3 Data source All statistics are from the 1996 Census of Population and Housing unless otherwise referenced. Indigenous language - those languages which were spoken in Australia by the Indigenous population prior to European settlement. Dialect - a variety of a language, spoken in a particular area, or by a particular group. Pidgin - a limited form of language made up of words from various languages and with simplified grammar, used in restricted contexts such as trade transactions between groups of people who do not share a common language. Creole - a full language which develops from a pidgin, because people start to use the pidgin as a general means of communication, and children then grow up learning it as their first language.
Australian creoles combine characteristics of English, Indigenous languages and other languages.
Numbers of speakers and languages Languages or dialects can be maintained by very small groups of people. The small number of speakers of some Indigenous languages is not necessarily a result only of declining use. However, Indigenous people who speak Indigenous languages now have increased contact with speakers of other Indigenous languages, English and creoles. They are also exposed to English through the education system and the media. In this context, the maintenance of Indigenous languages with small numbers of speakers is more difficult.