Name of variable
5. The standard name of the variable is Languages Spoken at Home.
Definition of variable
Nominal definition
6. Languages Spoken at Home is defined as the language or languages spoken by a person in his/her home, on a regular basis, to communicate with other residents of the home and regular visitors to the home.
7. Languages Spoken at Home is an attribute of the counting unit 'person'. That is, it is an attribute of an individual as opposed to a family or household.
Operational definition
8. Operationally, Languages Spoken at Home is defined as the language or languages reported by a person as being spoken in his/her home. There is no restriction on the number of languages reported by the respondent as being spoken in the home.
9. The issue of what constitutes a language is addressed in the Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL), Second Edition (ABS cat. no. 1267.0). Further references to ASCL in this standard are to the Second Edition unless otherwise stated.
Discussion of conceptual issues
10. Languages Spoken at Home identifies all languages spoken within the home. This variable provides data on the stock of languages spoken in Australian homes.
11. Related language variables such as First Language Spoken, Main Language Spoken at Home and Main Language Other Than English Spoken at Home are most commonly used in collections to measure aspects of Australian language usage. However, these variables only collect one language response which may not reflect complete language use. It is considered that Languages Spoken at Home should be used in preference to other language variables when the aim is to collect data on the stock of languages used in the home. In some cases, however, this measure may not reflect complete language use when, for example, only one language is spoken in the home but other languages are spoken outside the home, within a person's ethnic community group. It also does not tell you how often languages are used in a particular home and therefore may capture languages that are used infrequently.
12. The treatment of sign languages such as Auslan need to be considered when identifying languages spoken in the home. Individuals who use non-verbal forms of communication make up at least one per cent of the Australian population (see the 1993 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers). It should be noted that sign languages fall into two groups, signed English/finger spelling and other sign languages such as Auslan. Signed English/finger spelling is considered to be another form of English and is treated as such. Auslan is regarded as a distinct language and is treated as a language other than English.
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