Australian

Aboriginal
English
Australian Aboriginal English (AAE) is a dialect of Australian English used by a large section of
the Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander) population. It is made up of a
number of varieties which developed differently in different parts of Australia. These varieties are
generally said to fit along a continuum ranging from light forms, close to Standard Australian English, to
heavy forms, closer to Kriol. There are generally distinctive features of accent, grammar, words and
meanings, as well as language use. AAE is not to be confused with Kriol, which is a separate language
from English spoken by over 30,000 people in Australia. Speakers have been noted to tend to change
between different forms of AAE depending on whom they are speaking to, e.g. striving to speak more like
Australian English when speaking to a non-Indigenous English-speaking person.
Several features of AAE are shared with creole languages spoken in nearby countries, such as Tok
Pisin in Papua New Guinea, Pijin in the Solomon Islands, and Bislama in Vanuatu.
AAE terms, or derivative terms, are sometimes used by the broader Australian community. Australian
Aboriginal English is spoken among Aboriginal people generally, but is especially evident in what are
called "discrete communities", i.e. ex-government or mission reserves such as the DOGIT communities in
Queensland. Because most Aboriginal Australians live in urban and rural areas with strong social
interaction across assumed rural and urban and remote divides, many urban people also use Aboriginal
English.

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Grammar
Auxiliary verbs
Aboriginal English does not make use of auxiliary verbs, such as to be and to have, or copulas to link things
together. For example, the Aboriginal English equivalent of "We are working" would be "We workin'".
Linguists do not regard this as "just dropping words out", but as a fundamental change to the way in which
English is constructed.
Pronouns
Although he and him are masculine pronouns in standard English, in Aboriginal English, particularly in
northern Australia, it may also be used for females and inanimate objects. The distinction between he as the
nominative form and him as the oblique form is not always observed, and him may be found as the subject
of a verb.
"Fellow"
In some forms of Aboriginal English, fellow (also spelt fella, feller, fullah, fulla, balla etc.) is used in
combination with adjectives or numerals, e.g. big fella business = "important business", one-feller girl =
"one girl". This can give it an adverbial meaning, e.g. sing out big fella = "call out loudly". It is also used
with pronouns to indicate the plural, e.g. me fella = "we" or "us", you fella = "you all".

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Lexicon
Balanda
Balanda is a word used by the Yolŋu people for European people; originally from the Makassar language,
via the Malay "orang belanda" (Dutch person).
Business
Many Aboriginal people use the word business in a distinct way, to mean matters. Funeral and mourning
practices are commonly known as Sorry Business. Financial matters are referred to as Money Business, and
the secret-sacred rituals distinct to each sex are referred to as Women's Business and Men's Business.
Camp
Many Aboriginal people refer to their house as their camp, particularly in Central Australia and the Top End
of the Northern Territory.
Cheeky
"Cheeky" may be used to describe a dog or other animal that is likely to bite or attack.

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Dardy
Dardy, meaning "cool", is used amongst South West Australian Aboriginal people. This word has also been
adopted by non-Indigenous Australian teens, particularly in the skateboarding subculture. Many Australian
teens also use the word to describe something worth buying.
Deadly
Deadly is used by many Aboriginal people to mean excellent, or very good, in the same way that wicked is
by many young English speakers. The Deadlys were awards for outstanding achievement by Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people.
Gammon
Victorian era English word for pretend. Still used by some Australian Aboriginal people to mean joking
generally. Gammoning – usually pronounced Gam'in'. This word is widely used across the Northern
Territory of Australia by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and is now gaining usage
elsewhere in Australia.

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Humbug
Whereas humbug in broader English means nonsensical, or unimportant information, humbug in Aboriginal English means to
pester with inane or repetitive requests. In the Northern Territory, humbug is used by both black and white in this latter,
Aboriginal way. The most commonly recognized definition of humbug, refers to an Aboriginal person asking a relative for
money. Humbugging can become a serious burden where the traditional culture is one of communal ownership and strong
obligations between relatives.
Mob
Colloquially used to mean a group of Aboriginal people associated with an extended family group, clan group or wider
community group, from a particular place or country. It is used to connect and identify the person and where they are from.
"My mob" means my people, or extended family.
Rubbish
While "rubbish" as an adjective in many dialects of English means wrong, stupid, or useless, in the north of Australia,
"rubbish" is usually used to describe someone who is too old or too young to be active in the local culture. Another use is
meaning something is "not dangerous"; for example, non-venomous snakes are all considered to be "rubbish", while in
contrast, venomous snakes are "cheeky". In both cases, "rubbish" approximately means "inert".

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Phonology
Sutton documents that some speakers of Aboriginal English in the area around Adelaide
have an uncommon degree of rhoticity, relative to both other AAE speakers and Standard
Australian English speakers (which are generally non-rhotic). These speakers realise /r/ as
[ɹ] in the preconsonantal postvocalic position – after a vowel but before another a
consonant – within stems. For example: [boːɹd] "board", [t̠ ʃɜɹt̠ ʃ] "church", [pɜɹθ] "Perth";
but [flæː] "flour", [dɒktə] "doctor", [jɪəz] "years". Sutton speculates that this feature may
derive from the fact that many of the first settlers in coastal South Australia – including
Cornish tin-miners, Scottish missionaries, and American whalers – spoke rhotic varieties.

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