The development of community languages and the role of Ethnolects in Australia

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,7, University of Duisburg-Essen (Department of Anglophone Studies), course: The English Language in Asia and the Southern Hemisphere, 7 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: I have chosen this topic as I am very interested in Australia's multicultural society and its unique history. The following paper aims to give an overview of community languages and their development in Australia from the very first settlers to Australian society nowadays. At first, there will be a brief outline of the history of immigration to Australia in order to show the development of the different ethnic groups coming to Australia. Furthermore, the changing attitudes will be outlined since community languages had to undergo changing situations within Australian society. I will consider the past as well as the latest situation in Australia by means of a demography comparison. The language demography of the years 1991 and 1996 will be analysed in order to point out the development of the widely-used community languages and their status. Interesting from a German point of view, is the evolution of German in Australia as many people would not expect German being one of the major community languages in the early settlement of Australia. A significant fact to analyse will be the changing role towards German after the two World Wars in the 20th century. Besides, I will integrate the role of Ethnolects in Australian society and within their communities in this paper. I will exemplify linguistic characteristics of Ethnolects and will analyse them with regard to the aspect of different generations. Literature of Michael Clyne will be considered primarily. Michael Clyne is Professorial Fellow in Linguistics at the University of Melbourne and one of the leading scientists of community languages in Australia, nowadays.