Torres Strait English

Its main phonological characteristic is the retention of English and where Australian English has and (for example, wheel rather than , fool rather than ), while where grammar and the like are concerned, Torres Strait English shows a certain amount of post-Creole characteristics, such as the phrase You for [adjective] (e.g. You for style!) for the English You look/are really [adjective] (You are a real show-off!, alt. You are real cool!), and the almost mandatory use of second personal pronouns in the imperative. Other characteristics of T.I. English follow general non-standard dialects of English such as the use of done for did, run for ran, come for came (i.e. a four-way verb system of present-past-infinitive—ing-form for all verbs), and oncet for once. This is a non-rhotic accent, like Australian and New Zealand dialects.

T.I. English is not a post-creole form, but rather an independent development from the English of the early European settlers, most of whom were from various parts of the world. Relatively few were native-born White Australians. The input dialects were British of various types including Irish, Jamaican and others. Substratum languages include Malay, Japanese, Chinese, Jamaican Creole, Samoan, Brokan and so on.