Australian Kriol

Australian Kriol also known as Roper River Kriol, Fitzroy Valley Kriol, Northern Australian Creole or Aboriginal English^[4] is an English-based creole language that developed from a pidgin used initially in the region of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia, in the early days of European colonisation. Later, it was spoken by groups further west and north. The pidgin died out in most parts of the country, except in the Northern Territory, where the contact between European settlers, Chinese people and other Asian groups, and the Aboriginal Australians in the northern regions has maintained a vibrant use of the language, which is spoken by about 30,000 people. Despite its similarities to English in vocabulary, it has a distinct syntactic structure and grammar. It is a language in its own right and is distinct from Torres Strait Creole.

The first records of the progenitor to Kriol, a pidgin called Port Jackson Pidgin English are found from the 1780s with the pidgin being used for communication between the white settlers around Port Jackson and the local indigenous population.^[5] European settlement in the Northern Territory was attempted over a period of about forty years. Settlement finally succeeded in 1870 with the founding of Darwin, and an influx of both English and Chinese speakers followed. To communicate between both groups and the local Aboriginal people, pidgins developed throughout the territory based on Port Jackson Pidgin English (PJPE). By 1900 PJPE had developed into Northern Territory Pidgin English (NTPE) was widespread and well understood. Then by 1908 NTPE would creolize into Australian Kriol.^[6] This process of creolization was entailed a massive increase in the lexicon as well as a complexification of the grammar of the language. Not all speakers of NTPE would switch over though as many after 1908 continued to speak NTPE.^[7]

It creolized first in the Roper River Mission (Ngukurr), where cattle stations were established and a township developed.

During that period, relations between the native Australians and Europeans were strained and often violent. Aboriginal people fiercely defended their lands. However, the control of lands was eventually seized by the settlers, when a cattle company acquired much of the area. The settlers became more determined to take full control of the land from the native people and carried out a campaign to do so.

The resettlements and land seizures nearly annihilated the indigenous population was a major factor in the development of the creole, as it created drastic social change.

Another factor in the development of Kriol was the establishment of a community of Anglican missionaries in the Roper River region in 1908. That brought together around 200 people from eight different aboriginal ethnic groups, who spoke different native languages, Although adult members of these groups were multilingual because of frequent meetings and ceremonies. Children from these groups were educated in English, necessitating use of a lingua franca. Children from these communities disseminated English features throughout their communities.

Although the relations between the missionaries and Aboriginal people were friendly, the missionaries were not responsible for the development of Kriol. In fact, they tried to introduce Standard English as the official language for the mission, which the Aboriginal children used in class and with the missionaries, but Kriol still flourished.

Kriol was not recognized as a language until the 1970s, as it was regarded as a dialect of English.

In her first speech in April 2013, Josie Farrer spoke in both Kriol and Gija, marking the first ever use of an indigenous language in the Western Australian Parliament.^[8]

As a general rule the grammar of Kriol is a simplified version of that found in English. Meaning that it is analytic with words generally having only one form and additional meaning derived not from changing words but from word order and added new words.^[9]

Kriol uses an SVO word order exclusively. In Kriol the order of possessor and possessum varies with it being evenly split between possessor possessum and possessum possessor. In Kriol word order is evenly split between Verb object adverb and Adverb verb object.^[9] Word order is used over inflections or subject object affixation or verbs to specify meaning.^[10]

Kriol pronouns differentiate between different between first, second and third person, as well as between singular, plural, and dual plural inclusive and exclusive pronouns first person. The language also differentiates between Subject, Object, Independent Pronoun, and Adnominal Possessive. There are also Reflexive and Reciprocal pronouns.^[11]

^[7]

In Australian Kriol many spatial words from English have been transformed into suffixes attached to verb they interact with. The specific suffixes vary between dialects but remain mostly similar.^[9]

Austral Kriol also has 5 dipthongs: /ei/, /ai/, /ou/, /oi/, and /au/.^[11]

The Kriol alphabet is based on the English Alphabet but varies not only in what letters and digraphs are used but also in the rules for said letters and digraphs. Each phoneme in Kriol can only be made with one letter, unlike in English orthography where several different spellings can be used to make the same sound. Kriol, unlike English, also uses a Phonetic Orthography in which words are spelled to match how they sound.^[12]

The Kriol alphabet contains 21 letters 11 consonant digraphs 5 Vowel digraphs and 5 punctuation marks.^[12]

Letters: A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, Q, R, S, T, U, W, Y

Consonant Digraphs: Ly, Ng, Ny, Rd, Rl, Rn, Rr, Rt, Sh, Th, Tj

Vowel Digraphs: Ai, Au, Ei, Oi, Ou

Punctuation Marks: Period (.), Comma (,), Question mark (?), Exclamation mark (!), Quotation marks (" ")

