Australian Aboriginal languages

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/australian-aboriginal-languages

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the estimated number of pre-colonial languages?Between 250 and over 360
2. What is the dominant pre-colonial language family?Pama-Nyungan
3. How many Aboriginal languages were spoken before Europeans arrived?Before Europeans came, there were about 250 to more than 360 different Aboriginal languages spoken across Australia.
4. What is the Pama‑Nyungan family?Pama‑Nyungan is a big family of languages that covers about 80% of the continent, meaning most Aboriginal languages belong to it.

Genetic Relationship (Linguistics): The historical connection between languages that have descended from a common ancestor.
Language Isolate: A language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship to any other known language.
Language Shift: The process by which a community abandons its native language in favor of another.
Post-vernacular Maintenance: Community efforts to learn and preserve elements of a language no longer in widespread daily use.