Children's Language and Multilingualism: Indigenous Language Use at Home and School, edited by Jane Simpson and Gillian Wigglesworth, is a volume which should be of interest to researchers working in a number of research areas, not only the area of child language. The book contains thirteen chapters dealing with issues related to language use in indigenous Australian communities. Many deal with issues impacting the field of child language, such as the different languages children in one community may be exposed to, differences between home and school language, and the problems in assessing competency in the children's language. Others deal with topics of relevance to all indigenous communities today. These topics range from language maintenance and language planning to cultural differences between dominant and indigenous cultures in terms of child socialization practices, forms of literacy, attitudes toward multilingualism, and the relationship between language and identity. They all share a central focus on indigenous Australian speech communities and the contemporary realities of language endangerment and language shift which most, if not all, of them are dealing with.

The book is organized into four main sections: (1) language use at home; (2) language use in the context of school; (3) assessment of children's competence in traditional languages; and (4) traditional language use and the various trajectories of language change and shift in indigenous Australian communities. Although the editors state in the ‘Introduction’ that each chapter presents a case study approach to its particular issue, this reviewer would argue that the various approaches brought to bear on these overlapping and interdisciplinary issues extend well beyond case studies; they also include historical and ethnographic perspectives. In the following discussion the contributions within these four sections are considered in more depth.

The first section consists of four chapters dealing with preschool children's exposure to language(s) and their use in the context of home. Wigglesworth and Simpson's chapter begins with an overview of previous work on language acquisition in Aboriginal communities, most of which was conducted in the past two to three decades, when indigenous languages were more healthy. However, as these authors point out (as do several others in subsequent chapters), today the language landscape of many of these communities is typically more complex, consisting of at least one traditional language as well as either a local creole, or a new mixed language, or both, in addition to the standard Australian English of dominant cultural institutions such as the schools. Wigglesworth and Simpson focus on the input which children were found to receive between the ages of twelve months and two years between 2003 and 2006 in three indigenous communities, where multiple varieties are spoken. Their findings include the observations that the children in these three communities deal with much more complex input than children in aboriginal communities where traditional indigenous languages (TILs, such as Warlpiri) are more stable. For example, none of the children in the three communities studied were found to be receiving input from any TIL, but rather, input from a set of varieties ranging along a continuum, from a basilectal creole to a new mixed language, as well as Standard Australian English. Code-switching (and code-mixing) was also found to be common across these varieties, with little functional separation among them. Other chapters in the book echo these findings and complement them in various ways.

The next three chapters in this first section are by (i) Karin Moses and Colin Yallop, (ii) Samantha Disbray, and (iii) Ute Eickelkamp. The chapter by Moses and Yallop examines the use and types of questions used between four Aboriginal preschool children and their caregivers within one community (Yakanarra). The authors argue that, contrary to the findings of several earlier studies undertaken (for the most part in the 1980s), adults in their study did not use the types of questions typically associated with dominant European culture, such as ‘display’ and ‘why’ questions. Despite this fact, the children were comfortable with them and therefore should be prepared for and comfortable with their use in the context of formal schooling. Moses and Yallop argue that the reticence which the children display in school is due to their unfamiliarity with Standard English, rather than with the routine of questioning. They do not, however, acknowledge the possibility that the pragmatic norms for language use, including question-asking, may have changed since the 1980s, which seems, to this reviewer at least, to be a likely possibility as well; in other words, previous research findings from the 1980s which suggested that Aboriginal children do not answer questions because they are not accustomed to them was not ‘wrong’, rather, the pragmatics norms in this Aboriginal speech community may have changed over time. The next chapter, by Disbray, examining indigenous caregivers' storytelling styles (using books to read to their children), reports similar findings in that caregivers typically pose display questions to children as part of their literacy-based interactions, and evaluate their responses in a manner similar to that found in classrooms the world over. She reports that, especially with younger children, repetition by adult narrators is a key strategy for engaging them in the interaction, and she argues that this use of repetition to build elaboration in a story is a feature of Warumungu storytelling style in general. The last chapter in this section, by Eickelkamp, examines the contemporary impact of traditional sand-storytelling by girls in Central Australia. She discusses its importance as a form of child socialization and cultural identity which bridges the ‘Dreaming’ (ancestral culture) to contemporary themes. Today's young girls tell narratives revolving around the concrete events of their lives rather than reproducing traditional narratives. Adults and young girls alike view this traditional form of literacy as one which strengthens the mind as well as character. Eickelkamp also links it to traditional socialization norms, which privilege the autonomy of children.

