This is a sociolinguistic study of an Australian Aboriginal community of western Cape York
Peninsula, Queensland. Its initial chapter begins with a review of the theoretical literature
relevant to the construct of" linguistic community", discusses the Australianist debate over
the so-called" dialectal tribe" and surveys the literature on the Wik-speaking peoples. The
second chapter presents a description of ecology, subsistence, land tenure and
demography in the Cape Keerweer area. It is shown that a pattern of predominant dialectal …