Croker Island English

English spoken on Croker Island, Northern Territory, Australia is phenotypically similar to varieties of Australian Aboriginal English, though distinct on several features. It can be characterised as a high-contact L1, shaped by contact with Aboriginal languages, local creoles, varieties of English and pervasive multilingualism in the area. English on Croker Island shows such a high degree of intra and inter-speaker variability that calling it a “variety” is problematic. Rather, English is part of the multilingual repertoires of the inhabitants on Croker Island. These repertoires have not yet converged to a common variety, but they cohere through shared communicative interpretations. English was brought to Croker Island sometime in the 19th century. Today, it is the major language of schooling, and it is increasingly spoken in households, though Aboriginal languages are still dominant in terms of daily communication in the community.

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