Aspects of the socio-political history of Ngukurr (Roper River) and its effects on language change

Abstract

"In this paper we will consider some of the social, political and historical factors which have been relevant to the decline of traditional languages and the rise of a modern2 language in one particular Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. The modern language, which developed out of the pidgin Enghsh lingua franca of the pastoral frontier (Dutton 1983, Harris 1984, Sandefur 1984), is Kriol; the community is Ngukurr."