Out of the Mouths of Babes: The Role of Indigenous Children in Language Change

在过去的225年里，英语在澳大利亚的语言版图上留下了不可磨灭的足迹。现在儿童学习的许多土著语言在英语的影响下经历了重组。其中一种语言是古灵吉语。这个项目是第一次对土著语言的跨代语言变化进行历时性调查。它检查了古林吉儿童在婴儿时期从他们的照顾者那里接受的语言输入，并绘制了它对他们后来的语言使用的影响。探索这些变化对于理解语言的转变和调整教育计划以适应土著儿童的需要至关重要。它将把澳大利亚置于复杂语言变化研究的前沿。

Over the last 225 years, English has left an indelible footprint on the linguistic landscape of Australia. Many Indigenous languages now learnt by children have undergone restructuring under the influence of English. One of these languages is Gurindji. This project is the first diachronic investigation of cross-generational language change in an Indigenous language. It examines the linguistic input Gurindji children received from their caregivers as infants and charts its influence on their subsequent language use. Exploring these changes is crucial to understanding language shift and to tailoring educational programs to suit the needs of Indigenous children. It will place Australia at the forefront of studies of complex language change.