Same but different
-
Ilana Mushin
Abstract
In this paper we examine the historical and social factors associated with language contact in three Queensland settlements – Yarrabah, Cherbourg and Woorabinda – and discuss the impact these may have had on the emergence of the English-lexified vernacular languages associated with these communities today. Our focus is on the 20th century and how Queensland Government policies of removal towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including those of the Cape York Peninsula, provided new contexts for sustained language contact in these settlements, not only between traditional languages, but also with pre-existing contact varieties. We show here how each vernacular is different because the sociohistorical circumstances in which they emerged are different. So while the three vernaculars we examine have been labelled as ‘Aboriginal English’, our research demonstrates a much richer picture – one which demands a re-examination of the vernacular of any Aboriginal community today as a product of its own unique history.
Abstract
In this paper we examine the historical and social factors associated with language contact in three Queensland settlements – Yarrabah, Cherbourg and Woorabinda – and discuss the impact these may have had on the emergence of the English-lexified vernacular languages associated with these communities today. Our focus is on the 20th century and how Queensland Government policies of removal towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including those of the Cape York Peninsula, provided new contexts for sustained language contact in these settlements, not only between traditional languages, but also with pre-existing contact varieties. We show here how each vernacular is different because the sociohistorical circumstances in which they emerged are different. So while the three vernaculars we examine have been labelled as ‘Aboriginal English’, our research demonstrates a much richer picture – one which demands a re-examination of the vernacular of any Aboriginal community today as a product of its own unique history.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- General maps ix
- Land and language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country 1
- Appendix 27
-
Reconstructions
- Connecting Thaypanic 39
- Regions without borders 61
- The Flinders Islands and Cape Melville people in history 85
- Fission, fusion and syncretism 105
-
World views
- Groups, country and personhood on the upper Wenlock River, Cape York Peninsula 139
- Hyponymy and the structure of Kuuk Thaayorre kinship 159
- Possession in Kuku-Thaypan through a comparative lens 179
- Correlation of textual and spatial reference 199
-
Contacts and contrasts
- Botanists, Aborigines and native plants on the Queensland frontier 221
- ‘There is no truth whatever as regards any Aboriginal being flogged by the Police’ 241
- Multiple views of paradise 263
- Shared country, different stories 285
-
Transformations
- Born, signed and named 305
- The problem of ‘tribal names’ in eastern Australia 337
- Going forward holding back 361
- Same but different 383
- The story of Old Man Frank 409
-
Repatriations
- On the edges of their memories 435
- Making gambarr 455
- Index of places 481
- Index of languages, language families and groups 483
- General index 487
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- General maps ix
- Land and language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country 1
- Appendix 27
-
Reconstructions
- Connecting Thaypanic 39
- Regions without borders 61
- The Flinders Islands and Cape Melville people in history 85
- Fission, fusion and syncretism 105
-
World views
- Groups, country and personhood on the upper Wenlock River, Cape York Peninsula 139
- Hyponymy and the structure of Kuuk Thaayorre kinship 159
- Possession in Kuku-Thaypan through a comparative lens 179
- Correlation of textual and spatial reference 199
-
Contacts and contrasts
- Botanists, Aborigines and native plants on the Queensland frontier 221
- ‘There is no truth whatever as regards any Aboriginal being flogged by the Police’ 241
- Multiple views of paradise 263
- Shared country, different stories 285
-
Transformations
- Born, signed and named 305
- The problem of ‘tribal names’ in eastern Australia 337
- Going forward holding back 361
- Same but different 383
- The story of Old Man Frank 409
-
Repatriations
- On the edges of their memories 435
- Making gambarr 455
- Index of places 481
- Index of languages, language families and groups 483
- General index 487
