Why Is Amurdag A Dying Language?

Australia is celebrated for its multiculturalism and acceptance of ethnic minorities, however, according to linguist Ben crustal ‘Australia…recaptured by a pervasive monolingual mindset which sees monolingualism as the norm and multilingualism as the exception even as a problem or deficit.’ Although ethnolects are viewed negatively by the mainstream society, its usage is both beneficial to ethnic minorities and has been adopted as the Lingua Franca in some situations. As a result of the majority’s consensus on the dislike of ethnolects, minorities are pressured to adopt Standard Australian English (SAE) in formal and public domains; limiting the usage of ethnolects. These observations are reflected in a recent interview with X; a forty-year-old

There were three main languages which also consisted of various dialects. Darug was the largest spoken language. The Gadigal people spoke a dialect of Darug. Dharawal was another language spoken which also consists of various dialects based on regions. Many Indigenous Australians could speak more than one of these languages as Central Sydney was where many tribes would come together, so it was quite common that many tribes or clans would be in this same area at the same time, allowing them to learn the languages of each others tribes.

The forceful removal of children from families, relocation of tribes from their native homelands, and the attempted assimilation by the Europeans resulted in the disruption of the hundreds of years of knowledge and heritage being passed down through generations. These issues have resulted in the destruction of most of their thousand year old languages and background. To the Indigenous people of Australia, language is the key to their cultural and spiritual identity, and their heritage. From over 250 languages being spoken all over Australia, there are now only 145. Only 20 of which are considered still going strong; this is a cause of great distress to the Indigenous people. “The loss of indigenous languages signifies not only the loss of traditional knowledge but also the loss of cultural diversity and spirituality as well as laws and customs” (Gugu Badhun Limited, 2012). Language is their identity, their connection to the community, it retains their cultural and spiritual identity throughout their daily lives now (Gugu Badhun Limited,

Language can unify people. English has more than 1.9 billion competent speakers in the world. Charles Foran, author of “Lingua Franchise” calls English a compromise tongue. This means, “default neutral terrain for doing deals and making friends” (100). English is rapidly growing globally.

Mr. Treuer explains how there was several hundred of languages throughout different tribes and now there are very few that still are dying out. A main reason that the languages have died out was Native Americans being

According to Ethnologue, there is reportedly ‘7 097 living languages worldwide’ (Simons, 2016) furthermore; Anderson (2012) explains the decline of the number of languages worldwide as being due to the growth of the major languages; a lesser utilised language dies when it ceases to be learnt by children. Standard Australian English (SAE) is the language used by the majority of the Australian population and its Government. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics; with a population of over 21.5 million people less than a quarter of them speak a language other than English in their home and that quarter includes the speaking of about 145 Indigenous Australian languages; a number which has decreased from the 250 or so Indigenous Australian

Some people even believe that English is global language because 80% of the internet content uses the medium of English to communicate with the internet users and some other evidences. Although these arguments are valid, they don’t make English as the global language. In this article, Ms. Wallraff has responded to such people who are ignorant of the facts about universality of English language and have firm belief that English is

In Aboriginal culture the language isn’t only a form of communication, it is used to mark territory. It is possible that people from tribe only fifty kilometres away cannot understand the other tribes language at all.

Language and culture are interconnected. The matter of how they are intertwined vary according to history and culture. Such variations are important to recognize when analyzing the effects of pivotal periods in history such as settler colonialism. Settler colonialism was a dark period in history and must continuously be recognized for its disturbing chronicle of events. The impacts of settler colonialism still reverberate today. Such impacts can be understood through the direct survivors of settler colonialism. In other words, indigenous nations. Despite centuries of attempted elimination, their presence continues to persevere. This does not exclude its losses, however. Many indigenous communities undergo threats of disappearing languages. Each indigenous language is affected by settler colonialism differently. So, for this research, the focus will be on the Nuu-chah-nulth language, which is spoken in the Nuu-chah-nulth region. Significance: Currently, about ten percent of the Nuu-chah-nulth population speak the native language, while even fewer speak fluently. Thus, understanding what circumstances lead to this dilemma may contribute

Recently, researchers working on a project geared toward the cataloging of basic word lists of the endangered aboriginal tongues in Australia, “met the sole living speaker of Amurdag, a language in the Northern Territory that has already been declared extinct” (Wilford, John Noble). It is doubtful that the language can be brought back, as the speaker “strained to recall words he had last heard from his late father” (Wilford, John Noble) but researchers were at least able to make a record of it.

The term ‘Sauk’ refers to an Algonquian language that is spoken by approximately 800 Indians who are natives of Northeastern part of North America. Immigration and the subsequent confiscation of land have compelled many of them to settle in America’s Midwest. Even though the speakers are said to be in their hundreds, only 5 are fluent communicators. The five are well over 70 years of age, and this depicts a scenario where the language might be extinct in a few decades time (Macaulay & Valentine, 2015; Oklahoma Sauk Language Department, 2011).

Over centuries we have seen the amount and complexity of languages all across the globe reduced. If this trend continues, we could see the number of world languages potentially reduced from 6,000 to 600 in the future. Colonization and urbanization has led to the abolishment of languages spoke by smaller and less dominant civilizations. McWhorter uses the Native Americans in North America and the Aboriginal

Despite Australia’s ever-growing multiculturalism, it has been found that ‘monolingualism is extraordinarily common in Australia throughout the general population and all occupational levels (Bostock, 1973).’ With such an array of cultures present, one would assume that Australian education systems would have endless bilingual programs in place. However, this is not the case. Despite the successes of bilingual education on a global scale, little effort has been made to preserve any Australian languages, meaning that language death has become an everyday factor that Indigenous individuals have to deal with (Wurm, 1991). This paper discusses the concept of bilingual education and its faults in the transition from theory to

Broad Australian English (BAE) is a language variety unique to Australia. Despite being spoken by a minority of Australian population today, it has

The English Language has been in existence for many years. This is thanks to many early conquers who spoke the language. As a result, today English is used by “at least one out of every seven human beings around on the globe” (Lederer 216). With that many speakers, the reality in Lederer’s words that “half of the world’s