View source for Torres Strait English

{{Short description|Dialect spoken in Australia}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2008}}
{{IPA notice}}
'''Torres Strait English''' (called by its speakers '''T.I. English''')  is a [[dialect]] of the [[English language]] spoken by the people of various backgrounds (indigenous [[Torres Strait Islanders]], Malay, Filipino, European, Japanese, etc.) born and raised on [[Thursday Island]] and neighbouring islands in Torres Strait, North [[Queensland]], [[Australia]]. It is distinct from [[Torres Strait Creole]], though most locals speak both the creole and English. Quite a few locals are also speakers of [[General Australian English]].

Its main phonological characteristic is the retention of English {{IPA|[iː]}} and {{IPA|[uː]}} where Australian English has {{IPA|[əi]}} and {{IPA|[əu]}} (for example, wheel {{IPA|[ˈwiːl]}} rather than {{IPA|[ˈwəil]}}, fool {{IPA|[ˈfuːl]}} rather than {{IPA|[ˈfəul]}}), while where grammar and the like are concerned, Torres Strait English shows a certain amount of post-Creole characteristics, such as the phrase '''You for [adjective]''' (e.g. '''You for style!''') for the English '''You look/are really [adjective]''' ('''You are a real show-off!''', alt. '''You are real cool!'''), and the almost mandatory use of second personal pronouns in the imperative.  Other characteristics of T.I. English follow general non-standard dialects of English such as the use of ''done'' for ''did'', ''run'' for ''ran'', ''come'' for ''came'' (i.e. a four-way verb system of present-past-infinitive—ing-form for all verbs), and ''oncet'' for ''once''.  This is a [[rhotic and non-rhotic accents|non-rhotic accent]], like Australian and New Zealand dialects.

T.I. English is not a post-creole form, but rather an independent development from the English of the early European settlers, most of whom were from various parts of the world.  Relatively few were native-born White Australians.  The input dialects were British of various types including Irish, Jamaican and others.  Substratum languages include Malay, Japanese, Chinese, Jamaican Creole, Samoan, [[Brokan]] and so on.

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==Further reading==
*{{cite book |author=Shnukal, Anna |year=2001 |chapter=Torres Strait English |editor=David Blair |editor2= Peter Collins  |title=English in Australia |url=https://archive.org/details/englishaustralia00blai |url-access=limited |location=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins |pages=[https://archive.org/details/englishaustralia00blai/page/n187 181]–199 |isbn=90-272-4884-2  }} {{ISBN|1-55619-729-2}} (Philadelphia)

{{Languages of Australia}}
{{English dialects by continent}}
{{Torres Strait |state=autocollapse}}

[[Category:Australian English]]
[[Category:Culture of the Torres Strait Islands]]


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