Kala Lagaw Ya

Kala Lagaw Ya is a mixed language with a Pama-Nyungan base and Papuan and Austronesian overlays spoken by about 4,000 people on the Western and Central Torres Strait Islands between Papua New Guinea and the mainland of Australian. It is one of the few Australian languages with the sounds /s/ and /z/, and voiced-voiceless distinctions.

It has five slightly differing orthographies:

a) Mission/Cambridge Reports
a, ă, ā, b, d, dth, e, ĕ, ē, g, i, ĭ, ī, k, l , m, n, ng, o, ŏ, ō, ò, ö/ë/oe/œ, p/f, r, s/ch, t, th, u, ŭ, ū, w, y, z/j

Diphthong glides : -i, -u (ai, ei, òi, öi, ui; au, eu, iu, ou, öu)

b) Bani-Klokheid
a, aa, b, d, dh, e, ee, g, i, ii, k, l, m, n, ng, o, oo, oe, ooe, p, r, s, t, th, u, uu, w, y, z

Diphthong glides : -y, -w (ay, aay, ey, eey, oy, ooy, oey, ooey, uy, uuy; aw, aaw, ew, eew, iw, iiw, ow, oew, ooew)

c) KKY
a, b, d, dh, e, g, k, l, m, n, ng, o, oe (œ), p, r, s, t, th, u, w, y, z

Diphthong glides : -y, -w (ay, ey, oy, oey/œy, uy; aw, ew, iw, ow, oew/œw)

d) Mixed – a dominating tendency to use the KKY orthography, and to mark the glides as in the Mission script.

e) Manuscript Dictionary
a, á, b, d, dh, e, é, g, i, í, k, l, m, n, ng, o, ó, ò, œ, p, r, s, t, th, u, ù, ú, w, y, z

Diphthong glides : if phonological consonants - -y, -w; if phonological vowels - -i, -u

Kala Lagaw Ya pronunciation

Kala Lagaw Ya vowels

Vowel length is only overtly marked in two of the orthographies, and sporadically so in the others.

In long diphthongs the first vowel is pronounced long. Vowel length in diphthongs is only overtly marked in one of the orthographies, and sporadically so in the others.

Information compiled by Rod Mitchell

Sample text in Kala Lagaw Ya

Kulay daparaginga, nubi arkathagina, mura zaginga, kasa Awgadh meparuy. Awgadhan kulay dapar aymoedhin wagel nabi arkath, nabi arkath kulay kawaginga, a boeradharaginga, kasa malu. Senabi malu koey gubalnga na koey inuralnga. Wa Awgadhaw maygi mari nanga mulaydhin gimia, nuydh wayadhin nungu woenab nanga, Awgadh kedha mulaydhin, "Buya nagi". Kalanu buya mekath asidhin. Awgadhan imadin matha ngoedhagidh, kalanu dhadhia madhin, buya inurngu. Nuydh buya nel tharan goeyga, inur nel tharan kubil. Kubil nanga muasin nanga goeyga mangiz sena urapun goeyga.

Translation

In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The spirit of God was hovering over the water. Then God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light. God saw the light was good. So God separated the light from the darkness. God named the light "day", and the darkness he named "night". There was evening, then morning, the first day.

Source: http://www.language-museum.com/k/kala-lagaw-ya.htm