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'{{Languages of |country = Australia |official = N/A |main = [[Australian English]] (80%) |indigenous = [[Australian Aboriginal languages]], [[Tasmanian languages]], [[Torres Strait Island languages]] |minority = [[Mandarin Chinese]] (1.6%), [[Italian language|Italian]] (1.4%), [[Arabic language|Arabic]] (1.3%), [[Greek language|Greek]] (1.3%), [[Cantonese]] (1.2%) |sign = [[Auslan]]<br>[[Yolŋu Sign Language]] and other [[Aboriginal sign languages]] |keyboard = [[QWERTY]]<br/>[[Image:KB United States-NoAltGr.svg|200px]] AUSTRAILIAN IS NOT A LANGUAGE }} {{Culture of Australia}} [[Australia]] has no [[official language]], but is largely [[monoglottism|monolingual]] with [[English language|English]] being the ''[[de facto]]'' [[national language]]. [[Australian English]] has a distinctive accent and vocabulary. According to the 2011 census, 76.8% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 1.6%, Italian 1.4%, Arabic 1.3%, Cantonese 1.2% and Greek 1.2%.<ref>http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/0</ref> A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. It is believed that there were almost 400 Australian Aboriginal languages at the time of first European contact. Only about 70 of these languages have survived and all but 30 of these are now endangered. An indigenous language remains the main language for about 50,000 (0.25%) people. Australia has a sign language known as [[Auslan]], which is the main language of about 6,500 deaf people use. ==English== {{Main|Australian English}} Australian English (AuE, AusE, en-AU) is the form of the [[English language]] used in Australia. [[Australian English]] has a distinctive accent and vocabulary. {{Expand section|date=May 2013}} ==Indigenous languages== [[File:Australian Census 2011 demographic map - Australia by SLA - BCP field 2571 Speaks other language Australian Indigenous Languages Persons.svg|thumb|right|300px|People who speak Australian indigenous languages as a percentage of the population in Australia divided geographically by statistical local area, as of the 2011 census]] ===Australian Aboriginal languages=== {{Main|Indigenous Australian languages}} There were almost 400 languages spoken by [[Indigenous Australians]] prior to the arrival of Europeans. Most of these are now either [[language death|extinct or moribund]], with only about fifteen languages still being spoken among all age groups of the relevant tribes.<ref>McConvell, P. & N.Thieberger. 2001. State of Indigenous Language Report. http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/2001/publications/technical/indigenous-languages.html</ref> The Aboriginal languages with the most speakers today are [[Arrernte language|Arrernte]], [[Kala Lagaw Ya]], [[Tiwi language|Tiwi]], [[Walmajarri language|Walmajarri]], [[Warlpiri language|Warlpiri]], and the [[Western Desert language]]. ===Tasmanian languages=== {{Main|Tasmanian languages}} All the indigenous languages of [[Tasmania]] are extinct today, and little reliable information about them was recorded. ===Torres Strait languages=== {{Main|Torres Strait Island languages}} Two languages are spoken on the islands of the [[Torres Strait]], within Australian territory, by the Melanesian inhabitants of the area: [[Kala Lagaw Ya]] and [[Meriam Mir language|Meriam Mir]]. Meriam Mir is a [[Papuan languages|Papuan language]], while Kala Lagaw Ya is an Australian language. ==Pidgins and creoles== Two English-based [[creole language|creole]]s have arisen in Australia after European contact: [[Australian Kriol language|Kriol]] and [[Torres Strait Creole]]. Kriol is spoken in the [[Northern Territory]], and Torres Strait Creole in [[Queensland]]. [[Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin]] was a [[pidgin]] used as a [[lingua franca]] between [[Malay race|Malays]], [[Japanese people|Japanese]], [[Viet Nam|Vietnamese]], [[Torres Strait Islanders]] and [[Australian Aborigines|Aborigines]] on [[pearl hunting|pearling]] boats. ==Other minority languages== [[Image:Sydney language groups.png|right|400px|right|thumb|Sydney areas where significant population of Chinese (red), Vietnamese (yellow), Arabic (dark green), Greek (light blue), Turkish (brown), Serbian (light green) and Korean (pink) speakers live]] [[Image:Melbourne language groups.png|right|400px|right|thumb|Melbourne areas where Chinese (red), Vietnamese (yellow), Arabic (dark green), Macedonian (orange), Turkish (brown), Italian (light green) and Maltese (pink) are predominantly spoken]] Collection districts in Sydney, Australia, denoting languages other than English most spoken at home according to the 2006 Census, including Chinese (red), Arabic (dark green), Turkish (brown), Italian (light green), Vietnamese (yellow), Greek (light blue) and Maltese (pink) In the 2001 census, 2,843,851 Australians reported speaking a language other than English at home, including 50,978 speakers of Indigenous languages. Other languages were: {| | {| class="wikitable" ! [[Chinese language|Chinese]] (all): |style="text-align: right;"| 371,357 |- ! Other or unspecified: |style="text-align: right;"| 363,062 |- ! [[Italian language|Italian]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 316,890 |- ! [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 278,236 |- ! [[Greek language|Greek]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 252,220 |- ! [[Yue Chinese|Cantonese]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 244,553 |- ! [[Arabic