The Aboriginals of Australia have been known to have mastered roughly 250 different dialects, even though a small number of them are still spoken today, and there is no formally recorded written language. Instead, most of these languages also had a parallel sign language connected to them, just as English has a sign language. Early settlers believed that they were "deaf and dumb", but really these sign languages were a way for them to connect physically and spiritually when speaking wasn't allowed or necessary. Some of these times are when they are hunting, they are too far away to speak, or during initiations where speaking is considered a taboo. Aboriginals also believed that evil spirits could not hear them while they were signing, but the evil spirits could hear them if they spoke out loud.
The sign language that the Aboriginals use is extremely similar between different languages around Australia. If one understood one sign language, he can quickly grasp another because they are all just different dialects among one common sign language. The same is not true for their spoken dialects. The spoken languages that they use are very different and complex. There are twenty seven different language families that are known today, and they are all connected to a geographic area of Australia. Many of these languages consider signing, or hand-talk, to be a completely valid use of communication, even in casual settings. Others require spoken language when appropriate according to their culture and traditions, and signing when spoken language is not appropriate.
The number of languages that Aboriginals speak has dropped significantly from an outstanding 250 to a mere 20 today. This is primarily due to the colonization of their territories by European settlers. Their culture has been looked at as primitive from the European perspective, however it is far from primitive and extremely complex. The Language that they speak is the symbolic capital that gives them social capital.
Over-all, language is extremely important to the Aboriginals of Australia because it not only connects them together in the physical realm of reality, but it connects them to their spiritual and religious world.
The sign language that the Aboriginals use is extremely similar between different languages around Australia. If one understood one sign language, he can quickly grasp another because they are all just different dialects among one common sign language. The same is not true for their spoken dialects. The spoken languages that they use are very different and complex. There are twenty seven different language families that are known today, and they are all connected to a geographic area of Australia. Many of these languages consider signing, or hand-talk, to be a completely valid use of communication, even in casual settings. Others require spoken language when appropriate according to their culture and traditions, and signing when spoken language is not appropriate.
The number of languages that Aboriginals speak has dropped significantly from an outstanding 250 to a mere 20 today. This is primarily due to the colonization of their territories by European settlers. Their culture has been looked at as primitive from the European perspective, however it is far from primitive and extremely complex. The Language that they speak is the symbolic capital that gives them social capital.
Over-all, language is extremely important to the Aboriginals of Australia because it not only connects them together in the physical realm of reality, but it connects them to their spiritual and religious world.
I find it very interesting that the Aboriginals use sign language as a huge part of their communication system. It is amazing that they have two forms of communication that mean the same thing. To think of how many different sign languages there are in Aboriginal culture and the way they use them is overwhelming! I find it typical that European settlers considered Aboriginals "deaf and dumb" simply because we do not understand their language.
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