Australian language
- noun
- Australian
:
lengua australiana
- She grew up speaking an Australian language in her remote community.
Examples
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Many Australian languages are endangered due to colonization.
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Many linguists study the unique features of Australian language families.
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Efforts to preserve Australian language traditions are increasing across the country.
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The Australian language spoken by the Yolŋu people is rich in culture.
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Many Indigenous Australians are working to revitalize their Australian language through community programs.
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Understanding an Australian language can provide valuable insights into the culture of its speakers.
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The teacher introduced her students to an Australian language that is unique to their local area.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally 'a language from Australia', so a B1 learner who knows 'Australian' and 'language' will understand it as a language spoken in Australia. However, the specific technical sense referring narrowly to indigenous Aboriginal languages (excluding English and later-introduced languages) is a culturally specific narrowing not predictable from the constituents, making the overall transparency partial.
Etymology
The phrase Australian language names the original speech of the land. Australian means from Australia and language means the way people speak. Imagine old songs and stories passed around campfires for thousands of years, and that image shows why the term means the native languages spoken by Aboriginal people, not 'English' or other later languages.
