A new language has been discovered in a small outback Australian town.
The language, now known as Light Warlpir, is used in Lajamanu, a tiny desert community located half-way between Darwin and Alice Springs, on the edge of the Tanami Desert.
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All residents speak traditional 'strong' Warlpiri and some speak Kriol, an English-based creole developed in the late 19th century.
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Carmel O'Shannessy, a professor in the department of linguistics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor documented the discovery of Light Warlpiri, first discovered the language when she began working in a school in the Northern Territory where traditional Warlpiri was being taught to children.
She noticed that some of the students appeared to switch between several languages in conversation.
'After a while, I realised this switching took place in every sentence, and I decided to investigate it," O'Shannessy said.
'Once I recorded children speaking, I looked at the patterns and I could see that there were very striking systematic patterns. It was then that I realised this was a system of its own.'
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