Aboriginal languages

E53296

Indigenous languages of Australia language family grouping

Aboriginal languages are the diverse Indigenous languages of Australia, spoken by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and forming a key part of the continent’s oldest continuous cultures.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (3)

Surface form	Occurrences
Aboriginal languages of New South Wales	1
Wiradjuri language	1
Wiradjuri language (attributed)	1

Statements (58)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Indigenous languages of Australia ⓘ language family grouping ⓘ
affectedBy	British colonisation of Australia ⓘ Stolen Generations policies ⓘ language suppression policies ⓘ
culturallySignificantFor	connection to ancestors ⓘ connection to land and sea ⓘ identity of Aboriginal communities ⓘ transmission of cultural knowledge ⓘ
currentStatus	many languages critically endangered ⓘ many languages extinct ⓘ some languages being revitalised ⓘ
estimatedPreContactCount	250 or more distinct languages ⓘ
estimatedPreContactVarieties	hundreds of dialects ⓘ
hasCharacteristic	complex kinship terminology ⓘ embedding of ecological knowledge ⓘ embedding of law and custom ⓘ embedding of songlines and oral history ⓘ endangered status for many languages ⓘ extensive case systems in many languages ⓘ high linguistic diversity ⓘ lack of fricative consonants in many languages ⓘ non-configurational word order in many languages ⓘ oral tradition ⓘ rich verb morphology in many languages ⓘ small phoneme inventories in many languages ⓘ strong connection to Country and place ⓘ use of ergative–absolutive alignment in many languages ⓘ use of noun classes in many languages ⓘ use of sign languages in some communities ⓘ use of speech registers such as avoidance speech in some languages ⓘ
historicallySpokenBy	hundreds of distinct Aboriginal nations ⓘ
includes	Arrernte languages ⓘ Gamilaraay language ⓘ Kaurna language ⓘ Noongar language ⓘ Palawa kani (constructed revival language) ⓘ Pama–Nyungan languages ⓘ Pitjantjatjara language ⓘ Pama–Nyungan languages ⓘ surface form: Warlpiri language Wiradjuri language ⓘ Yolŋu languages ⓘ Yorta Yorta language ⓘ non-Pama–Nyungan languages ⓘ
partOf	Australian Indigenous cultures ⓘ
protectedBy	United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ⓘ surface form: UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
recognizedBy	Australian state and territory language policies to varying degrees ⓘ
spokenBy	Aboriginal Australians ⓘ surface form: Aboriginal peoples of Australia Torres Strait Islanders ⓘ surface form: Torres Strait Islander peoples
spokenIn	Australia ⓘ
subjectOf	language revival and maintenance programs ⓘ linguistic documentation projects ⓘ
timeDepth	tens of thousands of years of continuous use in Australia ⓘ
usedIn	Indigenous education programs ⓘ bilingual education in some remote schools ⓘ ceremony and ritual ⓘ song and dance traditions ⓘ storytelling and oral literature ⓘ

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Australian English → influencedBy → Aboriginal languages ⓘ

History of New South Wales → language → Aboriginal languages ⓘ

this entity surface form: Aboriginal languages of New South Wales

Wiradjuri people → language → Aboriginal languages ⓘ

this entity surface form: Wiradjuri language

Molonglo River → nameLanguage → Aboriginal languages ⓘ

this entity surface form: Wiradjuri language (attributed)