Indigenous languages come from just one common ancestor, researchers say

Following years of discussion, researchers from Australia have said they have finally proven a theory that all Australian indigenous languages descend from one common language. After a three-year investigation, language experts from Western Sydney University and the University of Newcastle have come to this conclusion. Linguistics journal Diachronica has published its findings. Robert Mailhammer, Associate Professor of linguistics at Western Sydney University said there were about 250 indigenous languages spoken in Australia when Europeans settled there. “The main source of puzzlement was whether all of those languages came from the same source,” the professor said. “We were the first team to prove this with evidence.”

The language that gave birth to all of Australia's languages

Leading linguists have theorized for a long time that a language dubbed Proto-Australian is the mother of all indigenous Australian languages. These researchers looked into indigenous languages all over Australia, discovering thatthe pronunciations of words recurred with systematic disparities and resemblances. They also found that Proto-Australianwould have been spoken about 12,000 years ago, which means the indigenous languages recorded today are merely variants. “We believe that the language began spreading from the north of Australia, eventually pervading the continent in either one quick wave of proliferation or two smaller ones,” said Dr Mailhammer. “The question for us is, what made this language so special that it spread to supersede all others?”

Is it possible to emulate it?

Other experts in the field acknowledged the research, including Dr Ray Kelly from the University of Newcastle. Dr Kelly speaks Dunghutti – a language from the Macleay Valley area of Northern New South Wales. He is of the opinion that indigenous languages had always been viewed as individually isolated. “It was thought that these languages are distinct and did not communicate with each other, but no longer,” he said. Dr Kelly said the research might invigorate the slowly disappearing indigenous languages in modern times, as today’s generations may be able to regain their ancestral languages from the dialects of neighbouring regions. “Is it possible for the indigenous people of today to regain their old tongues? Perhaps we can learn and borrow from each other to repeat what we did thousands of years ago. This is our very own deep analysis,” he said. Researchers of the Australian Research Council project are wrapping up their findings with a book that compiles the sounds and structure of the Proto-Australian language.