to an Australian language with a Papuan-Austronesian admixture. Kalaw Lagaw Ya is thus a mixed language in that a significant part of its lexicon, phonology and grammar is not Australian in origin. The core nominal, pronominal and verb morphology is Australian in both form and grammar — though a certain amount of the grammar is common to Trans-Fly and Paman languages in the first place. Some semantic categories, verb number morphology, and some other morphology are non-Australian in origin. Potentially 80% of its vocabulary is non-Australian. The interplay of the above within the subsystems of Kalaw Lagaw Ya lexicon, phonology and grammar points more to mixing through shift and borrowing rather than pidginisation and creolisation. Outside influences The language also has some vocabulary from languages outside the Torres Strait area, from the Indonesian, Malay, Philippine, English and other 'outsiders'. Where loan words from the Western Austronesian (Indonesian, etc.) loans are concerned, it is possible that some such came into the language in pre-European contact days, with the Makassans and similar fishermen/traders who visited northern Australia and Torres Strait. Examples of post-European contact Western Austronesian loan words: Some words in the language, assuming that they are Western Austronesian loans, appear to be pre-contact words. This is suggested by form and use in the language and in neighbouring languages (some of these words may ultimately be from Arabic and Sanskrit). Loans from modern Eastern Austronesian (Polynesian and Melanesian) into the language are mainly of religious or 'academic' use. In general, such words are terms for objects that are strictly speaking European goods. One exception is the last in the following table, which is commonly used instead of the traditional words imi 'spouse's opposite-sex sibling', 'opposite sex sibling's spouse' and ngaubath 'spouse's same-sex sibling', 'same-sex sibling's spouse'. These have also similarly been replaced in common usage by the English loan woman (pronounced ) in the meaning of 'sister/daughter-in-law'. Other biblical loans are from Ancient Greek, Latin and Biblical Hebrew: Two early English loans of interest show back formation from what in the language appeared to be a plural. Most nouns (a) form the plural with an -l suffix, and (b) in the nominative-accusative singular elide the stem final vowel, thus tukuyapa- 'same-sex sibling', plural tukuyapal, nominative-accusative tukuyap. Under this model 'custard-apple' became katitap, plural katitapal, and 'mammy-apple' (pawpaw/papaya) became mamiyap, plural mamiyapal. Dialects There are four main dialects, two of which are on