Lexical Appropriation in Australian Aboriginal Literature

Katja Lenz

doi:10.5771/9783828867437

Summary

Today, virtually all Aboriginal people in Australia use English in their daily interactions. This is not surprising: in a situation in which many Aboriginal languages are lost beyond retrieval, English, as the official language of education, administration, law, and generally the language of the Australian mainstream society, has become the major medium of communication for the Australian Aboriginal community. Still, Aboriginal English, the variety most commonly spoken by Aboriginal people, often differs in many aspects from what is the accepted linguistic standard in Australia. Adapted to their communicative needs, it allows its speakers to express values, beliefs, and attitudes which are strongly influenced by their socio-cultural background.

Katja Lenz investigates how the lexico-semantics of Aboriginal English provide the means needed to express concepts not shared with speakers of Australian English. Approaching these questions from both the angle of Cultural Linguistics and that of Post-colonial Studies, she further shows how these tools are employed by Australian Aboriginal playwrights, who exploit the lexical resources of AborE for the linguistic construction and assertion of their own and their characters’ Aboriginality.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2017
ISBN-Print: 978-3-8288-3964-9
ISBN-Online: 978-3-8288-6743-7
Publisher: Tectum, Baden-Baden
Language: German
Pages: 426
Product type: Book Titles

Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis Partial access Pages 1 - 12 Download chapter (PDF)
1 Introduction No access Pages 13 - 18
2 Studies of Aboriginal English – Where Do WeStand? No access Pages 19 - 22
1. 1. 3.1 Australia’s Indigenous Population Before 1788 No access
  2. 3.2 The Pre-Contact Language Ecology No access
  3. 3.2.1 Our Lack of Knowledge No access
  4. 3.2.2 The Language-Dialect Distinction No access
  5. 3.2.3 Classification of the Australian Languages No access
  6. 3.3 The Relation between Language, Language Speakers, andLand No access
2. 1. 4.1 Australia’s Indigenous Population: Census Data No access
  2. 4.2 The Post-Contact Language Ecology No access
  3. 4.2.1 Kriol No access
  4. 4.2.2 Torres Strait Creole and Torres Strait English No access
  5. 4.2.3 Aboriginal English No access
  6. 4.3 Assessment of the Endangerment Situation No access
  7. 4.4 Maintaining Cultural Identity in the Face of LanguageLoss No access
3. 1. 5.1 Sociohistorical Effects of Contact No access
  2. 5.1.1 The Early Period of European Colonisation No access
  3. 5.1.2 Protection and Segregation and the Advent of Missions No access
  4. 5.1.3 Assimilation Strategies No access
  5. 5.1.4 Aboriginal Resistance and Self-Control No access
  6. 5.2 Linguistic Effects of Contact: Post-1788 Contact Varieties No access
  7. 5.2.1 The Sydney Jargon and NSW Pidgin English No access
  8. 5.2.2 Colonial Expansion and the Spread of NSW Pidgin English No access
  9. 5.2.3 The Birth of Northern Territory Kriol No access
  10. 5.3 The Emergence of an Aboriginal Dialect of English No access
1. 1. 6.1 The AborE Continuum No access
  2. 6.2 The Role of AborE in the Post-Contact Aboriginal LanguageEcology No access
  3. 6.3 Feature Description of AborE No access
  4. 6.3.1 Phonological Features No access
  5. 6.3.2 Morphological and Syntactic Features No access
  6. 6.3.3 Pragmatic Features No access
  7. 6.3.4 Lexico-semantic Features No access
  8. 6.4 Aboriginal English: An Aboriginal Language ‘in Disguise’? No access
