Reconciliation and Social Justice Library

A MATTER OF SURVIVAL - PAST AND PRESENT CAUSES OF LANGUAGE LOSS

2.20 The loss of languages that occurred soon after European settlement was largely due to the reduction in speaker populations from the ravages of introduced diseases to which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had no resistance. Language loss was also the result of the displacement of people and in some instances the massacre of people.

2.21 In a few places killings were so severe that whole speaker populations perished:

There is known to have been a language called Yeeman spoken around Taroom in south-east Queensland. That is all we know - its name. Not a word of the language was recorded before the entire tribe was wiped out in 1857. 22

The healthiest ATSI languages today are those in areas least settled by Europeans or where settlement has occurred comparatively recently.

2.22 This first wave of language loss radiated out from the original centres of white settlement such that languages from the Sydney region for example, have long since ceased to exist as living languages. The Aboriginal populations of these areas who survived initial contact were forced to move away and into the country of different language speakers.

2.23 The dispersal of populations in response to white settlement destroyed the cohesion of communities. This was followed by forced removal of communities frequently involving the splitting up of communities and the establishment of multi-tribal settlements. This fragmented kinship systems, culture and language, often intentionally. Having to live in close contact with other groups imposed other pressures and conflict which further damaged the fabric of social life and language.

2.24 On missions and government run settlements use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages was frequently banned and in most cases discouraged 23 . Employers also commonly prohibited the use of language. Children were severely affected where they were separated from parents at an early age and placed in boys or girls dormitories and the use of their language prohibited. Dormitories were often made up of children from different language groups and with English the only permitted language it quickly became the lingua franca. In addition the dormitory system often involved the active denigration of parents' language as "primitive" and so discouraged children using it on the short occasions when they saw their parents. Schools similarly imposed an English-only regime.

2.25 A major factor in language loss is increasing contact with people outside of the language group. As most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were traditionally multilingual, the learning of another language alone is unlikely to have lead to the serious losses that have occurred in languages. The circumstances in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had greater contact with other language groups, determined the effect. Where the greater contact was due to removal from other speakers of the same language then the opportunity for the full range of language use declined. As more of daily communication is undertaken in another language then that increasingly becomes the person's own language.

2.26 Increasingly, only those groups relatively isolated from external contact managed to retain strong languages. While some groups have lost their language and gained another ATSI language most have lost it to English or Aboriginal English. English was the language of the colonising settlers and its use was frequently insisted upon. It was and is the language of government, commerce and the courts and is aptly described as the language of power. It was the only language of education. English is a prestige language and has considerable resources to back it up. It has a very large pool of fluent speakers and has an extensive written language heritage. Consequently English has become a strong second language for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the first language for many of their children. To the extent that these children learned an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language it is much weaker through the lack of a full range of social opportunities to use it.

2.27 In addition to forced relocation and the dispersal of language communities thereby destroying their cohesion, intense assimilatory pressure was imposed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to abandon their culture and language. The dormitory system and schools described in paragraph 2.28 were part of that pressure. ATSI languages and culture were so demeaned that many parents came to think that their own language was not worth passing on to their children. Some sought to avoid embarrassment or punishment for their children by not teaching them language or sought success for their children by insisting they learn only English to equip them for a different future. Dr Annette Schmidt reports that deliberate non-transmission of minority languages due to intense assimilatory pressures has been involved in many language-loss situations worldwide. 24 However, this break in the transmission to children brought about by the dormitory system, the school system and through assimilatory pressure has been one of the major contributors to language loss in Australia.

2.28 The influence of English as the dominant language has increased exponentially with better communications and transport. Access to radio, videos and television has been extended across Australia including the most remote areas. This has increased exposure to English language and worldwide English-speaking culture. Consequently, English has a wider daily use and, as an example, teenagers in those remote communities adopt rock music and fashions much the same as elsewhere in the world. Newspapers, magazines, comics and books have also encouraged English as a main language. In the last two decades, increased government interest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs, including many government meetings conducted almost exclusively in English, has increased the pressure for communities to switch to English.

2.29 Increased use of motor vehicles has reduced physical isolation. One observer points out:

It is only twenty years since Aboriginal people gained award wages and only about fifteen years since they began to use that economic capacity to travel extensively and purchase radios and audio and video cassettes. 25

While increased mobility has increased exposure to situations where English is necessary for communication it also improves access to other speakers of the same language where the language is spread over several communities. Similarly, small televisions networks such as the proposed Tanami Communications Network for Warlpiri potentially allow speakers in separate communities to share their experiences in their common language. Increased mobility and better communications have probably assisted the spread of creoles.