"Australian language" redirects here. For the Polynesian language spoken on the Austral Islands, see Austral language.
Languages of Australia
Official
None at Federal level
Main
Australian English
Indigenous
120 to 170 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and dialects
Minority
Over 300
Signed
Auslan and several others
The languages of Australia are the major historic and current languages used in Australia and its offshore islands. Over 250 Australian Aboriginal languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact.[1] English is the majority language of Australia today. Although English has no official legal status, it is the de facto official and national language.[2][3] Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon,[4] and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling.[5]
Around 120 to 170 Indigenous languages and dialects are spoken today, but many of these are endangered. Creole languages such Kriol and Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole) are the most widely-spoken Indigenous languages. Other distinctively Australian languages include the Australian sign language Auslan, Indigenous sign languages, and Norf'k-Pitcairn, spoken mostly on Norfolk Island.
Major waves of immigration following the Second World War and in the 21st century considerably increased the number of community languages spoken in Australia. In 2021, 5.8 million people used a language other than English at home. The most common of these languages were Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Punjabi, Greek, Italian and Hindi.
^Australian Government, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (2020). National Indigenous Languages Report. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. p. 13.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Pluralist Nations: Pluralist Language Policies?". 1995 Global Cultural Diversity Conference Proceedings, Sydney. Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Archived from the original on 20 December 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2009. "English has no de jure status but it is so entrenched as the common language that it is de facto the official language as well as the national language."
^Ward, Rowena (2019). "'National' and 'Official' Languages Across the Independent Asia-Pacific". Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies. 16 (1/2): 83–4. doi:10.5130/portalv16i1/2.6510 (inactive 15 February 2024). The use of English in Australia is one example of both a de facto national and official language: it is widely used and is the language of government and the courts, but has never been legally designated as the country's official language.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of February 2024 (link)
^Moore, Bruce. "The Vocabulary Of Australian English" (PDF). National Museum of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
widely-spoken Indigenous languages. Other distinctively Australianlanguages include the Australian sign language Auslan, Indigenous sign languages, and Norf'k-Pitcairn...
Trans-Fly languages, in particular Meriam Mir of the Torres Strait Islands, as well as the Papuan Tip Austronesian languages. Most Australianlanguages belong...
Afro-Asiatic languages and languagesof Asia. Samoan English is also influencing Australian English. Other ethnolects include those of Lebanese and Vietnamese...
much of the complex declensional system present in the older languages. In the Kathmandu Valley (then known as Nepal Mandala), Nepali language inscriptions...
is one of the 22 scheduled languagesof the Union. It is also the official language in the state of Gujarat, as well as an official language in the union...
Chinese Australian identity. Chinese is a widely taught second language in Australian schools, and is one of the languages mentioned in the Australian Curriculum...
numerous Australian Aboriginal languages and dialects, many of which are endangered. An endangered language is one that it is at risk of falling out of use...
its list of endangered languages. In the 1970s, the Norfolk community and specialists from mainland Australia noted that the Norfuk language was falling...
Over 250 Australian Aboriginal languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact. The National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS)...
Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country ofAustralia. This connection may be...
national languages but they can be; for example, Aymara is both an indigenous language and an official languageof Bolivia. Also, national languages are not...
Malcolm (eds), The habitat ofAustralia's aboriginal languages: past, present and future. Says that some 250 distinct languages present in 1788. Russell...
The Tasmanian languages were the languages indigenous to the island of Tasmania, used by Aboriginal Tasmanians. The languages were last used for daily...
is the sign language used by the majority of the Australian Deaf community. The term Auslan is a portmanteau of "Australian Sign Language", coined by...
Sama-Bajau languages, Chabacano, and native languagesof Sabah & North Kalimantan. Makassar Malay is a creole-based mixed language, which is built of Bazaar...
a digital archive of literature in endangered languagesofAustralia, containing works in over forty Australian Aboriginal languages from the Northern...
of the Trans-Fly languages spoken on the nearby south coast of New Guinea and the only Papuan language spoken on Australian territory. Both languages...
significant enough to treat them as two separate languages within the Central Zone (Hindustani) group oflanguages. The Dom and the Rom therefore likely descend...
perhaps three hundred sign languages in use around the world today. The number is not known with any confidence; new sign languages emerge frequently through...
the time of European colonisation ofAustralia, they consisted of complex cultural societies with more than 250 languages and varying degrees of technology...
resulted in several instances in mixed languages such as Maisin. Non-indigenous languages include: English in Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, and other territories...
(dichotomy) established between languages and dialects. Natural languages are spoken, signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary...
emphasised. Over 300 languages and other groupings have developed a wide range of individual cultures. Due the colonization ofAustralia under terra nullius...
April 2021. "Priority Languages Support Project". First LanguagesAustralia. Retrieved 18 April 2021. "Languages". Mobile Language Team. Retrieved 18 April...
transcription delimiters. The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are directly descended from Vulgar...
LOTE or Languages Other Than English is the name given to language subjects besides English in Australia, New York City, and other[vague] schools. The...
Heimat, home) of a proto-language is the region in which it was spoken before splitting into different daughter languages. A proto-language is the reconstructed...
Global Information