Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from May, 2014

The subtle devaluing of Aboriginal languages

I just had a small talk conversation with a stranger that went something like this: Me: I'm a linguist and I work on Aboriginal languages. Them: Oh cool, what languages do you speak? Me: Well I know bits of all the languages around here (i.e. Ngukurr) but Kriol is my strongest language apart from English. Them: But do you know other languages too? Me: Oh well yeah I know a bit of German and I was an exchange student in Iceland so I learned Icelandic a long time ago... Notice that when I tell them I know Aboriginal languages, it doesn't satisfy or fully answer their question? They want to know more: what other languages do you know , as in what real languages do you know . I've had this conversation many times. Enough to recognise it as a clear sign that Aboriginal languages aren't seen as equal to foreign languages. This subtle devaluing is revealed in other ways too, such as when Average-Jos refer to Aboriginal languages as 'dialects' in casual conversa