contact languages have a large presence in the contemporary Indigenous landscapes of Australia, but this is not reflected in an equitable presence in policy or programs. Policy has not taken up or responded to the available language research and recommendations, nor is policy reliably informed by solid government language data. As a response to such issues, the Indigenous Language Ecologies framework has been developed. It is designed as a tool to assist policy makers to see and include the needs of contact language-speaking communities. The simple framework differentiates the main configurations of multilingualism in Indigenous communities in Australia today, comparing and contrasting the typical repertoires of speakers of contact languages, of Englishes and of traditional languages. It is intended to function as a useful heuristic and, as such, represents an example of translational research where specialist linguistic knowledge has been distilled for a non-specialist policy audience. The paper lays out the rationale for, and design of, this language ecologies approach, and its impact on policy and research to date.

Keywords: contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and multilingualisms, Indigenous language policy, First Nations language ecologies, Indigenous Australian contact languages, creoles in language policy, creoles in language planning, linguistic diversity in policy, unrepresentative language data, multilingual language policy, linguistics and policy
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Languages in contemporary Indigenous repertoires
    • Language repertoires and language categorisation
    • Traditional Indigenous languages
    • English and Englishes
    • Indigenous contact languages
    • Contact language recognition
  • An under-recognised contact language-speaking community
    • National Census – Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
    • Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)
    • National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA)
    • State government
    • Local government
  • Language policy
    • Indigenous policy
    • Indigenous language policy
    • International policy supporting contact languages and their speakers
  • Indigenous Language Ecologies framework
    • Unpacking the design of the Indigenous Language Ecologies framework
    • Impact of the Indigenous Language Ecologies framework
    • Limitations
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 8 March 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.00138.ang
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