Torres Strait Island languages facts for kids

This map shows the languages spoken at home by Torres Strait Islanders.

The Torres Strait Islands are home to three main languages. Two of these are traditional languages, and one is an English-based creole. A creole is a language that develops from a mix of different languages.

The first traditional language is Kalaw Lagaw Ya. It is mostly spoken in the western and central islands. This language is part of the Pama–Nyungan languages family, which covers most of the Australian mainland.

The second traditional language is Meriam Mir. You will hear it mainly in the eastern islands. Meriam Mir is a Papuan language. It is related to languages spoken on the nearby coast of New Guinea. It is also the only Papuan language found in Australia.

Both Kalaw Lagaw Ya and Meriam Mir are agglutinative. This means they add many small parts to words to change their meaning. The third language is Yumplatok, also called Torres Strait Creole. It is a unique English creole from the Pacific region. It is the main language people use to communicate across the islands.

Kalaw Lagaw Ya: A Language of the West

Kalaw Lagaw Ya is spoken in the western and central Torres Strait Islands.

Kalaw Lagaw Ya is the language of the western and central Torres Strait Islands. It is connected to languages spoken on the Australian mainland. It belongs to the large Pama–Nyungan family. This family includes many languages across Australia.

This language is known by different names, depending on the area. Some of these names are Kalau Lagau Ya, Kalau Kawau Ya, Kulkalgau Ya, and Kaiwaligau Ya. The name Kaiwaligau Ya is also sometimes called Kowrareg. This name comes from an older dialect word meaning 'islander'. Today, it is officially known as Kalau Lagau Ya.

Learning Kalaw Lagaw Ya

Two main books describe the Kalaw Lagaw Ya language. They are Sydney Ray's "Linguistics" and Rod Mitchell's "Ngalmun Lagaw Yangukudu". Ray's book also has a list of words for both Mabuiag and Meriam Mir.

In the early 2000s, Ron Edwards published word lists from Sydney H. Ray. These are the only dictionaries available for people who want to learn or teach the Torres Strait languages. However, these dictionaries have some mistakes. It is best to use them with help from native speakers. They can point out errors and make corrections.

Kalaw Lagaw Ya Dialects

The four dialects of Kalau Lagaw Ya are very similar to each other. Think of it like the small differences between American and Australian English. About 80% of its words might not be from Australia. Many of these words come from Papuan languages or Austronesian languages.

This language is interesting because it uses masculine and feminine genders for words. It does not have a neutral gender. This is common in some Australian and nearby Papuan languages. The gender of a word can change its meaning. For example, za as masculine means 'an important topic'. As feminine, it means 'thing' or 'object'. Gœiga means 'sun' when masculine and 'day' when feminine.

Meriam Mir: The Eastern Language

Meriam Mir is spoken in the eastern Torres Strait Islands.

The language of the eastern Torres Strait is Meriam Mir. This is a Papuan language. It is related to languages spoken on the nearby coast of Papua New Guinea. Meriam Mir is special because it is the only Papuan language native to Australia. It used to have two dialects: Erubim Mir and Meriam Mir.

Both Meriam Mir and Kalaw Lagaw Ya are considered mixed languages. Meriam Mir has some influence from Australian languages and Kalaw Lagaw Ya. It also has words from Austronesian languages. It is thought that Meriam Mir speakers settled on the Eastern islands. They lived alongside the original Kalaw Lagaw Ya speakers. These original people are called Nog Le, which means 'Common People'.

Torres Strait Creole: The Island's Common Tongue

The third language of the Torres Strait is a creole. It grew from Torres Strait Pidgin English. This pidgin English started in the mid-1800s. The creole language began to form around the 1880s.

This Torres Strait Creole is also known by other names. These include Blaikman Tok, Broken or Brokan, and Yumplatok. It has five different dialects. These are Papuan, Western-Central, Eastern, TI, and Cape York.

Sign Language

People in the Torres Strait Islands also use sign language.

Both Kalaw Lagaw Ya and Meriam Mir have signed forms. This means there are ways to communicate using hand signs. However, these signed forms are not as fully developed as some other Australian Aboriginal sign languages.

Language Examples

This table shows how some common phrases are different in the Torres Strait languages and their dialects.