Books by R. M. W. (La Trobe University Dixon

Aboriginal people have been in Australia for at least 40,000 years, speaking about 250 languages. Through examination of published and unpublished materials on each of the individual languages, Professor Dixon surveys the ways in which the languages vary typologically and presents a profile of this long-established linguistic area.

Professor Dixon challenges many of the views held by linguists, archaeologists and geneticists about the origins and development of human language, notably those concerning the usefulness of the 'family tree' model of language relationships and the speculation concerning the reconstruction of a 'proto-language'.