Kalaw Lagaw Ya

Kalau Lagau Ya, Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kala Lagaw Ya, or the Western Torres Strait language is the language indigenous to the central and western Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia. On some islands, it has now largely been replaced by Torres Strait Creole.
Before colonization in the 1870s–1880s, the language was the major lingua franca of the Torres Strait cultural area of Northern Cape York Australia, Torres Strait and along the coast of the Western Province/Papua New Guinea. It is still fairly widely spoken by neighbouring Papuans and by some Aboriginal Australians. How many non-first language speakers it has is unknown. It also has a 'light' form, as well as a pidginised form. The simplified form is fairly prevalent on Badu and neighbouring Moa.

Names

The language is known by several names besides Kalaw Lagaw Ya, most of which are names of dialects, spelling variants, dialect variants and the like — and include translations of the English terms, Western Island Language and Central Island Language:

Language name	English	Notes
Kalaw Lagaw Ya / Kalau Lagau Ya / Kala Lagaw Ya Kalaw Kawaw Ya / Kalau Kawau Ya Kala Lagaw Langgus / Kala Lagau Langgus / Kalaw Lagaw Langgus / Kalau Lagau Langgus	Western Island Language
Lagaw Ya / Lagau Ya	Home Island Language
Langgus Linggo	Language, Lingo
Kaywalgaw Ya / Kaiwaligau Ya / Kawalgaw Ya	Islanders' Language
Kowrareg	Islander
Kulkalgau Ya	Blood-Peoples' Language	kulka 'blood' was an important Central Islands cult figure, and brother to Malo-Bumai of Mer.
Mabuiag/Mabuyag	Mabuiag Island and Badu Island
Westen West Torres Western Torres Strait	Western Torres Strait
Dhadhalagau Ya Sentral / Central Islands	Mid-Island, Central Island Language

One term used by Eastern Islanders and neighbouring Papuans for Kala Lagaw Ya is Yagar Yagar, from the word yagar, often used by Western and Central Islanders in speech to show a sympathetic or nostalgic frame of mind.
In literature on the language the abbreviations KLY, KKY, KulY, MY and KY are often used as abbreviations. The name Mabuiag, in English pronounced, is fairly widespread as a name for the language, this having been established by the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Strait, whose main research on the language was with Mabuiag material. Though the preferred term in English in Academia for some time was Kala Lagaw Ya, according to Ober, the form was always regarded as "colloquial" by native speakers. In a High Court decision on 7 August 2013, the decision was taken to officially term the language Kalau Lagau Ya, using the formal form.
When speaking to each other, speakers generally refer to the language as Langgus 'language' or use phrases such as KLY/KulY ngalpudh muli, MY-KY ngalpudh/ngalpadh muli, KKY ngalpadh muliz "speak our language", e.g. KLY/KulY ngalpudh muuli, thanamunungu tidailai!, MY-KY ngalpudh/ngalpadh muuli, thanamuningu tidailai!, KKY ngalpadh muli, thanamulngu tidaile! 'Speak in our language so they don't understand!'. Ngalpudh/ngalpadh literally means 'like us'. The construction X-dh mula+i- 'speak X-like' is used to refer to speaking in a language, e.g. KKY markaidh muliz 'speak English', zapanisadh muliz 'speak Japanese', dhaudhalgadh muliz 'speak Papuan', mœyamadh muliz 'speak Meriam Mìr', thanamudh muliz 'speak like them, speak their language'. It is otherwise common for speakers to use nominal phrases like KLY/KulY ngalpun ya, MY-KY ngalpun/ngalpan ya, KKY ngalpan ya 'our language' to refer to the language when speaking to each other.

Geographic distribution

Kalau Lagau Ya is spoken on the western and central islands of Torres Strait, between Papua New Guinea and the Australian mainland, though on some islands it has now been largely replaced by Brokan.
There is some folk history evidence that the language was spoken as a first language in a few villages neighbouring Torres Strait in Papua. It was also formerly spoken by the Hiámo of Daru to the north-east of Torres Strait, who were originally settlers from Yama in Torres Strait, Hiámu/Hiámo/Hiáma being a Kiwai pronunciation of Yama. The main body of the Hiámo moved to the Thursday Island group to escape the Kiwai colonisation of Daru some centuries ago.

Classification and external comparison

The language is classified as being part of the Pama–Nyungan languages. Mitchell regard it as a mixed language with an Australian core and Papuan and Austronesian overlays, while Capell and Dixon classify it among the Papuan languages. The personal pronouns are typically Australian, most kin terms are Papuan, and significant sea/canoe and agricultural vocabulary is Austronesian.
Kalaw Lagaw Ya has only 6% cognation with its closest Australian neighbour, Urradhi, with a further 5% 'common' vocabulary — and about 40% common vocabulary with its Papuan neighbour, Meriam Mìr. Of 279 Proto-Paman forms only 18.9% have definite realisations in Kalaw Lagaw Ya, with a further 2.5% which may be present. One word that illustrates the problems of 'may-be' relationship is kùlbai 'old', which may be a metathetic realisation of CA *bulgan 'big; old'. Potentially 80% of the vocabulary of the language is non-Australian, and includes Papuan and Austronesian items, as well as a significant body of words of unknown origin. Bouckaert, Bowern and Atkinson found that Kalaw Lagaw Ya had the highest number of 'unique' forms of any Australian language in their sample.

