Some Linguistic Differences between Kunwinjku and English

Kunwinjku is the main Aboriginal language spoken in Oenpelli, Northern Territory. It is estimated that Kunwinjku is spoken by over 1,000 people; it is the lingua franca of Western Arnhem Land. The purpose of this paper is to outline the linguistic difficulties that Kunwinkju speakers face in learning English as a second language, and to suggest some teaching strategies that a teacher can adopt to help children overcome these.