The book's second section has three chapters dealing with the context of school (or rather, educational contexts, since the chapter by Elanor Reeders actually deals with traditional forms of education in an aboriginal community). Reeders' chapter focuses on traditional educational activities (gathering food, learning about medicinal plants, etc.) in the Yolngu community, where the TIL, Djambarrpuyngu, is still spoken to children. In line with the findings of Moses and Yallop, Reeders found that questioning in this context does happen, but that approximately 90 percent of questions asked were posed by children, not adults. Additionally, when questions were asked, they required only minimal responses, leaving extended responses the prerogative of the group of listeners; that is, questions are posed in such a way that potential responders may self-select. The implications of this interactional preference for aboriginal children in the context of school, where responses to questions are frequently forced via nomination by the teacher, are raised. Reeders also discusses the emphasis placed on collaboration and consensus in traditional education, rather than the transfer of specific content.

The chapter by Moses and Wigglesworth is based on a case study conducted in a Kriol-speaking community, and examines dysfunctional discourse within an English-only one-room community school. This chapter is particularly poignant as it illustrates quite clearly that the Standard Australian English spoken by their well-meaning but completely unprepared teacher is something the students are at a loss to deal with, resulting in communication breakdown and very little learning. The authors also discuss how the conversational norms regarding the use of silence as well as questioning and/or responding also differ, and the fact that aboriginal culture does not reward learners for ‘showing off’ in the way that dominant culture educational institutions typically encourage students to do. As the authors state: ‘in order to successfully participate, the children have to abandon the rules of language behavior by which they define themselves as Yolngu’ (p. 151).

The final chapter in this section, by Inge Kral and Elizabeth Marrkilyi Ellis, discusses language socialization and text-based literacy in a community undergoing language shift – the Ngaanyatjarra community, who have also had a long exposure to English literacy, which was introduced in the 1930s. The authors review a case study of children in a family where literacy is being modeled and taught inter-generationally, yet they suggest that this is not the norm for most aboriginal families, who have limited access to literacy resources outside of the community school.

The third section deals more with language development than socialization issues. The first chapter, by Caroline Jones and Joy Campbell Nangari, reviews the literature on ways to assess indigenous children's language ability. They suggest that the lack of standardized code may complicate the issue for evaluators, as well as the fact that there is a dearth of research on the subject of acquisition of polysynthetic languages. One useful reason for performing this kind of test, as they point out, is to identify children who might benefit from bilingual, especially immersion, instruction. The next chapter, by Judy Gould, discusses a methodology for use with aboriginal children who do speak Standard Australian English as a variety. Like the chapter by Jones and Campbell Nangari, it is also largely concerned with a review of culturally biased testing methods and warns of the dangers of misdiagnosing cultural differences in communicative style as a deficit or impairment of some sort. Gould devotes quite a bit of discussion to the topic of ‘shame’ in aboriginal culture, and how being singled out for special treatment may result in a feeling of ‘shame’ for aboriginal children, resulting in silence. She also describes how aboriginal children prefer to engage creatively and collaboratively in the retelling of a story rather than to simply retell it in the way expected by most Western evaluators, and she urges researchers to keep in mind that language is never separate from cultural norms for its use. The third chapter by Galloway, ‘Indigenous Children and Conductive Hearing Loss’, deals with the fact that hearing loss due to otitis media is a significant problem in many indigenous communities and is something to which teachers in aboriginal communities should be particularly alert.

The fourth section, consisting of three chapters, provides more of a macro perspective on the linguistic landscape of aboriginal Australia. The first, by Patrick McConvell, discusses the trajectories of language change and/or shift across Australia's aboriginal speech communities, and the language ecologies which result in either a new mixed language or, alternatively, a shift to a largely English-based creole. This chapter is also full of all kinds of interesting bits of information for researchers interested in the anthropological aspects of language shift and/or change, such as traditional connections between language and identity, patrilects and linguistic purism, but the limits of space preclude a detailed discussion of all the merits of this interesting chapter and it can only be highly recommended here. The chapter by Carmel O'Shannessy discusses language acquisition in the aboriginal community Lajamanu, where two varieties of Warlpiri are spoken – one the traditional language and one a new mixed language known as Light Warlpiri, as well as Australian English and Kriol. Code-switching between all of these varieties is typical in language input to children, and in her research O'Shannessy found that children are able to distinguish and switch between them without mixing them up. She notes that they typically do not produce Warlpiri until the age of four to six, which, as she states, is somewhat unusual for multilingual communities. She attributes this to the observation that children typically orient more toward their peers and parents, rather than older caregivers, as linguistic models. Evidence for this observation lies in the fact that although some children who spend most of their time up to the age of two or three predominately with older speakers of Warlpiri start out speaking Warlpiri, they switch to Light Warlpiri once they begin spending more time with other children in the community.

The last chapter of the book, by Meakins, also deals with multilingualism within a single community. She discusses the clear patterns of language use for the four distinct languages spoken: Gurindji, Warlpiri, Gurindji Kriol (spoken by youth) and Australian English, spoken in dominant culture institutions. Code-switching between all of these varieties is the norm. Meakins points out that this is an ancient practice, as in other aboriginal Australian speech communities.

Much of the research on child language is based on children in a dominant culture. This work provides a perspective about the language environment for children in non-dominant cultures. In addition, this volume is a welcome addition to the library of any researcher interested in language issues in indigenous communities.