Of the original 250-plus languages and over 750 dialects spoken by First Nations peoples before 1788, only 12 are being learned by children today.
However, widely spoken contact languages – creoles and dialects – have emerged. One example is Aboriginal English, which is a broad term used to describe the many varieties of English spoken by Aboriginal people across Australia. Another example is Kriol, which is a creole language spoken across northern Australia.
These contact languages are not always recognised as the full languages they are by some educators and society generally.