  9. 6.4.1 Cultural Conceptualisations in an English-derived Lexicon No access
  10. 6.4.2 Aboriginal Language Terms No access
  11. 6.4.3 Negotiating the Bicultural Experience No access
2. 1. 7.1 Writing and Aboriginalities No access
  2. 7.2 Australian Aboriginal Drama No access
  3. 7.3 Language Use in Aboriginal Literature No access
  4. 7.4 Lexical Appropriation in Australian Aboriginal Drama No access
1. 1. 8.1 Focus of Research No access
  2. 8.2 The Corpus No access
  3. 8.3 Jack Davis No access
  4. 8.3.1 The Play: The Dreamers (1982) No access
  5. 8.3.2 Interlude: Borrowing vs. Code-switching No access
  6. 8.3.3 Analysis of The Dreamers No access
  7. 8.3.4 The Results No access
  8. 8.3.5 The Dreamers and the Creation of a Nyoongah Cultural Identity No access
  9. 8.4 Kevin Gilbert No access
  10. 8.4.1 The Play: The Cherry Pickers (1971/1988) No access
  11. 8.4.2 Analysis of The Cherry Pickers No access
  12. 8.4.3 The Results No access
  13. 8.4.4 On the Fringe of Society: The Cherry Pickers’ World No access
  14. 8.5 Eva Johnson No access
  15. 8.5.1 The Play: Murras (1988/1989) No access
  16. 8.5.2 Analysis of Murras No access
  17. 8.5.3 The Results No access
  18. 8.5.4 Murras – These Hands Were Made for Carving No access
  19. 8.6 Jimmy Chi No access
  20. 8.6.1 The Play: Bran Nue Dae (1990/1991) No access
  21. 8.6.2 Analysis of Bran Nue Dae No access
  22. 8.6.3 The Results No access
  23. 8.6.4 On Our Way to a Bran Nue Dae – The Celebration of Diversity ona Journey ‘Back to the Roots’ No access
  24. 8.7 John Harding No access
  25. 8.7.1 The Play: Up the Road (1997) No access
  26. 8.7.2 Analysis of Up the Road No access
  27. 8.7.3 The Results No access
  28. 8.7.4 Up the Road – Seeing the World “Through a Family” No access
  29. 8.8 David Milroy No access
  30. 8.8.1 The Play: Windmill Baby (2005/2007) No access
  31. 8.8.2 Analysis of Windmill Baby No access
  32. 8.8.3 The Results No access
  33. 8.8.4 Windmill Baby – A Tale of Life in the Kimberley No access
  34. 8.9 Wesley Enoch No access
  35. 8.9.1 The Play: The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table (2007) No access
  36. 8.9.2 Analysis of The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table (2007) No access
  37. 8.9.3 The Results No access
  38. 8.9.4 “The Story Goes...” Family History and Murri Identity Seated atCookie’s Table No access
1. 1. 9.1 Frequency of Occurrence of Lexical Appropriations in theCorpus No access
  2. 9.2 Lexical Appropriation across Different Conceptual Domains No access
  3. 9.3 Recurrent Concepts No access
  4. 9.4 Recurrent Lexical Items No access
2. 1. 10.1Lexical Appropriation in Maori Drama No access
  2. 10.1.1 A Brief Colonial History of New Zealand No access
  3. 10.1.2 Te Reo Maori and Maori English No access
  4. 10.1.3 Briar Grace-Smith: Purapurawhet (1997/1999) No access
  5. 10.2Lexical Appropriation in Canadian First Nations Drama No access
  6. 10.2.1 A Brief Colonial History of Canada No access
  7. 10.2.2 The Language Situation in Canada No access
  8. 10.2.3 Tomson Highway: The Rez Sisters (1986/1988) No access
  9. 10.3Lexical Appropriation in Maori and First Nations Drama No access
3. 11 Summary and Conclusion: Lexical Manifestations of Cultural Distinctiveness in Indigenous Playwriting No access Pages 361 - 380
4. 12 Zusammenfassung No access Pages 381 - 392
1. Primary Sources No access
2. Secondary Sources No access
Appendix 1. Australian language families. Adapted from Ethnologue, Australian (Ethnologue 2015) No access Pages 425 - 426