Northern Territory Pidgin English

Last updated
North Territory Pidgin English
Ethnicity Aboriginal Australians, European Australians
Language codes
ISO 639-3

Northern Territory Pidgin English was an English-based pidgin language spoken in Northern Australia by Aboriginal Australians.

Contents

History

The predecessor to Northern Territory Pidgin English (NTPE) was another pidgin called Port Jackson Pidgin English (PJPE) was first attested in 1796 as being used by Aboriginal Australians and the British officials to communicate between each other in Port Jackson. [1] PJPE would evolve into NTPE and by 1908 NTPE would creolize into Australian Kriol. After the creolization not all speakers would switch and many continued to speak NTPE and NTPE would transition into Later Northern Territory Pidgin English (LNTPE). [2]

Morphology and Syntax

Pronouns [2]
SingularDualPlural
1st Personme/Iwewe
2nd Personyouyouyou
3rd Personhimall they/theyall they/they

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References

  1. Sharpe, Margaret C. (1985). AN AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE RESOURCE. pp. 178–179.
  2. 1 2 Harris, John W. NORTHERN TERRITORY PIDGINS AND THE ORIGIN OF KRIOL. The Australian National University. pp. 301–304, 322.