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JCPSLP Volume 19, Number 1 2017 31
is also considerable diversity between the Aboriginal
languages in various parts of the country. However, suffice
to say that the phonological systems are very different from
English, with, generally, far fewer vowels, no fricative
consonants at all and no voiced–voiceless distinction for
stops. These languages typically do not have articles or
prepositions and they also lack a distinct class of
adjectives. However, grammatically, these languages use
much more inflectional and derivational morphology than
English does and personal pronouns often make many
more distinctions than English does. Typically personal
pronouns distinguish three persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and three
numbers (singular, dual and plural), as well as other
distinctions not made in English. Yallop (1993) provides a
brief overview of the nature of the Aboriginal languages
found in Australia.
Discussion and conclusions
The differences described here between Aboriginal English
and Standard Australian English have significant
speakers stopping and starting without reference to other
speakers in the group – “broadcast talk”. Speakers tend not
to address (or even face or look at) particular participants in
these contexts (= “non-dyadic” communication). Speakers
either seem to start up talking whenever they chose to,
with little consideration for what other participants or
prospective participants might be doing (= “continuous”
communication). However, it must be carefully noted
that Aboriginal speakers at times do direct their talk to
particular people and also engage in turn by turn talk. But
Walsh (1995) stresses the normality of “non-dyadic” and
“continuous” patterns, as does Liberman (1985).
The role of silence has also been highlighted by Eades’
work (1993, 2000, 2004) and in later work by Mushin and
Gardner (2009). In 1992, Eades developed a handbook
for lawyers about Aboriginal English particularly in relation
to courtroom interactions in which she made the following
statement about the role of silence in AE:
Do not interpret silence as an Aboriginal speaker’s
admission of guilt or ignorance, or even as evidence of
a communication breakdown. Remember that silence
is often used positively by Aboriginal people to think
about things and to get comfortable with the social
situation. (p. 493)
Furthermore, work by Eades (1982, 1991, 1993) highlights
the role of relationships and authority, for specific Aboriginal
speakers, in the legitimacy of imparting and the willingness
to impart various types of information to specific
interlocutors – information which to the English speaker
would be seen as quite freely exchanged, but which for
Aboriginal people may be subject to various controls.
As a practical guide to pragmatics of interaction, the
Western Australian Centre for Rural Health (WACRH; n.d.)
in Geraldton, Western Australia, has published discourse
guidelines as part of an online cultural competence training
module (Cultural Orientation Plan for Health Professionals,
Module 3: Working with Aboriginal People). The guidelines
highlight the differences in pragmatic style between
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal speakers (see Table 2). In
addition to the above features, it is well acknowledged
that Aboriginal speakers utilise multiple modalities to
communicate, including sign language, manual gesture,
and (in some traditional contexts) sand drawing (Wilkins,
2001). It is important that clinicians are aware of potential
strengths that could be utilised by Aboriginal people with
communication difficulties, and that such potential is
included in assessment and treatment processes.
Aboriginal languages other than English
According to the 2011 Australian census, 11% of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people speak a language other
than English at home. Of these, 83% reported speaking
English “well” or “very well”. Seventeen per cent reported
not speaking English well. The assessment and treatment
of speakers of traditional Aboriginal languages pose
particular difficulties as interpreters are often impossible to
obtain, with around 145 Aboriginal languages in use, out of
an original 250 according to the National Indigenous
Language Survey (Department of Communications,
Information, Technology and the Arts, 2005). Most of these
languages are no longer actively used in communities,
except in the more remote regions of the country, though
the influence of these languages is apparent in creoles and
forms of Aboriginal English that have resulted from contact
between English speakers and speakers of these
languages in past generations as well as up to the present.
Traditional languages are very different from English. There
Table 2. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
communication styles.
Non-Aboriginal
communication style
Aboriginal communication
style
When I arrive in a new place I
walk up to people to meet them
When I arrive in a new place
I stay back until I’m invited to
approach
I speak to both men and women
equally
It’s not always appropriate for
me to speak to the opposite
sex, depending on kinship
relationships and lore
When meeting people I extend
my hand in welcome and look at
them eye to eye
I’m reserved when I meet
people, will often stay silent and
will make minimal eye contact
When I meet people I like to call
them by their first name
I have more than one name
and for some of our people it’s
disrespectful to say their name
without first finding out what
name they prefer
I rely on verbal communication
to understand what is being
said
I rely a lot on body language to
understand what is being said
I’m uncomfortable with silence,
it often means people haven’t
heard me
I’m comfortable with silence, it
allows thinking time and time
for others to speak
I will tell you most of my
problems even though I don’t
know you very well
Until I get to know and trust you
I might tell you only part of my
problem
If I disagree with what’s being
said I will say so or ask for
clarification
If I disagree with what’s being
said I will often pretend I don’t
know or walk away
When I say “yes” it means I
have understood and agree
When I say “yes” it could mean
many things including I don’t
understand the question
Cultural Orientation Plan for Health Professionals, Module 3: Working
with Aboriginal People. Reproduced with the permission of the
Western Australian Centre for Rural Health (January 2013).