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SUMMARY:Traditional and Contemporary Torres Strait Languages and Dialects 
 - Tanisha Pabai\, Stephen Yamashita\, Zach Bani\, Amelia Mari and Valent K
 irk
DTSTART:20131113T171500Z
DTEND:20131113T190000Z
UID:TALK48667@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jussi Wikstrom
DESCRIPTION:The Torres Strait is situated in between the northern most par
 t of mainland Australia\, Cape York Peninsula\, and south of New Guinea. T
 here are 274 islands in the Torres Strait with only 17 inhabited. Torres S
 trait Islanders are one of two Indigenous peoples in Australia\, alongside
  of the Aboriginal Australians. The population of Islanders living in the 
 Torres Strait is at 6000 people whilst those that reside on the mainland n
 umber up to 42\, 000 people.  \n\nCulturally\, Torres Strait Islanders are
  of a Melanesian background but the culture has seen much influence from P
 acific Islander missionaries and the many other cultural groups that enter
 ed into the busy port in the 1800s (e.g. Japanese\, Malay\, Samoan\, Chine
 se etc) during the Pearling Era. Due to these influences\, a trade languag
 e was necessary to open up communication across cultural groups. This lang
 uage\, called Yumplatok\, was based on pacific Pidgin and is now the most 
 dominant language in the Torres Strait with 98% of school children speakin
 g this language as their first language. Through past government policies 
 that discouraged the speaking of traditional languages and the huge influe
 nce of large scale industries such as the pearling era\, the number of spe
 akers of the two traditional languages and the six traditional dialects ha
 s been largely diminished. \n\nToday\, the community is working hard in th
 e education sector and other government sectors to create programs that ai
 m to help Torres Strait Islanders practise\, preserve and maintain traditi
 onal languages. \n
LOCATION:Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies\, Room 7
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