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ANIMALS in UNIFORM and a unique LANGUAGEMay 07 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Wonderful, proud nations decimated as a new language bursts forth Before the British invaded Australia, there were Aboriginals throughout the length and breadth of the country. The British had become adept at invading other lands, as was the case in what is now known as the USA and Canada. Since any opposition that wasn't lily white could only be by savages little better than animals, it was okay in the marauders eyes to start shooting. However 200 years on, after the death of at least 80 percent of the Aboriginal people, we now know who the real animals were. Had the invaders bothered to find out, they would have found the Aboriginal Nations had laws very similar to our own and had a legal system and most of the other niceties of any organised Country. What they didn't have was a defence system against outside attack, or perhaps the result would have been rather different. When Cook and Co. arrived, there were well over two hundred different languages between the tribes. Thanks to their demonic bungling less than one third survive, and of those only about twenty are in little danger of loss. 250 languages, and only really twenty left. What a disgrace, brought upon by the early settlers attempts to eradicate the Aboriginal - may they rot in their graves, but of course they already have. But my research of this subject at least discovered there was a small amount of good news. A decade ago, the Tjapukai language was under severe threat. There were only two Tjapukai speakers left in the entire community. Efforts to relearn the Tjapukai language began in 1987. Since then, the language has experienced a revival, perhaps the only case of revival of a dying language in Australia. Through the efforts of a dedicated group of people, community interest in the Tjapukai language program has flourished alongside a cultural renewal brought about by the Tjapukai Dance Theatre. The two activities have gone hand in hand in the revitalisation of a strong sense of pride and awareness in Tjapukai identity, language and culture. Now people from all over the world hear the Tjapukai language describe the spiritual and traditional beliefs of the Tjapukai people in the Creation Theatre at the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park (with headset translations in 7 languages). Speaking the language gives it life and enables the Tjapukai people to verbally mark their identity and reclaim socio-cultural heritage as distinct and worthy of recognition and pride. Computers are especially useful for dealing with language. Information about languages - including sounds - can be stored, adapted, displayed, and distributed using computers. The arrival of the Internet provides even more opportunities for the exchange of information about languages, for using languages to communicate across networks, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations to take control over the representations and use of their own languages. An organisation known as AIATSIS is playing a role in mobilising the new technologies to help revive, maintain and strengthen Indigenous languages. They have the world's largest collection of computer-based information about Australia's Indigenous languages in ASEDA (the Aboriginal Studies Electronic Data Archive). ASEDA's function is to collect and look after the computer-based information for the long term, and also to supply it to communities and others. They also provide advice to communities and educational bodies about the effective use of computers for the language work that they wish to undertake and they are playing a leading role in electronic publishing. In addition, The Internet is a communication tool that fits well into people's need to communicate in different ways, both publicly and privately. Many Aboriginal people have been early adopters of communication technologies and there is now the opportunity through early participation, while the system is growing, to build in expectations about Indigenous participation and Indigenous knowledge. So, with so many languages, which one should I learn as an interested whitey. Well the answer seems to be none specifically, but instead learn the language created to be broadly understandable by speakers of all remaining languages. That language is Aboriginal English. It is the language spoken at home by many Aboriginal people in urban, rural and remote areas of Australia. It is a recognised way of talking when talking about Aboriginality and the Aboriginal view of the world. In the 1986 Census 76% of people identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander said they spoke only English and only 3.4% said they spoke no English at all. It is impossible to quantify precisely but many of the 76% speak dialects of English known as Aboriginal English. Aboriginal English is spoken throughout Australia, as either a first or second language by the great majority of Aboriginal people. These dialects, with considerable exposure, are mutually intelligible with Standard Australian English but differ in some ways. While some speakers are bilingual and can switch quickly between one dialect and another, young children with Aboriginal English coming to school for the first time, usually have it as their only language. Aboriginal English is now widely regarded by linguists as a valid language capable of expressing the wide range of human experience. So, my personal challenge is to become fluent in Aboriginal English, and then hopefully to put it to some good use.  |
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