Message sticks were one way groups of traditional Indigenous people communicated with each other. This contemporary sandalwood Nyungar message stick has been decorated with a naturalistic bird design using a heated wire.
LANGUAGE
With 150 to 300 languages, represented by about 700 dialects*, it isn’t surprising that 44 words have been recorded for ‘black duck’ in the Nyungar area of WA’s South-West.
The languages of Australia’s Indigenous people go back more than 60,000 years and are as diverse, as the country’s terrain and the people’s beliefs, social structures and customs.
Most (about 85 per cent) are believed to be based on one ancestral tongue, the Pama-Nyungan, and while the others are markedly diverse the languages all share a similar phonetic base.
Only two languages, the Djingili of the Barkley Tableland area, and the Tiwi of Bathurst and Melville Islands, do not have any discernible links with other Indigenous languages.
There was no alphabet or written form of Indigenous language – it was learnt and used purely by speech. (This has begun to change since the 1950s, however.)
There was no alphabet or written form of Indigenous language - it was learnt and used purely by speech. (This has begun to change since the 1950s, however.)
Indigenous culture therefore relied on an oral tradition, where knowledge about the Creation time, law, customs, kinship and all other aspects of Indigenous life are passed from one generation to the next primarily through the spoken word.
This makes the preservation of the language vital to the survival of the culture. If young people lose the language they lose awareness of their heritage and culture and a full understanding of their personal identity.
Languages were developed by groups of people and were not restricted to particular terrains or by borders. Indigenous people traditionally have spoken more than one language, particularly since one parent often came from a different group.
More than 50 Indigenous words, such as those for eye, foot, talk, water and earth, and most personal pronouns are common throughout much of the continent, and some words, such as kangaroo, billabong and galah, have become part of the Australian English language.
Words have developed in response to the environment, objects and events experienced by particular language groups.
There are also special languages within languages, such as the language only spoken between a mother-in-law and son-in-law and ceremonial words such as those spoken only during men’s or women’s ceremonies or for newly initiated young.
Other forms of communication have also been important in the transmission of information between Indigenous groups or from one generation to the next.
Indigenous people have used symbolic diagrams, patterns and pictographs in rocks or on tools and other objects, and markings on the ground to convey important information.
Other forms of art and songs are also used to pass on cultural information.
People from different language groups use body language, gestures, hand signing and facial expressions to communicate and ‘message sticks’ have acted like a passport for visitors to communicate with other groups.
Fire and smoke have also been important ways for Indigenous people to communicate, such as smoke telling others in a hunting group that food has been found, a fire lit by visitors to indicate they are approaching, or smoke to act as a warning.
Today Indigenous language is being recorded both orally and in writing to ensure the language will be retained. The South-West’s Noongar language has been written down in an agreed form for its preservation.
Today Indigenous language is being recorded both orally and in writing to ensure the language will be retained.
Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are now learning the languages of the country’s first inhabitants.
Caution is necessary with interpretation of early language records. Such records can be confusing because the people who recorded the words were inexperienced and there was considerable variation in how the sounds were interpreted.
*Since colonisation, most of the original Indigenous languages have been lost. Many languages died when children were taken to missions or institutions and forbidden from speaking their language and made to speak English. The assimilation of Indigenous people into white society and the English language has also led to the loss of Indigenous language.
Of more than 100 languages originally spoken in WA, 40 are still in regular use, mainly in the Kimberley and the desert areas.
Many Indigenous groups, particularly in regional areas, have developed their own Indigenous English that they use in addition to their group’s language.
