Some tentative remarks on the sociolinguistic vitality of Yankunytjatjara in Coober Pedy, South Australia

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary attempt to evaluate the linguistic vitality of Yankunytjatjara spoken in Coober Pedy and other communities in South Australia, with particular emphasis on extra-linguistic factors. The Western Desert dialects Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara are the two remaining 'strong' languages within South Australia, but considering the socio-cultural and political context wherein Indigenous Australian languages exist as spoken in decreasing numbers by members of encapsulated minorities, subject to an intrusive and increasingly dominant Euro-Australian culture, the question is how strong Yankunytjatjara really is. Different language endangerment indices are incorporated into the discussion with a view to how they apply to the study of contact-induced extensive linguistic change in general, and specifically to Yankunytjatjara.