Linguistic Minorities and Bilingual Communities: Australia

Abstract

Over the last few years many statements have been made indicating that a variety of groups and organizations recognize and support multilingualism and multiculturalism in Australia. It is less clear at a policy level, however, how these ‘;ism’ can or should be maintained. Smolicz (1983) has argued in a variety of forums that language is a ‘core’ value for many cultural groups. If language is lost or destroyed, these cultures become de-activated and form sub-cultural variants on the majority culture.