Colonization as Seen by Australian Aboriginal English and Native American English Speakers
Do all indigenous people who experienced colonization look at their past in the same way? This paper will focus on the Australian Aborigines' and First Nations' perspectives. First, both cultural backgrounds will be analyzed. Then, a linguistic analysis will deal with the core features of the two varieties. To conduct this research, my primary sources were based on songs and texts written by the speakers. Secondary sources such as academic journals and books were also used. This essay seeks to determine how indigenous English speakers feel about the colonists' presence in their country.
Cultural Analysis
From the late nineteenth century until the late sixties, Aboriginal Australian children were removed from their families in large numbers by the government. The policy resulted in ''the Stolen Generation''. The children were removed because of various reasons, such as what white people considered neglect. The government could remove the children from their families if they were light-skinned, which suggested that they might have white ancestry. Peter Read, Professor of Aboriginal history, relates a case which he defines as typical. It was a family with seven children living in 1950. The police sent the children to the hospital under the charge of ''incompetent guardianship.'' The parents did not hear from their children for months. After an investigation, the mother discovered that one of her children had died. Two others had married white people and were raising their children as whites. Another had disappeared. The last children eventually came back to the reserve but did not want to talk about their experiences (Read 4).
The singer Archie Roach is part of this stolen generation. He dealt with homelessness and alcoholism in his youth. He unveils his experience in his 1991 song ''Took the Children Away''. Roach explains that Aboriginal parents were not seen as good and capable by white people: ''We'll give them what you can't give / Teach them how to really live'' (01:08). Moreover, Aboriginal traditions were not acknowledged as a culture of its own; they were belittled. Indeed, Roach writes: ''Told us what to do and say / Told us all the white man's ways'' (03:07). Aboriginal toddlers were taught to forget about their customs because the only civilized culture is the white man's. The singer openly shares his feelings in a touching yet powerful way towards the end of the song: ''As we grew up we felt alone / Cause we were acting white / Yet feeling black'' (03:28).
The policies instituted by the government hurt thousands of families. Some children never found out who their parents were, or where they came from. Others did not recover from alcoholism or drug abuse like Archie Roach did (Marsh n.p.)
Native American culture has equally suffered from colonization. Indeed, Native American children were also removed from their families in large numbers. They were sent to boarding schools. There, the children were taught the white man's culture.
In the movie ''500 Nations, The story of Native Americans'', several people tell their stories. Lone Wolf, Blackfeet, recalls: ''Next was the long hair. The pride of all the Indians. The boys one by one would break down and cry when they saw the braids thrown on the floor'' (32 :51). When white people cut the children's hair off, they were trying to erase Native American culture. Policies and mistreatment led Native American children to forget who they were. Indeed, Judy Swamp, a Mohawk, shares her experience: ''I remember growing up that I never really felt good about myself. We were taught to be ashamed of who we were and who we are. And it hurts when you are young and you are trying to understand.'' (33:22).
The result of boarding schools was devastating: when the young returned to their families in reservations, they had changed so much that they felt like they did not belong there anymore. Sun Elk, a member of the Taos tribe, recalls: ''The first Indian I met, I asked him to run out to the pueblo and tell my family I was home. The Indian couldn't speak English and I had forgotten all of my Pueblo language. (...) The chief said to my father, 'Your son who calls himself Raphael has lived with the white man.(...) He has not learned the things that Indian boys should learn. He has no hair. He cannot even speak our language. He is not one of us.' '' (37:58).
Today, Native Americans still suffer from the Boarding School Era. Many feel like their culture is at a lost because of the attempt to erase it. Florence Arpan, Hokwozhu/TwoKettle Band tribe, shares this opinion: ''And today so many of our Indian children have forgotten their language. Even here on our reservation, because they took that language away from us. Our language, that God gave us.'' (38 :49) The Boarding School Era has led to other consequences, such as alcoholism, which was already a problematic issue among Native Americans.
As I have proved throughout, colonization and its heritage can have an extremely destructive impact on indigenous cultures. In the case of Aboriginal Australians and Native Americans, I have shown that white people's misunderstanding and disrespect led to cultural losses.
Linguistic Analysis
Australian Aboriginal English is a variety of English and a dialect of Australian English spoken by Australian Aborigines. We can say that there are Australian Aboriginal Englishes because there are several varieties in use.
In terms of lexicon, the meaning of some words in AAE is different from Stardard English. For example, ''rubbish'' is close in meaning to ''inert''. Then, AAE has its own words to refer to concepts that exist in Standard English. For instance, ''gubbah'' isused to refer to white people. As for grammar, AAE is close to AAVE. Indeed, auxiliary verbs are not used much. For example, an AAE speaker would say ''We going'' instead of ''We are going''.
Phonologically, AAE is close to Standard Australian English. Indeed, AAE is usually non-rhotic. Speakers would pronounce ''boarding'' /'bɔ:dɪŋ/.
Native American English is a dialect of American English. There are several varieties of NAE, but they share several core features.
As for phonology, NAE speakers tend to replace /θ/ and /ð/ with /t/ and /d/ when the consonant is initial. For instance, they will not pronounce the word <thing> /'θɪŋ/ but /'tɪŋ/. Some speakers replace the /d/ sound at the end of a word by a glottal stop.
NAE lexicon is extremely rich. For instance, varieties such as Lumbee English have their own words to refer to concepts that do not necessarily exist in Standard English.
NAE grammar is similar to other varieties such as AAVE. Indeed, in varieties such as in Navajo tribes and others, they do not use the -s to mark the plurality of a noun. Then, the past tense is not always indicated by the 'ed' ending or an irregular form.
Works Cited
"Australian Aboriginal English." Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications, no. 14, 1975, pp.585-
589. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20006648. Accessed 12 Dec. 2020.
Froelich, Paula. ''A Look Inside the Heartbreaking Story of Australia's 'StolenGeneration'.''
Youtube, 28 March 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wikX7V3nXDE. Accessed 12
Dec 2020.
''Indian Child Welfare Act: Bias, Media and Historical Context eLearning Course'. San Diego
State University School of Social Work, www.theacademy.sdsu.edu/elearning/icwa-elearning-bias-media context/story_content/external_files/Audio%20Transcript_090419.pdf. Accessed 2 Dec. 2020.
Marsh, Walter. « Archie Roach tells his story right and true in memoir Tell me why. 4 Nov
2019. The Adelaide review, wwwadelaidereview.com.au. Accessed 12 Dec 2020.
Roach Archie, ''Take the ChildrenAway.''. By writer Roach Archie. Producers
Connolly Steve, Kelly Paul. Sept. 1990.CD/MP3/Vinyl.
Read, Peter. The stolen generations. The removal of Aboriginal children in New South Wales
1883 to 1969. 1981. www.dietitiansaustralia.org.au. Accessed 12 Dec 2020.
500 Nations, The Story of Native Americans. Episode 8 : Attack on culture. Created by
Leustig, Jack, Presented by Costner, Kevin, CBS 1995.
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My Academic Essays as an English Major
Non-FictionThis is a compilation of all the academic essays I wrote during my Bachelor's degree as an English major. You are more than welcome to leave comments, I would love to discuss some of my takes with you.
