No Sugar-Language

In the play “No Sugar”, Jack Davis uses language effectively with the clever use of techniques. The language is used by Davis to construct the characters and present the issues regarding the discrimination of aborigines during the Great Depression.

Davis uses a range of different types of languages techniques in the play “No Sugar”, which include the Nyoongah language, formal English, informal English, and tone to shape the readers response.

The native Nyoongah language is used frequently throughout the play by the aborigines to show their defiance and resilience to the white culture thrust upon them.

After being taken from their homes and put into settlements, the aborigines (in particular, the Millimurra family), use the Nyoongah language to rebel against the white people and to practice one of their few forms of power. “Koorawoorung! Nyoongahs corrobein’ to a wetjala’s brass band!” is an example of the Nyoongah language used by the character Sam (the father of the Millimurra family). The reader is encouraged by Davis to have a positive attitude towards the aborigines, as they are fighting for their cultural identity by incorporating their native tongue into the “Wetjala’s” or whites’ English language. This further reinforces the reader’s values towards cultural identity and negative attitude towards cultural discrimination.

The full use of the Nyoongah language in an entire sentence is used less frequently throughout play. This is to keep the reader interested and to not confuse the reader, which would result in them becoming distanced from the character.

Nyoongah language is also used as binary opposition of the aborigines from the white people. The Nyoongah language emphasises the segregation of the aborigines and white people through their culture, and not just their skin colour.

The use of Nyoongah language is also used to construct the aboriginal characters.

“Ay! You…dawarra you mirri up and get them clothes down the soak, go on!”

This excerpt from “No Sugar” shows the character Gran from the Millimurra family, demonstrating her authority in the family by calling her son Jimmy dawarra or bad mouth, while sorting out the clothes for washing. The reader is encouraged to view Gran in a positive light, as she contradicts the popular stereotype of aborigines swearing frequently, when she condemns the swearing of Jimmy. This also shows the reader for the first time to see Gran’s matriarchal characteristics in the Millimurra family. After Gran tells Jimmy to put his clothes down the soak, the stage direction describes that “Jimmy gets up, but can’t resist the final word”. This further suggests that Gran is a leader of the family because she is the eldest, and also suggests that Gran wins most arguments or debates. The reader values the elderly, thus we have a positive attitude towards Gran.

Similar to the movie “Rabbit Proof Fence”, which described the stolen generation of aboriginal children who were separated from their parents and sent to settlements, they also fought for their cultural identity. When two sisters and their cousin were sent to the Moore River settlement, they spoke in their native tongue of mantu wangka. Their dormitory boss however took away their cultural identity by telling them to “talk English” and telling them that “we don’t use that jabber here”. The viewer is positioned to have a negative attitude towards the dormitory boss as she challenges our existing values of equality and individuality. We, the viewer also see the irony of the aborigines act of 1905, which vowed to protect and assist in the “preservation and well-being of the aborigines”, when in reality they were literally beating the aborigine culture into extinction instead of preserving and protecting it.

Informal language is used in the play “No Sugar” through colloquialism, and swearing to construct the characters. It is also used to connect the reader to the characters as the reader can relate to the language used in our everyday life.

Davis uses Australian colloquial language through various characters to promote a positive response from the reader. We have