But the discovery of a new language in remote Australia is causing a ripple of excitement among linguists around the world.

Lajamanu, with a population of around 850, lies on the northern fringe of the Tanami Desert, 870 kilometres south of Darwin and 560kms southwest of Katherine by road.

It is one of the Northern Territory’s most westerly communities and its original language, Warlpiri, is spoken by about 6000 people in the region.

Carmel O’Shannesssy, a linguist from the University of Michigan, began visiting the town to study local young people’s speech more than a decade ago.

Lajamanu has no entirely paved roads and during the wet season it can be cut off.

A community-managed airline lands a plane on the town’s dirt airstrip twice a week carrying mail, and once a week a truck brings in supplies to stock Lajamanu’s one village store.

All residents speak traditional “strong” Warlpiri and some speak “Kriol”, an English-based creole developed in the late 19th century and widely spoken by indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Read more.

See: News.com.au

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