Harkins, Jean (1994). Bridging two worlds: Aboriginal English and crosscultural understanding. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
This sociolinguistic study of Aboriginal English of Alice Springs town camps, published with the blessing of the Yipirinya School Council at Alice Springs, where the author’s linguistic research was based, aims to show that Aboriginal English is a full dialect of English, whose resources it uses to express Aboriginal conceptual distinctions. It explains how there can be misunderstanding when Aboriginal English is seen as an imperfect attempt to learn standard English. The study discusses implications for education particularly for language programs at Yipirinya School.
This book is the published version of:
Harkins, Jean (1988). English as a ‘two-way’ language in Alice Springs. MA thesis, Australian National University.
