Aboriginal language maintenance: a path to better health

The University’s Mobile Language Team is working with remote Indigenous communities to enhance health through improved language translation.

Indigenous languages are disappearing globally at a rate we can’t ignore. The United Nations agrees, declaring this period “the International Decade of Indigenous Languages,” shining a spotlight on the critical state of many First Nations languages. Australia is bearing the brunt of this crisis: 90 percent of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are now considered endangered or extinct, and less than half used before colonisation are still spoken today. Worse yet, only six percent are “strong languages,” meaning they’re spoken across all generations. The loss of language can cause overt erasure of culture and ancestral connection––and also repercussive consequences, such as poorer health outcomes and reduced access to care.

Fortunately, University of Adelaide researchers are addressing this critical issue, with the University’s Mobile Language Team (MLT) working to preserve Aboriginal languages, generating rippling benefits throughout communities.

“Australia is the most dangerous continent for languages,” says Dr Paul Monaghan, MLT’s Manager and Senior Linguist.

“The weakening or outright loss of Indigenous languages is more severe in Australia than in any other continent in the world.”

One of MLT’s projects aimed at reversing this alarming trend is ‘Closing the Gap through Oral Hygiene and Language in Remote Australia.’ The project, which is closely aligned with the National Framework on Closing the Gap, includes a particular focus on how Aboriginal language use can play a role in improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander oral health. This focus is especially important given that Indigenous Australians are much less likely to receive preventative dental care than non-Indigenous Australians, and far more likely to have untreated dental disease.

Through their project in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Monaghan and fellow lead researchers Karina Lester, William Fisher and Emeritus Professor Peter Mühlhäusler––along with additional team members Uncle Trevor Buzzacott (OAM), Amelia Amos and Phoebe Leggett––identified a lack of Yankunytjatjara language resources to talk about oral health.

“In remote SA communities, oral hygiene education is often delivered in English, which can create additional barriers to understanding and engagement,” says Karina Lester, MLT’s Aboriginal Co-Manager and Senior Aboriginal Language Expert.

“This research seeks to close the gap by increasing the visibility of positive oral hygiene messaging in Yankunytjatjara, ensuring that oral health education is accessible, culturally relevant, and empowering for Aboriginal communities in the APY Lands.”

Officially launched in March 2025 in partnership with the Dental Hygienists Association of Australia and Nganampa Health Council, this initiative uses methods such as analysis of quantitative data on oral hygiene practices, qualitative research, and the application of linguistic theory.

A pilot program in 2022-24 presented oral hygiene workshops for children in the Indulkana and Mimili communities that used the Yankunytjatjara language and included storytelling, games and other fun activities. The project also features colourful artwork by an Indulkana artist, Kunmaṉara (Tiger) Yaltangki, which is used on promotional materials such as posters, T-shirts, magnets and stickers.

“Using the work of a local artist, who appeals to youth, to create messaging and the Yankunytjatjara language ensures that oral hygiene messages feel relevant”, Monaghan says.

He explains that the aim is to make oral health “a familiar and enjoyable part of daily Yankunytjatjara life, rather than something associated with outsiders, fear or obligation”.

Early feedback indicates that this approach improves children’s awareness of oral hygiene and increases the use of the Yankunytjatjara language.

This work exemplifies the cross-disciplinary benefits of the MLT’s mission, which encompasses many other initiatives. Other MLT projects include training for Aboriginal people to support community-led language revival, support for early-childhood Indigenous language literacy, and a program to increase the number of Indigenous language educators working in regional and remote SA schools.

“Through these projects, MLT plays a vital role in ensuring that Indigenous languages remain strong, accessible, and deeply embedded in the everyday lives of communities,” Lester says.

What’s next?

The research team will continue to track the ongoing impact of the oral hygiene project in Indulkana and Mimili. In the future, the approach could be applied in other remote communities in Australia to strengthen the language use, health literacy, and health outcomes in the area.

Monaghan says the research team also plans to explore how the same methods might help close the gap in other fields of health and wellbeing, as well as in areas such as education and criminal justice.

“There is an urgent need for further targeted linguistic research into these domains, and for integrating Indigenous languages into policy, services, and everyday life”.