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The development of community languages and the role of Ethnolects in Australia

English Language and Literature Studies - Other


Author

Sabrina Weihrauch
2 Texts

Excerpt

Category
Termpaper
Institution / College
Grade
1,7

Universität Duisburg-Essen
Campus Essen
Summer Term 2005
Pro / Hauptseminar:
The English Language in Asia and the Southern Hemisphere
The development of Community
languages and the role of
Ethnolects in Australia
(Proseminar Leistungsnachweis)
Sabrina Weihrauch
Magisterstudiengang Anglistik
3. Fachsemester
2
Table of contents
1. INTRODUCTION
3
2. IMMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA
3
3. COMMUNITY LANGUAGES
4
3.1
T
HE CHANGING ATTITUDE TOWARDS COMMUNITY LANGUAGES
5
3.2
L
ANGUAGE DEMOGRAPHY IN
1991
AND
1996
6
3.3
T
HE ROLE OF
G
ERMAN AS AN EXAMPLE OF A COMMUNITY LANGUAGE
7
4. ETHNOLECTS
9
4.1
L
INGUISTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF
E
THNOLECTS
9
4.2
T
HE ROLE OF
E
THNOLECTS WITHIN THEIR COMMUNITIES
11
5. CONCLUSION
12
6. REFERENCES
14
APPENDIX
15
3
1. Introduction
I have chosen this topic as I am very interested in Australia's multicultural society and
its unique history. The following paper aims to give an overview of community
languages and their development in Australia from the very first settlers to Australian
society nowadays.
At first, there will be a brief outline of the history of immigration to Australia in order to
show the development of the different ethnic groups coming to Australia.
Furthermore, the changing attitudes will be outlined since community languages had
to undergo changing situations within Australian society. I will consider the past as
well as the latest situation in Australia by means of a demography comparison. The
language demography of the years 1991 and 1996 will be analysed in order to point
out the development of the widely-used community languages and their status.
Interesting from a German point of view, is the evolution of German in Australia as
many people would not expect German being one of the major community languages
in the early settlement of Australia. A significant fact to analyse will be the changing
role towards German after the two World Wars in the 20
th
century.
Besides, I will integrate the role of Ethnolects in Australian society and within their
communities in this paper. I will exemplify linguistic characteristics of Ethnolects and
will analyse them with regard to the aspect of different generations.
Literature of Michael Clyne will be considered primarily. Michael Clyne is Professorial
Fellow in Linguistics at the University of Melbourne and one of the leading scientists
of community languages in Australia, nowadays.
2. Immigration to Australia
Australia offers a vast majority of all kinds of ethnic varieties nowadays due to its
unique history. The first settlers, aside from Aboriginal people, were largely prisoners,
prison officers and their families from Britain, who established the first penal colonies
4
at Sydney Cove / Port Jackson (New South Wales) in 1788.
1
Not only British
convicts, but also migrants from other European countries were amongst political and
religious refugees in order to escape from their regime in the course of time.
"Such migrants included: the Old Lutherans from Eastern Germany fleeing
from religious suppression to South Australia as from 1838; the refugees from
the 1848 German and Italian revolutions; the Polish Jews fleeing from anti-
Semitism between the wars; the refugees from racism and political oppression
in Nazi Germany and the territories it had annexed."
2
Also economic migrants emigrated to Australia from the very beginning. Amongst
those migrants were many single men, who came to Australia during the gold rush
period, which was in the middle of the 19
th
century, in order to find an improvement of
work and living conditions. Especially South Australia and Victoria illustrated "workers
paradises" for overseas workers by occupying universal suffrage, payment of
parliamentarians, secret ballot, and the eight ­ hour working day. Migrants of the 20
th
century came from the mother country Britain, including Maltese, Greek, Dutch,
German and Italians in the 1950s and 1960s, Yugoslavs in the late 60s and early 70s
as well as Lebanese and Turks in the early 70s. (Clyne 1991:5)
On the one hand, many different languages and dialects were mixed in order to
communicate, for instance Gaelic, Irish and Welsh, which were subjected to
language assimilation. (Clyne 1991:7) On the other hand, however, languages
maintained as community languages.
3. Community languages
The term "Community languages", a relatively new one, denotes languages other
than English and Aboriginal languages employed within the Australian community.
(Clyne 1991:3). In the early time of settlement, from 1860 onwards, the main
community languages were Irish, Chinese, German, Gaelic, Welsh, French, the
Scandinavian languages, and Italian.
1
Burridge, Kate and Jean Mulder. 1999. English in Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne >u.a.@: Oxford
University Press, 36
2
Clyne, Michael. 1991. Community languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 4
Excerpt: 5 of 17 pages -  scroll top


Description

Title:
The development of community languages and the role of Ethnolects in Australia
Event:
The English Language in Asia and the Southern Hemisphere
Author:
Sabrina Weihrauch
Year:
2005
Pages:
17
Archive No.:
V89815
ISBN (eBook):
978-3-638-03547-7
ISBN (Book):
978-3-638-93205-9
DOI:
10.3239/9783638035477
File size:
193 KB
Language:
English

Tags:
Ethnolects Australia English Language Asia Southern Hemisphere

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Sabrina Weihrauch, 2005, The development of community languages and the role of Ethnolects in Australia , Munich, GRIN Publishing GmbH

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