Communication with Aboriginal Speakers of English in the Legal Process

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of sociolinguistic issues concerning communication in the legal process between non-Aboriginal people using General Australian English and Aboriginal people using other varieties of English. It draws on three types of evidence: published research, specific cases, and communication with Aboriginal people, lawyers, judges and magistrates. Specific cases exemplify distinctive Aboriginal features of English in grammar, accent, vocabulary, pragmatics, discourse structure and cultural presuppositions. The paper also considers some of the ways in which legal professionals are engaging with intercultural communication issues raised by sociolinguists. Despite some promising recent developments, a recent case highlights implications for other legal decision-makers, namely jurors.

Keywords:

• English
• Aboriginal English
• Law
• Intercultural Communication

Notes

¹ This article is based on part of a talk presented in the AIATSIS ‘Language in Public' seminar series in May 2011, and draws from a number of my publications, as cited here.

²Note that while the SCRGSP figures do not separate Aboriginal people from Torres Strait Islanders, it is beyond the scope of this paper and my expertise to consider Torres Strait Islander people in the legal process.

³While the use of the term ‘traditional’ to refer to certain Aboriginal languages and groups can be problematic, it appears to be the most suitable term for non-English related Aboriginal languages.

⁴This example also illustrates a distinctive grammatical feature commonly used by Aboriginal speakers of English, in which equational sentences are expressed by juxtaposition of two noun phrases, with no need for the copula verb.

⁵Some similarities can be noted with the use of silence in Native American societies (e.g. Basso 1970).

⁶I am grateful to Piers Kelly for drawing my attention to this quote.

⁷This dilemma is not unlike that discussed by Trinch (2003) about the transformations made by lawyers to the stories of Latina women in domestic violence cases in the United States.

⁸In Aboriginal English deadly means excellent or fantastic, in contrast to the General Australian English meaning of capable of producing death.

⁹A version of the directions was modified by Helen Harper for speakers of Torres Strait Creole.

¹⁰This case is an important one for Aboriginal people's participation in the criminal justice system for many reasons, some of which are discussed in Knox (2010), and the 2011 ABC TV Four Corners documentary titled Bowraville: Unfinished Business (4 April 2011).