language|Arabic]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 243,662 |- ! [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 220,601 |- ! [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 95,365 (2006) |- ! [[French language|French]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 93,593 |- ! [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 78,878 |- ! [[German language|German]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 76,443 |} | {| class="wikitable" ! [[Serbian language|Serbian]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 67,836 |- ! [[Croatian language|Croatian]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 63,611 |- ! [[Polish language|Polish]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 53,387 |- ! [[Turkish language|Turkish]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 50,693 |- ! [[Hindi language|Hindi]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 47,817 |- ! [[Maltese language|Maltese]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 41,393 |- ! [[Dutch language|Dutch]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 40,188 |- ! [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] ([[Filipino language|Filipino]]): |style="text-align: right;"| 39,643 |- ! [[Korean language|Korean]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 39,529 |- ! [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 38,724 |} | {| class="wikitable" ! Other [[varieties of Chinese]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 36,764 |- ! [[Nepali language|Nepali]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 37,000 |- ! [[Russian language|Russian]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 36,501 |- ! [[Japanese language|Japanese]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 35,111 |- ! [[Persian language|Persian]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 25,238 |- ! [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 24,485 |- ! [[Tamil language|Tamil]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 24,074 |- ! [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 23,688 |- ! [[Samoan language|Samoan]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 22,711 |- ! [[Sinhalese language|Sinhalese]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 20,600 |- ! Unspecified [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]]: |style="text-align: right;"| 14,606 |} |} Other languages spoken in Australia, according to [[Ethnologue]], include [[Adyghe language|Adyghe]], [[Afrikaans language|Afrikaans]] (12,655 speakers), [[Basque language|Basque]], [[Western Cham]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Fijian Hindustani]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Indo-Portuguese language|Indo-Portuguese]], [[Northern Kurdish]] (11,000 speakers), [[Cham language|Cham]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]] (25,000 speakers), [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] (10,000 speakers), [[Cocos Islands Malay]], [[Mambae language|Mambae]], [[Assyrian Neo-Aramaic]] (30,000 speakers), [[Chaldean Neo-Aramaic]], [[Nung language (Sino-Tibetan)|Nung]], [[Piemontese language|Piemontese]], [[Pukapuka language|Pukapuka]] (140 speakers), [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Traveller Scottish]], [[Senaya language|Senaya]], [[Slovene language|Slovene]], [[Sylheti language|Sylheti]], [[Tai Dam language|Tai Dam]], [[Tongan language|Tongan]], [[Turoyo language|Turoyo]] (2,000 speakers), [[Unserdeutsch]], [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]], [[Northern Uzbek]], [[Welsh language|Welsh]] and [[Yiddish language|Eastern Yiddish]]. There is also the developing [[Italo-Australian Dialect]] that isn't officially recognised by the Australian government but has been noted by linguists throughout [[Italy]] and [[Australia]]; the number of speakers is unknown. ==Recent census history== According to the 2011 census, 76.8% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 1.6%, Italian 1.4%, Arabic 1.3%, Cantonese 1.2% and Greek 1.2%.<ref>http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/0</ref> According to the 2006 census, close to 79 per cent of Australia’s population spoke only English at home. The three most common languages other than English were Italian (accounting for 1.6 per cent of the population), Greek (1.3 per cent) and Cantonese (1.2 per cent).<ref>http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/4a256353001af3ed4b2562bb00121564/b554a65c14112402ca25784500118462!OpenDocument</ref> According to the 2001 census, English was the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home were Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%), Vietnamese (1.7%) and Greek (1.4%). ==See also== [[Diminutives in Australian English]] ==References== {{Reflist|2}} ==External links== {{commons category|Languages of Australia}} * [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=AU Ethnologue report for Australia] * [http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au Census Data (Australian government)] {{Australia topics}} {{Languages of Australia}} {{Oceania topic|Languages of}} [[Category:Languages of Australia| ]] [[Category:Australian culture]] [[an:Luengas australianas]] [[ca:Llengües australianes]] [[de:Australische Sprachen]] [[eo:Aŭstralia lingvaro]] [[la:Linguae Australianae]] [[hu:Ausztráliai nyelvek]] [[no:Australske språk]] [[nn:Australske språk]] [[pl:Języki australijskie]] [[sv:Australiska språk]] [[uk:Австралійські мови]]'