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- Title
Kriol and the question of decreolization.
- Authors
Sandefur, John R.
- Abstract
The article examines the status of Kriol language among Aboriginal communities in Australia. Kriol speakers most commonly refer to the language as pidgin. In many areas there may have been a transition from pidgin to a non-standard form of English closer to Standard Australian English without an intervening stage of creolization. Kriol has remained in contact with and continues to be influenced by Standard Australian English (SAE). In the home environment of most Kriol speakers, SAE is virtually non-existent, except via radio and print, due to the prevalence of nonofficial language. While English is the dominant official language of the broader Australian community, it is not the dominant language of Aboriginal communities. Unless a Kriol speaker moves out of his environment and away from family and peers into the dominant white society, the social pressure exerted on his Kriol is not of major significance. This decreolization and disappearance of Kriol could be plotted for individuals as a biographical record of the individual's progress in learning English as a second language. As the education system becomes more effective in teaching SAE to Aborigines, more and more Kriol speakers will become fluent speakers of English.
- Subjects
AUSTRALIA; KRIOL language; ABORIGINAL Australian languages; ENGLISH Creole dialects; AUSTRALIAN English language; SOCIOLINGUISTICS; SOCIAL influence
- Publication
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1982, Vol 1982, Issue 36, p5
- ISSN
0165-2516
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1515/ijsl.1982.36.5