Language and meaning are highly plastic: they adapt to what speakers have to say.
AAP Image/Peter Eve
People still find ways to express old ways of speaking in a new language, so that language does not fundamentally alter their cultural identity.
A new 50 cent coin marks the International Year of Indigenous Languages.
Royal Australian Mint
A new 50 cent coin recognises the diversity of Australian Indigenous languages.
November 2016 (left to right) Seraine Namundja, Donna Nadjamerrek, Julie Narndal and Cheryl Nadjalaburnburn preparing a new course in Bininj Kunwok, an Indigenous language in the Northern Territory.
Provided by Cathy Bow
In 60 years’ time, only 13 of Australia’s Indigenous languages will be left, unless something is done to encourage children to keep speaking their language.
Angurugu mission school children in the 1940s on Groote Eylandt, NT. Missions helped both erode and preserve Indigenous languages.
Groote Eylandt Linguistics
Australia was one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world but today, few people speak an Australian language.
Dance is a unique way of passing on cultural stories to a younger generation.
Aaron Hawkins/Flickr.com
Many Native languages are dying, and their loss has deep and profound implications for our world.