Youth Services
Research Paper

Strengthening Australian languages: Between policy and practice

Youth Services

Our summary

On 26–27 September 2022, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) co-hosted a Language Policy Symposium with the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL) in Canberra. The theme of the symposium was: ‘Strengthening Australian languages: between policy and practice’. The symposium brought together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language workers to share their experiences strengthening and supporting their languages with one another, with policy makers and with other stakeholders.

This paper reports on the symposium and highlights the diverse contexts in which language work is occurring across Australia. If governments hope to support all language work, they must deliver policies that consider all languages — traditional and new languages, spoken and signed languages, Aboriginal Englishes, and Indigenous ways of using Auslan — and all language situations, including revival, revitalisation, recognition and maintenance. Policy makers must also assess and consider the diverse experiences of language groups regarding funding and resources: some have a little, some have a lot and some have none. 

 

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