Kalkaringi and Daguragu, Northern Territory, Australia
Native speakers
25 (2021 census)[1]
Language family
mixed Gurindji–Kriol
Writing system
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3
gjr
Glottolog
guri1249
Gurindji Kriol is a mixed language which is spoken by Gurindji people in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory (Australia). It is mostly spoken at Kalkaringi and Daguragu which are Aboriginal communities located on the traditional lands of the Gurindji. Related mixed varieties are spoken to the north by Ngarinyman and Bilinarra people at Yarralin and Pigeon Hole. These varieties are similar to Gurindji Kriol, but draw on Ngarinyman and Bilinarra which are closely related to Gurindji (Eastern Ngumpin languages).[2]
Gurindji Kriol emerged in the 1970s from pervasive code-switching practices. It combines the lexicon and structure of Gurindji and Kriol. Gurindji is a highly endangered language of the Ngumpin-Yapa subgroup (Pama-Nyungan family) and Kriol is an English-lexifier creole language spoken as a first language by most Aboriginal people across northern Australia (with the exception of Arnhem Land and Daly River area).
Gurindji Kriol exhibits a structural split between the noun phrase and verb phrase, with Gurindji contributing the noun structure including case-marking, and the verb structure including tense-aspect-mood (TAM) auxiliaries coming from Kriol. In this respect, Gurindji Kriol is classified as a verb-noun (V-N) mixed language. Other examples of V-N mixed languages include Michif and Light Warlpiri. The maintenance of Gurindji within the mixed language can be seen as the perpetuation of Aboriginal identity under massive and continuing cultural incursion.
Structural feature
Language of origin
Lexical feature
Language of origin
word order
Kriol
N-body parts
Gurindji
TAM auxiliaries
Kriol
N-colours
Kriol
verb suffixes
Kriol
N-artefacts
traditional (Gurindji),
new (Kriol)
case suffixes
Gurindji
N-people
Kriol/Gur
other noun suffixes
Gurindji
N-kin
parents and their siblings (Kriol),
siblings, grandparents,
in-laws (Gurindji)
negation
Kriol
N-food
Kriol/Gur
regular pronouns
Kriol/Gur
N-plants
Gurindji
emphatic pronouns
Gurindji
N-animals
Kriol/Gur
possessive pronouns
Gurindji
V-state
Kriol/Gur
interrogative pronouns
Kriol
V-motion
Gurindji
demonstratives
Kriol/Gur
V-bodily functions
Gurindji
conjunctions
Kriol/Gur
V-impact
Gurindji
interjections
Gurindji
V-basic
Kriol
determiners
Kriol
V-verbalising
Kriol/Gur
^Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021). "Cultural diversity: Census". Retrieved 13 October 2022.
^This page is based on Meakins 2012b
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