*The Creole Language Debate and the Use of Creoles in Australian Schools
Abstract
The English-based Creoles, which are spoken by a very large number of Aboriginal Australians, are so named because it is obvious that a large proportion of their lexicon is derived from English. This fact alone, however, does not indicate that they are merely regional varieties of English. They are distinct languages. Together with other world Creoles, they are at the frontier of linguistic research and the subject of considerable controversy. One critical forum of debate centres on the validity of Creoles as languages of education. It is the intention of the authors that this paper should achieve two things. Firstly, it is intended to contribute constructively to that debate. Secondly, it is intended to provide an overview of the present use of some creole languages in Australian schools.
References
Aitchison J., 1981: Language Change : Progress or Decay? London: Fontana.
Bailey C , Maroldt J.N. and K., 1977: The French lineage of English. In Meisel J.M., (Ed.), Pidgins-Creoles-Languages in Contact. Tuebingin: T.B.L. Verlag G. Narr.
Baker S.J., 1966 : The Australian Language. Sydney : Currawong Publishing Co. (1945).
Bauer F.H., 1964 : Historical Geography of White Settlement in Part of Northern Australia. Part 2 : The Katherine-Darwin Region. Canberra: CSIRO.
Bourhis R.Y. et al ., 1979: Psycholinguistic distinctiveness : language and divergence in Belgium. In Giles H. and St Clair R. (Eds): Languages and Social Psychology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
Cole E.K., (n.d.): A Short History of the C.M.S. Roper River Mission, 1908–1968. Melbourne: Church Missionary Society .
Craig D.R., 1977 : Creole languages and primary education. In Valdman A. (Ed.): Pidgin and Creole Linguistics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
DeCamp D., 1971: The study of pidgin and creole languages. In Hymes D. (Ed.): Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. London: Cambridge University Press.
de Rieux D.D’O., 1980 : Creole and educational policy in the Seychelles. In Valdman A. and Highfield A. (Eds): Theoretical Orientations in Creole Studies. New York , Academic Press.
Dominingue N.Z.,: Middle English – another creole? Journal of Creole Studies , 1:1, 1977.
Eades D ,: That’s our way of talking : Aborigines in Southeast Queensland. Social Alternatives, 2:2, 1981.
Fishman J.A., 1972 : Language and Nationalism. Rowley, Mass .: Newbury.
Fishman J.A., 1977 : Ethnicity and language. In Giles H., (Ed.), Language, Enthnicity and Intergroup Relations. London : Academic Press.
Fishman J.A. : Bilingualism and biculturalism as individual and as societal phenomena. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 1: 1. 1980.
Giles H. et al ., 1977: Toward a theory of language in ethnic group relations. In Giles H., (Ed.): Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations. London : Academic Press.
Gunn J., 1908: We of the Never Never. London: Hutchinson and Co.
Hancock I.F., 1971 : A survey of the pidgins and creoles of the world, in Hymes D., (Ed.), Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. London: Cambridge University Press.
Harris Stephen ,: Bilingual education in the Northern Territory : a sharp tool easily blunted? Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 1982 , 5:1.
Hart M., 1970: A history of the education of full-blood Aborigines in South Australia with reference to the Northern Territory. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Adelaide.
Joynt R.D., 1918 : Ten Years Among the Aborigines. Melbourne : H. Hearne and Co.
McGill G. (Ed.), 1980 : Handbook for Teachers in Bilingual Schools in the Northern Territory of Australia (3rd edition). Darwin : N.T. Education Department.
Mühlhaüsler P. : Remarks on the pidgin and creole situation in Australia. AIAS Newsletter, 12, 1979.
Murtagh E.J., 1979 : Creole and English used as languages of instruction with Aboriginal Australians. Unpub. Ed. D. thesis, Stanford University.
O’Donneil W.R., and Todd L., 1980: Varieties in Contemporary English. London: George Allen and Unwin.
O’Grady G. and Hale K., 1974: Recommendations Concerning Bilingual Education in the Northern Territory. Darwin, NT Education Department .
Ryan E.B. : Why do low-prestige languages varieties persist? In Giles H., and St. Clair R., (Eds): Language and Social Psychology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Sandefur J., 1979: An Australian Creole in the Northern Territory : a description of Ngukurr-Bamyili dialects. Work Papers of SIL-AAB, Series BV.8.
Sandefur J. and Sandefur J.L. : Pidgin and creole in the Kimberleys, Western Australia . AIAS Newsletter, No.14, 1980.
Sandefur J.R. et al .: Looking for Kriol in Queensland. AIAS Newsletter, No.17, 1982.
Sims R.,: A point of view…outstation education in the N.T. Developing Education, 8:6, 1981.
Strehlow T.G.H., 1966 : On Aranda traditions. In Hymes D., (Ed.): Language in Culture and Society. New York: Harper Internat.
Taylor D.A., et al.,:Dimensions of ethnic identity : an example from Quebec. Journal of Social Psychology, V.89, 1973.
Todd L., 1974: Pidgins and Creoles. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Turner G.W., 1966 : The English Language in Australia and New Zealand. London, Longmans.
Waters N., 1913: Report of the Inspector of Police for 1912. Northern Territory of Australia. Report of the Administrator for the Year 1912.
Willshire W.H. 1896: The Land of the Dawning. Adelaide: W.K. Thomas.
Woodford E., 1983: Introduction : the social content of creolization. in Woodford E. and Washabaugh W., (Eds): The Social Context of Creolization. Ann Arbor : Karoma Publishers.
