Tiwi today : a study of language change in a contact situation
Abstract
This thesis is a study of the changes which have taken place in the Tiwi language of Bathurst and
Melville Islands. These changes, apparent in the speech of young people and children, are due
mainly to language and/or culture contact.
Chapter 1 gives an overview of the general historical background and the present situation , with
particular reference to the school system. This is followed by a discussion of the present
language situation in terms of the verbal repertoire of the Tiwi speech community. The
characteristics of the "languages" used are briefly discussed.
In Chapters 2 to 6, two varieties of Tiwi are compared and the changes considered. These
varieties are: Traditional Tiwi (TT), spoken by older people, and Modern Tiwi (MT) , spoken by
young people . Where relevant mention is also made of two sub-varieties: Less Traditional Tiwi, an
"imperfectly learned " TT, and Children's Tiwi (CT), a developmental stage of MT.
Chapter 2 gives a brief description of TT Phonology, the changes found in MT, the influence of
English on MT phonology and a description of the overall MT phonology.
Chapter 3 gives a description of the word classes of TT and MT and the changes within these
classes.
In Chapter 4 the changes in the verbal constructions are considered, comparing, in turn, the
inflected verb in
TT and MT (showing the loss of complexity) and the verbal complex (consisting of a free form verb
and an inflected auxiliary which may be omitted in MT). It is the almost exclusive use of this
latter type of construction, often with an English loan verb as the free form verb, which is the
main defining characteristic of MT.
Chapter 5 looks at the structures of phrases in both TT and MT.
IV
Chapter 6 is a description of the clauses and simple sentences giving a comparison of the different
clause types and the clause constituents. In particular , the ways in which the nominal arguments
of the verb are indicated in MT and TT are compared (i.e. the different syntactical devices
used). These constitute the basic
change in the structure of the language. In this chapter there is also a brief look at more
complex sentences with subordinate clauses in the three varieties.
Chapter 7 gives a summary of the changes and their interrelationship.
In Chapter 8 language contact phenomena in general are considered and the different types found in
the wider Australian scene briefly discussed. The Tiwi contact situation is considered and how
the different language contact phenomena apply to it: with particular reference to bilingualism,
language "death", pidginization and creolization. Because of the drastic changes in Tiwi,
particularly in the verbal morphology (compared to changes found in a language which is simply
being replaced by another) , it is believed that MT is not just an imperfectly learned version of
the traditional language but is a new code, "creolized" Tiwi. Whether this new code lives or dies
is still an open question.