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Harkins, Jean (1988). English as a ‘two-way’ language in Alice Springs. MA thesis, Australian National University.

This thesis is a sociolinguistic study of the use of English by Aboriginal people in the Alice Springs town camps. It seeks to describe Aboriginal speakers’ English in its social and cultural context, with special reference to issues in the development of an English language programme at Yeperenye School. Chapter 1 gives a sociolinguistic sketch of the uses of English and other languages in the town camps, including language choice and codeswitching, and a review of literature. Chapter 2 examines variation in the noun phrase, including number marking, pronouns, possession, determiners and quantifiers, and prepositions, arguing that this variation can only be explained with reference to the speakers’ semantic system. Chapter 3 examines tense, aspect and mood, finding systematic differences in meaning which can explain differences from non-Aboriginal English, particularly in modal expressions. Chapter 4 examines the work of Bernstein, Halliday, Walker and others whose ideas have been influential in education, and demonstrates that there is no lack of logical connections in Aboriginal speakers’ English, through an examination of connectives, causal relations and ellipsis. Chapter 5 discusses the meanings of lexical items and grammatical constructions, pragmatic and illocutionary meanings, and argues that the processes of reanalysis and language change which have given rise to this variety of English are semantically based. Chapter 6 presents the conclusions of this study, including its theoretical implications and implications for education.

 

 

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.