Australia’s First Languages | Signwriting

Protecting Australia’s First Languages is a fundamental part of preserving culture.

For tens of thousands of years, hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages have been spoken across Australia.

 At the time of European colonisation, there were at least 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages spoken across the continent. These were distinct languages (not dialects), each with its own extensive vocabulary and complex grammar.

 This linguistic diversity reflects the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural identities more generally.

In 2014, the National Indigenous Languages Survey report estimated that only 120 of Australia’s First Languages were still being spoken. Approximately 100 of those languages still spoken are considered severely or critically endangered, meaning that they are at risk of becoming no longer spoken, or ‘sleeping.’

The damage done to the state of First Languages in Australia is, in many ways, reflective of the damaging, inequitable relationships that have existed between non-Indigenous and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout history.

Language is a fundamental part of Indigenous culture and identity, even for those who do not speak an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language. 

The AIATSIS 2018–19 Survey of 141 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language varieties finds that at least 123 are in use or being revitalised/ revived in Australia today.

Most of these languages are highly endangered. The AIATSIS survey found only 12 relatively strong traditional languages.

New languages – particularly Kriol and Yumplatok/Torres Strait Creole – are some of the strongest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in Australia, and their use is growing.

Sources:

https://www.arts.gov.au/what-we-do/indigenous-arts-and-languages/national-indigenous-languages-report

https://www.reconciliation.org.au/