Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and languages are strong, supported and flourishing.

By 2031, there is a sustained increase in number and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages being spoken.

The number and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages being spoken.

This measure is defined as:

a: The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages being spoken.

b: The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages categorised as strong.

National Agreement on Closing the Gap July 2020

6 March 2024

Target

A high or increasing number is desirable. An increase from the baseline year is an improvement.

Name: National Indigenous Languages Surveys (NILS) and the National Indigenous Language Report (NILR).

Frequency: Periodic. National Indigenous Languages Surveys are conducted at irregular intervals: NILS1 in 2004-05, NILS2 in 2014-15, and NILS3 in 2018-19 (revised data in the March 2024 dashboard update).

Documentation (links): https://aiatsis.gov.au/research/current-projects/third-national-indigenous-languages-survey

Provider name: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)

Provider area: Languages

2018-19

2030-31

State and territory and Australia, by number of languages spoken currently.

State and territory and Australia, by number of new languages spoken currently.

State and territory and Australia, by number of strong languages.

State and territory and Australia, by number of endangered languages (critically and severely endangered).

State and territory and Australia, by number of languages being revived/renewed/reawakened.

Counting rules

The NILS3 uses the following definitions:

Strong language: the language is used by all age groups, including all children, and people in all age groups are fluent speakers.

New language: Australian languages that have formed since 1788 from language contact between speakers of traditional languages with speakers of English and/or other languages.

Critically endangered: the language is used mostly by the great‑grandparental generation and older. Only people in the great‑grandparental generation and older may remember some of the language and may not use it very often.

Severely endangered: the language is mostly used by the grandparental generation and older. Only people in the grandparental generation and older may still understand the language.

There is no overlap between 'Endangered languages' categories. In the 2018-19 NILS, each language has been assigned to only one endangerment category based on two indicators: absolute numbers of speakers, and intergenerational transmission.

Traditional languages: the term used to refer to languages spoken by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people prior to colonisation, or the directly descended varieties spoken today. Individual traditional languages have individual names.

Languages being revived/revitalised/reawakened: The language has not been used as an everyday language for some time, but some people are now learning and speaking the language.

These definitions apply to each language nationally. It does not consider the relative strength within individual state and territories.

Disaggregations:

• State and territory is classified according to the ‘geographical location’ of each language, as recorded on the AustLang dataset. (AustLang is a thesaurus of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and peoples, maintained by AIATSIS.) The AustLang dataset records the state and/or territory of a language according to its cultural/historical location (using referenced sources). For further information see: https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/about. As the geographic location of some languages covers more than one state and/or territory, the sum of languages across states and territories, is greater than the national total.

Although best available data has been used to produce the baseline, there are several factors needed to be considered when interpreting the baseline:

• Each NILS has had slightly different objectives and therefore methodologies have differed. The methodology for future NILS may change, making it difficult to provide time series data.
• The term ‘languages’ usually refers to distinct systems of communication that are not mutually intelligible. Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages may be mutually intelligible but speakers prefer to describe them as different languages. For example, Western Desert Language includes Ngaanyatjarra and Pitjantjatjara, which are mutually intelligible, but speakers tend to refer to them as separate languages.
• Assessing and comparing proficiency of languages across the NILS series is difficult because of the use of different measures of proficiency.
• It can be difficult to grade the vitality of a language.
• There are complexities in arriving at precise numbers. NILS respondents self‑report, and various respondents for an individual language variety may have differing interpretations of survey questions, or may be considering differing criterion or measures in their response.
• NILS data may be affected by poor geographical and demographic coverage due to an inability to reach remote and rural areas, and an undercounting of children.

For ‘strong languages’ the NILR used survey data (NILS3) in combination with external sources of information to derive more accurate data.

Other limitations of the data gathered include:

• AIATSIS received responses for 141 language varieties. This means there are a number of language varieties with no data.
• AIATSIS did not receive a response for languages known to have many speakers. These languages include Anmatyerr, Burrara, Tiwi and Aboriginal English.
• In most cases, AIATSIS received one response per language variety. If there was more than one response, sometimes these answers conflicted. When this happened, the AIATSIS Languages team made an informed choice about which answers to accept.
• Respondents interpreted ‘fluency’ differently. The NILS3 survey tried to prevent this by giving definitions of fluency.
• Some respondents counted only 'full' speakers. Other respondents counted all 'full', 'part' and 'little' speakers.
• NILS3 only reported on spoken languages. It did not report on signed languages. There are many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sign languages.

For more information see: https://aiatsis.gov.au/third-national-indigenous-languages-survey-online/method-and-limitations

A fourth National Indigenous Languages Survey has been funded to be conducted by 2026.

Future reporting will seek to include the following additional disaggregations:

Languages by:

• Traditional languages and new languages (Kriol and Yumplatok/Torres Strait Creole)
• geographic area (remoteness where possible)
• gender
• age
• strength of languages (according to AIATSIS measures) including languages in the process of retrieval/revival.