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Article published In:
Australian Contact Languages
Edited by Carmel O'Shannessy, Denise Angelo and Jane Simpson
[Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 39:1] 2024
► pp. 125–148

Source language influences in the Australian mixed language, Light Warlpiri

| Australian National University
A mixed language is formed through the systematic combination of subsystems from two source languages (Bakker 2017: 219). Defining features include the social history of a language and the ways in which the source language components are distributed in the mixed language, showing significant amounts of lexicon and/or grammar from each source. Yet it is possible for a language of this type to also have identifiable influence from a third language, still showing a dichotomy of source in that the three sources can be categorised into two groups. The Australian mixed language, Light Warlpiri, shows evidence of contributions from Warlpiri, on the one hand, and Kriol and English on the other. Interestingly, the reflexive-reciprocal subsystem of Light Warlpiri shows clear influence of English, in contrast to that of Kriol. Subsystems can each operate somewhat independently of other subsystems in terms of which sources they draw on and how they do so.
Keywords: mixed language, Australia, Warlpiri, Light Warlpiri, Kriol, English
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Mixed languages
  • 3.Background to Light Warlpiri
  • 4.Features of the source languages
    • 4.1Warlpiri
      • 4.1.1The auxiliary and verb complex in Warlpiri
      • 4.1.2Warlpiri: Reflexives and reciprocals in the source languages
    • 4.2English
      • 4.2.1English: The auxiliary and verb complex
      • 4.2.2Reflexives and reciprocals in the source languages: English
    • 4.3Kriol
      • 4.3.1Kriol verb complex
      • 4.3.2Reflexives and reciprocals in the source languages: Kriol
    • 4.4Source languages: Summary
  • 5.Light Warlpiri: Distinctly identifiable influences of each of three sources
    • 5.1The auxiliary and verb complex in Light Warlpiri
    • 5.2Reflexives and reciprocals in Light Warlpiri
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 9 February 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.00131.osh
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