Aboriginal English – what isn’t it?
19 January 2022
SHARON DAVIS
| IndigenousX
“If you attack my language you attack me, because what I am and what I know and believe and feel are all mediated through language” – Jack Dwyer
CANBERRA - Self-proclaimed 'citizen journalist', social media 'personality', and convicted abuser of women, Avi Yemini, tweeted a video of Western Australian Premier, Mark McGowan sending a vaccination message to Western Australian Aboriginal communities that was also translated into Aboriginal English (AbE) by Aboriginal Interpreting WA.
The racist twitter furore that followed was not surprising, given the far-right ideologies held by Yemini, however the amount of misinformation about AbE and Kriol spouted by both non-Indigenous and Indigenous people across social media was something to behold.
Now, it is January after all, and most mob are familiar with the bin-fire that surrounds Invasion Day, so my patience levels for educating the masses are already low.
But given the amount of AbE misinformation shared across most social media platforms, I think we could all do with a bit of AbE 101.
Comments