Torres Strait Island languages
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There are two languages indigenous to Torres Strait Islanders. The language of the western and central islands of Torres Strait is related to languages of the Australian mainland and is a member of the Pama-Nyungan family of languages, which covers most of Australia. This language, like many others in the world, does not have its own name. Its four major dialects are: Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kalau Kawau Ya, Kulkalgau Ya and Kawalgau Ya (this latter also called Kowrareg). Kalaw Lagaw Ya is often called Kala Lagaw Ya in the literature due to a misunderstanding. The language of eastern Torres Strait is Meriam Mìr. This is a Papuan language and is related to the languages of the nearby coast of Papua New Guinea. Meriam Mir is the only Papuan language indigenous to Australia, and used to have two dialects, Erubim Mìr and Meriam Mir. Both languages are strictly speaking mixed languages, Kalaw Lagaw ya having strong Papuan influences, and Meriam Mìr having strong Kalaw Lagaw Ya influences. It is probably the case that Meriam Mìr settelrs 'overlaid' Kalaw lagaw ya speakers on the Eastern islands (these non-Meriam people who have always been resident on the Eastern Islands are called Nog Le 'Common People', Lawrie.[citation needed]
The four dialects of the Western-Central Language are very close to each other, somewhat like Standard American and Standard British English are to each other. Its vocabulary is potentially 80% non-Australian; the non-Australian content is mainly Papuan (Trans-Fly) and Austronesian (South-East Papuan)[citation needed]. It is an interesting language in having feminine and masculine gender, though no neuter gender [this is typical among Australian languages that have gender] - and the difference is semantically significant in that many words can be masculine or feminine according to basic reference or culturally significant reference. For example, za as masculine means 'an important topic/subject', and as feminine is 'thing, object'. Gœiga when masculine means 'sun', and when feminine means 'day'.
A third language of the Torres Straits is a creole that has developed over the last hundred or so years. This Torres Strait Creole is also known as Blaikman Tok, Broken/Brokan and Yumplatok. It has around five dialects, Papuan, Western-Central, Eastern, TI and Cape York.
The western-central language is an agglutinative language which however appears to be undergoing a transition into a declensional language[citation needed]. Meriam Mìr is also agglutinative; in its nominal declensional it shows similarity to Japanese in having postpositions rather than affixes. Brokan is a typical English Creole.
[edit] Examples
The table below shows how some example phrases differ in the western dialects Kalau Kawau Ya, Kawalgau Ya, Kalaw Lagaw Ya and Kulkalgau Ya, the eastern language Meriam Mìr, and the creole Brokan.
| English | I am an Islander | I go home/to the house |
|---|---|---|
| Kalau Kawau Ya | Ngai kawau mœbaig | Ngai lagapa |
| Kawalgau Ya | Ngai mudhapa/lagapa | |
| Kalaw Lagaw Ya | Ngay kaywaw mœbayg | Ngay mudhaka |
| Kulkalgau Ya | ||
| Meriam Mìr | Kaka kaur le | Ka meta ìm bakeamuda |
| Brokan | Ai ailan man | Ai go aus |
