Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Tribe and languages; 3. Speech and song styles; 4. The role of language in Aboriginal Australian society today; 5. Vocabulary; 6. Phonology; 7. Phonological change; 8. Classification of Australian languages; 9. Word classes; 10. Nouns; 11. Pronouns; 12. Verbs; 13. Syntax; 14. Summary.

Promotional Information

This ground-breaking 1980 study of over 200 Australian languages is still valuable, especially for its non-technical opening chapters.