Australia's Englishes, its indigenous, migrant and contact languages and wide-ranging language policies are well-known. Based on extensive research, Census and other data, this book develops a comprehensive and integrative approach to Australia's language habitat and the transformation of the indigenous habitats since colonization. Linking social history, linguistic development and political and educational perspectives of language policy and planning, it provides a succinct overview of this segment of Australia's many voices and shows how it relates to Australian English, the national language.

The book is both of interest for non-specialists with no background in linguistics and specialists from a wide range of language and policy disciplines. Both will find its discursive, non-technical style appealing.

Gerhard Leitner is Professor of English at the Free University, Berlin, Germany.