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Abstract
Interactional style is an under-researched area in the study of Australian Aboriginal languages, yet it is profoundly important in negotiating access to everyday services, such as medical, legal and educational resources. This paper investigates speech routines relevant to person reference and information exchange in Roper Kriol, an Aboriginal creole language spoken in the Northern Territory of Australia. It includes evidence that at least some aspects of pragmatic style in this creole are the result of a continuity of discourse practices from the substrate languages. The data used in this research include recordings from conversations and public meetings, as well as consultation with community Elders. The conclusions are summarized in cultural script style. That is, they are written into stylized frames using simple, easily translatable words to maximize access to an insider perspective, and avoid the pitfalls of Anglocentric terms such as ‘kinship’, ‘information exchange’ and ‘person reference’.
Notes
1 In terms of communication style, Kriol speakers are often disadvantaged in contexts where English is the dominant language. This includes almost all education, legal and medical contexts.
2 The data used in this study are drawn from five spontaneous conversations, two of which were recorded and transcribed by Denise Angelo (referenced as [DA_date_ref] the conversations were spoken by †Mrs B. Raymond and †Mr O. Raymond.), the others by the present author. I also recorded and transcribed a community meeting. In addition, Godfrey Blitner, †F. Roberts, Betty Roberts and †Mrs Kumanjayi Joshua and John Joshua contributed significant cultural and language expertise.
3 Abbreviations used for glosses in this paper are as follows: coll—collective, dat—dative, dem—demonstrative, det—determiner, dist—distal, du—dual, em—emphasis, exc—exclamation, fam—familiar, FaMo—father's mother, fut—future, hab—habitual, indef—indefinite, loc—locative, neg—negative, pl—plural, poss—possessive, prox—proximal, pst—past, purp—purposive, q—tag, sg—singular, tma—tense:mood:aspect, X—unknown, ∼—reduplication, ∅—zero.
4 See Garde (Citation2008) for a discussion of a similar set of referring terms from a traditional Aboriginal language (Bininj Gunwok), and also Stanner (Citation1937).
5 The word kal ‘call’ in Kriol is culturally significant. It is used to describe the relationship between kin when there are no blood ties, as in ‘he calls her “mother”’.
6 This may not be possible if any persons present are in an avoidance relationship with the person to be named.
7 It is worth noting that the equivalent term in Kriol neim is likely to have some semantic differences to the English concept of ‘name’.
8 They include kinship terms from generations above and below the speaker: mami ‘mother’, nis ‘brother's daughter’, san ‘son/sister's sons’ and amuri ‘father's father’. Ideally each of the Kriol terms used in this script, mami ‘mother’, nis ‘sibling's daughter’, san ‘son/sibling's sons’ and amuri ‘father's father’ would also be explicated using simple paraphrases.
9 Another example of restrictions on information exchange can be found in the ATSILIRN (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library and Information Resource Network) protocols. These protocols state that not all information can be freely disseminated:
[T]hese sensitivities [discussed] have greatest force when the materials include records and/or depictions of secret and/or sacred information which may have been recorded with or without permission. […] An item need not be on open access to everyone just because it has been published … [there are] labels, notes in the catalogue indicating that the contents are ‘For initiated males only’ or include ‘Women's business’. (ATSILIRN Protocols (cf. http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/))
10 The words ngi, ngabi, indit and matibi likely have additional functions in Kriol.