We have already looked at some examples of Aboriginal Australian English in the media this year, but there seem to be more popping up every week!
In July 2022, well-known Indigenous musician Archie Roach passed away.
Social media was flooded with tributes featuring the use of 'Uncle Archie Roach', or the shortening 'Unc', including this one from Indigenous rapper Senator Briggs (Don't be fooled by the name, he is a musician, not a politician!)
this lexeme is often used in Aboriginal Australian English to refer to somebody with whom the speaker has a close relationship, or to show respect to someone in the Indigenous community. It has therefore undergone semantic broadening, and is a great linguistic marker of identity and solidarity within the Indigenous community.
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In August 2022, the compound hashtag 'Naarmcore' became popular on TikTok as a slang term referring to 'Melbourne style'. This usage drew criticism from some members of the Indigenous community, including the director of Indigenous clothing label 'Clothing the Gaps', who argued that it "reduces [our] culture to a social media trend."
The article below contains an in-depth discussion of the issue:
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In July 2022, Melbourne Football Club played a match in Alice Springs. To show solidarity with the Indigenous population, they changed the lyrics of their club song to the native Alice Springs language.
While this doesn't give us any specific examples for English, it does highlight the efforts being made in modern Australian society to raise awareness about the importance of Indigenous languages and culture.
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Finally, the video below has been compiled by another English Language teacher (thank you!) with a number of TikTok videos relating to Aboriginal Australian English. Have a browse through these and think about how they connect to what we have already learned about AAE.
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