The Languages of the Kimberley, Western Australia

Download or read book The Languages of the Kimberley, Western Australia written by William B. McGregor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Kimberley, the far north-west of Australia, is one of the most linguistically diverse regions of the continent. Some fifty-five Aboriginal languages belonging to five different families are spoken within its borders. Few of these languages are currently being passed on to children, most of whom speak Kriol (a new language that arose about half a century ago from an earlier Pidgin English) or Aboriginal English (a dialect of English) as their mother tongue and usual language of communication. This book describes the Aboriginal languages spoken today and in the recent past in this region.