P3: Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin

AIATSIS code: 
P3
AIATSIS reference name: 
Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin

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Name
Thesaurus heading language
Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin language P3
Thesaurus heading people
ABN name
-
ABS name
-
Horton name
-
Ethnologue name
Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin
ISO 639-3 code
bpl
Tindale name
-
Tindale (1974)
O'Grady et al (1966)
Glottocode
broo1238
Other sources
Broom Creole, Koepang Talk, Malay Talk, Japanese Pidgin English [Ethnologue 15th ed.]
Synonyms
Broom Creole, Koepang Talk, Malay Talk, Japanese Pidgin English
Comment
Comments: 
According to Ethnologue (15th ed.), this is a Malay-based pidgin used as a lingua franca on pearling boats to communicate between Malays, Japanese, Chinese, and Aborigines around the north coast of Western Australia. Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin ceased to be spoken during the 1960s, along with the decline of the multiethnic workforce of the pearling industry (Hosokawa, 1987:288). A pidgin is not a full language, they arise between people from different language backgrounds in contact situations and are used in a restricted range of social contexts (MacGregor, 2004:45).
References: 
  • Hosokawa, Komei. 1987. Malay talk on boat: an account of Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin. In A world of language: papers presented to Professor S. A. Wurm on his 65th birthday, eds D. C. Laycock and Werner Winter, 287-296. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  • McGregor, William. 2004. The languages of the Kimberley, Western Australia. New York: RoutledgeCurzon.
  • Gordon, Raymond G. Jr ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, TX: SIL International.
Status: 
Confirmed
Location
State / Territory: 
WA
Location information: 

Broome, Lombardinie [Lombardina], Beagle Bay, La Grange, One Arm Point, Derby (Ethnologue 15th ed.)

Maps: 
-
Links

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DBPedia
Handbook of Kimberley Languages (1988): 

NYANGUMARTA (A61 ) in Handbook of Kimberley Languages (1988).

9.5 Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin

Names of the language and different spellings that have been used:
Broome creole (local name, also Horin), Japanese Pidgin English (Wurm & Hattori), Koepang talk (local name), Malay talk (local name).
Some Broome Aborigines believe Broome pearling lugger pidgin to be Japanese.
Classification of the language:
Malay based pidgin
Identification codes:
AIAS: (not included)
Oates 1973: (not included)
Capell: (not included)
Present number and distribution of speakers:
Broome, Lombardina, Beagle Bay, La Grange, One Arm Point, and Derby.
Hosokawa - 40 to 50, mostly Aborigines. However, in its heyday, from about 1910 into the 1940s, speakers numbered more than 1500, most of whom were Asians; Aboriginal users were probably always less than 300 (Komei Hosokawa pers.comm.).
People who have worked intensively on the language:
Komei Hosokawa, since early 1986, working mainly in Broome.
Practical orthography:
None
Word lists:
None
Textual material:
None
Grammar or sketch grammar:
None, although Hosokawa (1987) provides some grammatical information.
Material available on the language:
Dalton, P.R. 1964. Broome, a multiracial community: a study of social and cultural relationships in a town in the West Kimberleys, Western Australia. MA thesis, University of Western Australia.
Garwood, R. & Stuart, D. 1983. Broome: landscapes and people. Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press.
Horin, A. 1981. Broome: a melting pot in lotus-land. The National Times. September 27 - October 3, 1981.
Hosokawa, K. 1986. Two pidgin talks in Broome, WA. Handout for seminar given to Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, April 1986. 15pp. typescript.
_____ .1987. Malay talk on boat: an account of Broome pearling lugger pidgin. In Laycock, D. & Winter, V. (eds), A world of language: papers presented to Stephen Wurm. Canberra: PL, C-100. 287-296.
Language programme:
None
Language learning material:
None
Literacy material:
None

McGregor, William. 1988 Handbook of Kimberley Languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. © Author.

AIATSIS gratefully acknowledge William McGregor for permission to use his material in AUSTLANG.

Programs
Activities: 
-
People: 
-
Indigenous organisations: 
-
Speakers
Year Source Speaker numbers
1975Oates-
1984Senate-
1990Schmidt-
1996Census-
2001Census-
2004NILS1-
2005Estimate-
2006Census-
2011Census-
2014NILS2
2016Census-
2018-2019NILS3

Speaker numbers were measured differently across the censuses and various other sources listed in AUSTLANG. You are encouraged to refer to the sources.

Speaker numbers for ‘NILS 2004’ and ‘2005 estimate’ come from 'Table F.3: Numbers of speakers of Australian Indigenous languages (various surveys)' in 'Appendix F NILS endangerment and absolute number results' in McConvell, Marmion and McNicol 2005, pages 198-230 (PDF, 2.5MB).

Documentation
Type Documentation Status Documentation Score
Word list None 0
Text Collection None 0
Grammar None 0
Audio-visual None 0
Manuscript note: 
-
Grammar: 
-
Dictionary: 
-
Classification
Source Family Group Sub-group Name Relationship
Ethnologue (2005)       Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin  
Dixon (2002)          
Wurm (1994)          
Walsh (1981)          
Oates (1975)          
Wurm (1972)          
O'Grady, Voegelin and Voegelin (1966)