Australian	Papuan	Austronesian
nya-ga 'look' nagai-/nage-/nagi-* id.	nyily 'name' nel* id.	gamo 'belly' gamu* 'body'
jana 'they' thana* id.	p- 'that, there' pi-/pe-* 'specifically yonder'	aura 'trade wind, south-east trades' wœur* id.
ganyarra 'reptile' kœnara* 'k.o. tree snake'	gabo 'cold' gabu* id.	boro-ma 'pig' bùrùm* id.
galga 'spear' kœlak* id.	biro 'side' bero* 'rib; side of boat, hillside, river bank, etc.'	pui 'magic' puy* 'magic, plant'

Oral tradition and cultural evidence recorded by Haddon and Laade, backed by archaeological evidence and linguistic evidence, shows that Austronesian trade and settlement in South-West Papua, Torres Strait and Cape York occurred; the languages have significant Austronesian vocabulary content, including items such as the following:

Kalaw Lagaw Ya	meaning	Meriam Mìr	meaning	Bine	meaning	Proto-Oceanic Austronesian	meaning
maapu	heavy		id.	mæpu	id.	*mapa	id.
maalu	deep, deep water, sea, deep water beyond edge of reef~shallows	malo	id.	malu	id.	*mwaloq	submerged rock~reef
laba-	cut, hack, strike	---	---	---	---	*lapak	strike, slam something down, slap
wœiwi	mango	waiwi	id.	wiwi	id.	*waiwai	id.
waaku	mat; sail	papék	id.	waaku	id.	*paqu	id.
waaru	turtle		id.	waaru	id.	*ponu	id.

Some of the Austronesian content is clearly South-East Papuan Austronesian:

word	Kalaw Lagaw Ya	Gudang	Kiwai	Motu	Proto–SE Papuan	Proto-Oceanic
nacre, mother-of-pearl	maay	maari	mari	mairi	*mwai	?
outrigger	sayim OKY sařima	charima	sarima SE Kiwai harima	darima	*nsarima	*saRaman
pig	bùrùm	—	boroma	boroma	*boro-ma	*mporok
rope, cord	wœru KKY wœrukam	uuru	waro	varo	*waro	*waro
head, origin, base of tree, etc.	kuik KLY kuiiku	---	—	PCD *quiqui id.	*kulikuli	*kulukulu 'head-end, upper part'

The linguistic history of the Torres Strait area is complex, and interaction of well over 2500 years has led to many layers of relationship between the local languages, including many words that are obviously common, such as the following 'trade' words in Torres Strait area languages.

Kalaw Lagaw Ya	Meriam Mìr	Kiwai	Agöb	Gudang	Urradhi	Anguthimri	Mpakwithi
gii tusk, knife, tusk/knife-life formation	gir tusk/knife-life formation	giri tusk, knife, tusk/ knife-life formation	?	?	kiri/ghiri knife	kiri knife	kiri knife
sœguba tobacco	sogob tobacco	suguba tobacco	?	—	tyughubha tobacco	tyughubhu tobacco	?
yœuth long house, hall; church	ìut church	—	?	?	yutha house	—	—
mœruka any strange four-legged animal	—	—	?	?	murruku horse	?	marruku horse
mœrap bamboo	marep	marabo	?	marrapi	marrapi	?	marrapi
eso thanks	esoau	?	eso	?	?	?	?
paaudh peace	paud	?	piuda	paaudha	?	?	?
warup drum	warup	warupa	arapa	warrupa	arrupa	arrupa	arrupa
thuurik cutting tool	tulik	turika	turika Bine turi/turikæ	?	thurriya crowbar	thurriya crowbar	thurriya crowbar

However, the question of external relationships of Kalaw Lagaw Ya is also complicated by resemblances between both the Paman and the Trans-Fly languages. Though few, these may be significant, and include forms such as those noted below, not all of which appear in Kalaw Lagaw Ya. Such resemblances could point to a deep-level relationship dating back to before the flooding of Torres Strait at the end of the last age, as claimed by Mitchell or they could point to genetic inheritance and subsequent language contact, as discussed by Alpher, Bowern, and O'Grady 2009.

Proto-Paman	meaning	Proto-Trans-Fly	meaning	Kalaw Lagaw Ya	meaning
*kaalu	ear	*Vtkuru	hear	kaura; kùrusai-	ear
*ŋaa	who	*ŋana	id.	ngaa	id.
*mini	good	*mi:nji	id.	miina	real, true, very
anha Urradhi, Gudang	breath	*ŋana	id.	ngœna	id.
wintamwintama Urradhi	star	*mpintom	id.		id.
*nyupun	one	*ponV	id.	wœrapùn ùrapùn	id.
*pama	man, person	*pyama	id.		id.