Everything about Torres Strait Creole totally explained
Torres Strait Creole (also
Torres Strait Pidgin, Torres Strait Brokan/Broken, Cape York Creole, Lockhart Creole, Papuan Pidgin English) is a
creole language spoken on several
Torres Strait Islands (
Queensland,
Australia), Northern Cape York and South-Western Coastal Papua. It has approximately 25 000
mother-tongue and bi/tri-lingual speakers and several second-language speakers. It is widely used as a language of trade and commerce. It has around five dialects: Papuan, Western-Central, TI, Eastern, and Cape York. Its main characteristics show that it's a Pacific Pidgin, however the future in
X [i] go VERB aligns it with Atlantic Creoles. Related languages are
Pijin of the
Solomon Islands,
Tok Pisin of
Papua New Guinea, and
Bislama of
Vanuatu. The other Creoles of Australia (Roper River Kriol etc.) are more distantly related, being descendants of the Pidgin English that developed in and around Sydney after the colonisation of Australia.
Records of a pidgin English being used in Torres Strait exist at least from the 1840s, and therefore Torres Strait Creole may very well by older than its sister languages, and not a descendant of any of these. The main importers of the pidgin were British and other sailors (some of whom were South Sea Islanders), and therefore Brokan has various characteristics of this strong British Sailor's Pidgin English influence. The main influences were Singapore Pidgin, Pacific Pidgin and Jamaican Creole.
Example text
Brokan i kriol langgus we i spikem lo dhem ailan blo Thoris Stret, lo noth-said blo Kep Yok, lo Sauth-Wes-said blo Papua. I gad samwe waze 25,000 pipol i sabe tokem waze namba-wan langgus, namba-tu langgus 'ne namba-thri langgus blo dhempla. Ol i yuzem lo plande ples waze langgus blo treiding an bai ol samthing. I gad paib kain Brokan: blo Papua, blo Westen-Sentral, blo Tiai, blo Esten, blo Kep Yok. Ol dhem thing blo em soe dhiskain po yumpla, waze em i pizin blo Pasipik, dhasol i gad thing we yumpla spik po taim we i kam, yumpla yuzi
X [i] go meke samthing, dhisan i gad rilesen lo Kriol blo Atlantic, blo Zameka.
Thri langgus we i semkain Brokan i Pijin blo Solomon Ailan, Tok Pisin blo Niu Gini, ane Bislama blo Banuatu.
Grammar
Personal Pronouns
Singular: 1st sub.
ai, non-sub.
mi; 2nd sub.
yu, non-sub.
yu; 3rd defining sub.
em, non-sub.
em; 3rd non-defining sub.
i, non-sub.
em
Dual: 1st
mitu; 1-2
yumi; 2nd
yutu; 3rd
dhemtu (variant non-sub.
-emtu)
Plural: 1st
mipla (dialect variant
wi); 1-2
yumpla (rhetorical variant
yumi); 2nd
yupla; 3rd defining
dhempla (variant non-sub.
-empla); 3rd non-dedfining sub.
ol, non-sub.
dhempla/-empla
Verb tense/aspect/mood
lugaut 'take care, beware' (der. from 'look out')
remote future
bambai X (i) go lugaut
near future
X (i) go lugaut
present
X (i) lugaut
recent past
X (i) zasnau (bin) lugaut
past
X (i) bin lugaut
completive past
X (i) pinis/oredi lugaut
habitual past
X (i) yustu bin lugaut
advice
X (i) sud lugaut
obligation
X (i) mas/aptu lugaut
dependent obligation
X (i) blo/spostu lugaut
continuative
X (i) matha go
multiplicative
X (i) go-go
lengthening
X (i) go go go goooo
simplicative
X (i) dhasol go,
X (i) matha dhasol go
ordinaritive
X (i) dhasol go,
X (i) kasa (dhasol) go
Vocabulary
The language has vocabulary from various sources, though the dominant source language is English.
Non-English words:
Kalaw Kawaw Ya:
yawo "goodbye",
matha "only/very",
mina "really/truly",
babuk "crosslegged"
Austronesian:
thalinga "ear",
bala "brother, male friend",
thabu "coconut toddy",
makan "eat",
dudu "sit",
kaikai "eat"
Portuguese:
pikinini "child"
Suau
:
puripuri "magic"
Further Information
Get more info on 'Torres Strait Creole'.
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