Observations on variability in the verb phrase in aboriginal English

Abstract

Abstract Most existing studies of Aboriginal English have been based on data gathered from individuals or small groups of speakers at a single point in time and/or without reference to considerations of language development. This paper addresses a need, for purposes of language planning in education, for more information on English language development in bidialectal Aboriginal children in the primary school years. It focuses on aspects of the verb phrase (known to be particularly salient in distinguishing non‐standard varieties from standard English) in seven bidialectal Aboriginal children from a remote Western Australian primary school. The children range in age from five to ten years and their speech was regularly recorded over twelve months. The findings show evidence of the maintenance and development of both dialects and suggest that their speakers have different educational needs from those of children whose first language is either standard English or a language other than English.