Torres Strait Creole

A language of Australia

Ailan Tok, Ap-Ne-Ap, Big Thap, Blaik, Blaiman, Broken, Cape York Creole, Creole, Pizin, Tores Streit Yumplatok, Torres Strait Broken, Torres Strait Pidgin English, West Torres

Autonym

Yumplatok

User Population

6,170 (2016 census).

Location

Queensland state: Torres Strait Islands, towns on upper Cape York, some on north Queensland east coast.

Language Status

3 (Wider communication). Adopted as a de facto Torres Strait language between 1890 and 1940. Lingua franca of Torres Strait. Used as trade language, church language, and in other domains.

Classification

Creole, English based, Pacific

Dialects

None known. Lexical similarity: 80% with English.

Language Use

Used as L2 by Kala Lagaw Ya [mwp], Koko-Bera [kkp], Kunjen [kjn], Kuuku-Ya’u [kuy], Meriam Mir [ulk], Umpila [ump].

Language Development

NT: 2014.

Language Resources

OLAC resources in and about Torres Strait Creole

Writing

Latin script [Latn].