Gurindji Kriol: A Mixed Language Emerges from Code-switching

Abstract

1. IntroductionBakker (2003: 129) claims that ‘mixed languages’ do not arise from code-switching.The language spoken most frequently by Gurindji people between the ages of 3 andabout 45, termed ‘Gurindji Kriol’ here, is a counter-example to this generalization.This language is made up of elements of Kriol, an English based creole spoken acrossthe middle of the Northern Territory of Australia; and Gurindji, the traditionallanguage of a group in the west of this region (Dalton et al. 1995; McConvell 2002).The previous generation spoke both these languages fluently, but the most prevalenttype of speech involved intersentential and intrasentential code-switching. Whilechoice of language in code-switching among middle-aged and older people in the1970s