Interpreting variation in Gurindji children’s expression of spatial relations
Vivien Dunn | ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland
Felicity Meakins | ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland
Cassandra Algy | ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland
This chapter examines the spatial description system employed by Gurindji children in Kalkaringi (Northern Territory, Australia) to describe ternary relations in small-scale space. While Gurindji is the traditional language of Kalkaringi, a new variety, Gurindji Kriol, has developed as a result of language contact, and is now the first language of young adults and children. Speakers of Gurindji use cardinal directions in descriptions of both small-scale and large-scale space, whereas cardinal terms are almost never used to describe small-scale in naturally-occurring Gurindji Kriol speech. We show that the strategies preferred by children differ from those used by their parents, who produce predominantly cardinal descriptions. Instead, Gurindji Kriol-speaking children show variable use between cardinals and landmark-based strategies.
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