Aboriginal language

Aboriginal language holds the key to Aboriginal people's history, through songs, legends, poetry and lore. It opens the way to cultural and spiritual understanding.

Due to the number of languages spoken - with the many dialects - Aboriginal Australia is one of the most linguistically diverse areas on the planet.

At the time of white settlement there were an estimated 250 distinct indigenous languages in Australia. Over half of these are no longer used. Many of those remaining are known to only a handful of elders and face obvious extinction without urgent steps being taken to record them.

In remote areas of Australia, relative isolation from white influences has resulted in the continued use of the local languages. Even though the languages are quite different from each other, many Indigenous speakers are fluent in more than one, reflecting the interaction between different language groups and fluid boundaries

Just like human languages elsewhere Aboriginal languages are rich in vocabulary and complex in word-building processes and syntax. They seem to have the same speech sounds across the continent and also share features of grammar, but they very much differ from each other in vocabulary.

For an overview of Aboriginal languages and dialects in Western Australia, click here.

More information about Aboriginal languages in Western Australia can be found here.

FATSIL

FATSIL, The Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages, is the national body for community based Indigenous language programs in Australia. For more information, click here.

Language centers

Language centers are organisations, which store and produce information about local Aboriginal languages. Other functions include:

• Gaining recognition for and promoting the use of Aboriginal languages.
• Making information on Aboriginal languages available.
• Helping Aboriginal people produce information in their own languages.
• Training Aboriginal people in literacy.
• Helping to start language programs in schools.
• Facilitating research appropriate to the needs of local communities.
• Training interpreters, translators and other language workers.

Language centers are run by Aboriginal management committees and staffed by speakers or descendants of speakers of local languages.

For an overview of language centers in WA, click here.