Connor Brown – Linguist

Download a guide to the east Kimberley Kriol writing system here!

Since 2020, I have been involved in the development of an orthography for some east Kimberley varieties of Kriol. This project emerged from a grassroots desire of Kriol speakers in the region to have a way of writing down Kriol that they felt best represented their linguistic practices and identities. This desire came epecially from Kriol speakers who were also heritage speakers of the non-Pama-Nyungan Jarrakan languages: Gajirrabeng, Gija and Miriwoong.

Over the course of four years, I, along with several other linguists and educators consulted widely with Gajirrabeng, Gija and Miriwoong speakers to find out how they think their way of speaking Kriol should be written. This resulted in the Jarragan/East Kimberley Kriol Orthography. Pictured below is the alphabet chart for this writing system.

Iris Menzies and I have written a guide on how to use the East Kimberley Kriol writing system which we published in 2023 through Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring language and culture centre.

If you or your community have questions about this writing system. Please contact me, or Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring.