Torres Strait islander everyday words
Source: State Library Queensland
With the NAIDOC 2017 theme of “Our Language Matters” State Library of Queensland has compiled a selection of everyday words from the Torres Strait.
These have been uploaded to the Indigenous Languages Webpages for access and use by schools, community members and other interested groups to celebrate the language diversity of the Torres Strait. Over 50 words from the two traditional languages of the Torres Strait – Kala Lagaw Ya and Meriam Mir as well as Torres Strait Creole.
Words on the list have been sourced from a range of items in the State Library collections, dating back to the 1840’s
There are two traditional languages of the Torres Strait Islands, Meriam Mir and Kala Lagaw Ya as well as Torres Strait Creole, a recently developed community language
Meriam Mir (also written as Miriam Mer) is the Language of the Eastern Islands of the Torres Strait. Linguistically, it is connected to the Papuan languages of the Austronesian family of languages.
Kala Lagaw Ya (also written as Kalaw Lagaw Ya) is the traditional language owned by the Western and Central islands of the Torres Strait.
Torres Strait Creole
The contact with missionaries and others since the 1800s has led to the development of Torres Strait Creole. It has developed from a Pidgin and now has its own distinctive sound system, grammar, vocabulary, usage and meaning. Torres Strait Creole (also known as Ailan Tok or Yumplatok) is spoken by most Torres Strait Islanders and is a mixture of Standard Australian English and traditional languages. It is an English-based creole; however each island has its’ own version of creole. Torres Strait Creole is also spoken on the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) following the movement of people to Seisia and Bamaga.
Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) is progressing language maintenance for the Torres Strait and has held two language symposiums in 2015 and 2017 to bring people together for consultation and planning. TSRA has recently launched their Traditional Languages Plan and Charter (2016-2019) as a first step to the development of a Torres Strait language centre. A number of language workers from the Torres Strait and mainland have also been actively involved in maintaining the traditional languages of the Torres Strait Islands.