Torres Strait Creole

Torres Strait Creole
Yumplatok
RegionAustralia
Papua New Guinea
Native speakers
7,800 (2021 census)[1]
20,000–30,000 according to linguists[2][3]
English Creole
  • Pacific
    • Torres Strait Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3tcs
Glottologtorr1261
AIATSIS[4]P2
ELPTorres Strait Creole
Linguasphere52-ABB-cb (varieties:
52-ABB-cba to -cbd)
IETFtcs-AU (Australia)
tcs-PG (Papua New Guinea)
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Languages used at home by Torres Strait Islanders in localities with significant share of Torres Strait islander population.[5]

Torres Strait Creole (Torres Strait Creole: Yumplatok), also known as Torres Strait Pidgin, Brokan/Broken, Cape York Creole, Lockhart Creole, Kriol, Papuan, Broken English, Blaikman, Big Thap, Pizin, and Ailan Tok,[6] is an English-based creole language (a variety of Pidgin English) spoken on several Torres Strait Islands of Queensland, Australia; Northern Cape York; and south-western coastal Papua New Guinea (PNG).

It has an estimated 20,000–30,000 mother-tongue and bi/tri-lingual speakers.[7] It is widely used as a language of trade and commerce.

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census". Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  2. ^ "1301.0 – Year Book Australia, 2009–10". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  3. ^ Marmion, Doug; Obata, Kazuko; Troy, Jakelin (2014). Community, identity, wellbeing: The report of the Second National Indigenous Languages Survey (PDF) (Report). AIATSIS. ISBN 9781922102249. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. ^ P2 Torres Strait Creole at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  5. ^ ""2021 Census – Cultural Diversity, 2021, TableBuilder"". Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
  6. ^ Tryon, Darrell T.; Charpentier, Jean-Michel (2004). Pacific Pidgins and Creoles. Berlin: Die Deutsche Bibliothek. p. 16. ISBN 3-11-016998-3.
  7. ^ Crump, Des (14 December 2020). "Language of the Week: Week Twenty-Nine - Torres Strait Creole". State Library Of Queensland. Retrieved 30 November 2023.