Dialects of Kriol include Roper River Kriol (Roper River Pidgin), Bamyili Creole (from the Barunga area), Barkly Kriol, Fitzroy Valley Kriol, and Daly River Kriol.^[2] Of the various dialects those spoken in the Roper River and Barunga area are best documented.^[13] Kriol also varies on an acrolectic spectrum of dialects which are more similar to Australian Aboriginal English and those which differ more from it. More divergent dialects referred to as Heavy Kriol have more words from Australian Aboriginal languages as well as more divergent word order and a more divergent phonology. Less divergent dialects referred to as Light Kriol have more English suffixes, a less divergent phonology, and more English words as opposed to Aboriginal ones.^[14]

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Kriol is very widely spoken in the Katherine area, but there are minor differences between the varieties of Kriol spoken in particular areas. Some speakers of Kriol prefer to refer to their language by their unique name. However, the varieties are quite similar.

The differences are not actually that large. Mari Rhydwen compares the distinction to the distinction between American and British English.

Roper River (Ngukurr) Kriol is also spoken in Barunga, and in the Daly River area, a mutually-intelligible variety is spoken, but Daly River speakers do not consider themselves to be Kriol speakers. There is the question of whether the varieties should be understood as different forms of Kriol to strengthen the identities of the respective regions, or they all should be seen as Kriol and potentially have a better chance of funding for bilingual education programs.

There is also a creole language based off a mix of Kriol and Gurindji called Gurndji Creole which was formed by pervasive code switching between Kriol and Gurnidji by Gurnidji inhabitants of Victoria River District.^[15] There is another Creole language called Light Warlpiri formed by rapid code-switching between Kriol, English, and Warlpiri by the inhabitants of the town of Lajamanu.^[16]

The primary contributing language of Kriol is English but it has received and continues to receive influence from: Chinese Pidgin English, Alawa, Marra, Ngalakgan, Wandarrang, Mangarrayi, Ngandi, Nunggubuyu, Jawoyn, Dalabon, Rembarrnga, Barunga, Jaminjung, Ngarinyman, Wardaman, Walmatjari, Djaru, Miriwoong, and Gija.^[11]

The Kriol language unlike many other aboriginal languages is healthy with most of its speakers under the age of 30. 99% of Kriol speakers are Australian Aboriginals with only 0.8% being part of other groups. This shows that Kriol is an insider language only used within a community. Kriol speakers mainly use the language orally with there being low literacy rates. Though there are groups and initiatives working to increase the usage of Kriol literacy and usage in media by teaching Kriol literacy, creating new works in Kriol, and translating pre existing works into Kriol.^[17][18]

There are various views and opinions on the Kriol language. Some deny that it is even its own language simply referring to it as English or insisting those who speak Kriol are just speaking English poorly. Others view the language as a threat because it encroaches on other older aboriginal languages. While some take pride in it and try to support it. Government support for Kriol is limited with there being only two bilingual language programs in Barunga and Ngukurr though the one in Barunga has closed though they both have successfully included Kriol as both a medium and an object of study.^[18][17][19]

Many famous pieces of media such Shakespeare and Waltzing Matilda have been translated into Kriol and many books have been published in Kriol, ABC and several other organizations currently make news in Kriol. Online there are several videos and texts available in Kriol, as well as resources for learning the language. There is also currently an Australian Kriol Wik.ipedia.Pro currently on the Wikimedia Incubator.

On 5 May 2007, the first complete edition of the Bible in the Kriol language was launched at Katherine in the Northern Territory. Translation took over 29 years. It was undertaken by a team of native Kriol speakers led by Rev. Canon Gumbuli Wurrumara and specialists from the Society for Australian Indigenous Languages.

The Kriol Bible is the first complete edition of the Bible in any Indigenous Australian language. The publication was a joint venture of The Bible Society, Lutheran Bible Translators, The Church Missionary Society, the Anglican church, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and the Australian Society of Indigenous Languages.^[20]

• Harris, John (1993) "Losing and gaining a language: the story of Kriol in the Northern Territory" in Walsh, M and Yallop, C (eds), Language and Culture in Aboriginal Australia, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.

• Meigim Kriol Strongbala Bilingual Kriol-English website providing news and information on Kriol.
• Ngukurr Community site for the main Aboriginal Community producing Kriol language materials.
• Kriol language resources
• Kriol-English Dictionary Retrieved 25 December 2014.
• Crittenden, Stephen (2 May 2007). "First complete Bible translation in an indigenous language". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
• The Kriol Bible, full text Retrieved 13 January 2020.
• Kriol materials from the Barunga bilingual program at the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages
• Roper Gulf Regional Council Retrieved 25 December 2014.