New language discovered in northern Australia

A new language, one that combines elements of English with traditional indigenous speech, has been discovered in northern Australia, according to a new study. The language, now known as Light Warlpiri, is spoken by approximately 600 people in aremote desert community about 400 miles from Katherine, a town located in Australia's Northern Territory, said Carmel O'Shannessy, a professor in the department of linguistics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. O'Shannessy documented the discovery of Light Warlpiri in a study published online today in the journal Language. Light Warlpiri is known as a "mixed language," because it blends elements from multiple languages: Traditional Warlpiri, which is spoken by about 6,000 people in indigenous communities scattered throughout the Tanami Desert in the NorthernTerritory; Kriol, an English-based Creole language spoken in various regions of Australia; and English. [ 10 Things That Make Humans Special] "The striking thing about LightWarlpiri is that most of the verbs come from English or Kriol, but most of the other grammatical elements in the sentence come from Warlpiri," O'Shannessy told LiveScience.