Patterns in the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge: a case study from Arnhem Land, Australia

The loss of traditional ecological knowledge in endangered language communities is a cause of concern worldwide. Given the state of current knowledge, it is difficult to say whether language and TEK transmission levels are correlated, i.e. whether the erosion of one is accompanied by erosion of the other. This case study, focusing on a small Indigenous language from northern Australia, represents a first step towards a systematic investigation of this question.

Speakers of the language Kune (which is currently being transmitted to small children in the community) were asked to identify and name a number of common birds and plants known to occur on Kune traditional lands, through a series of audiovisual stimuli.

There was a weak correlation between speaker age and performance for the plant naming task, but not for the birds. Analysis of the ethnotaxa that were or were not named by individual participants showed that only a small number of plants and birds (approx. 13% and 7% respectively) were known to all participants, while many (approx. 30% and 26% respectively) could only be named by one participant, i.e. the oldest. Edible ethnotaxa were common among the plants and birds that could be named by many people. There was a tendency among younger speakers to use a single umbrella term to label similar-looking species from large genera, such as Acacia, whereas older people would have had distinct labels for each species.

Performance in the plant and bird naming tasks was lower than expected for a community where language transmission to younger generations is high. The loss of certain plant and bird names from the active lexicons of some younger Kune speakers may be due to lifestyle change, particularly in terms of food habits, or due to inter-individual differences in life histories. Differences between the transmission of plant and bird names may be due to more frequent interactions with edible plants, as compared to birds.