The Kriol Elfabet poster was created in 2019 as a bright and colourful education resource to help the development of Kriol literacy. The poster covers all the sounds of Kriol, some of which are written with one letter like d for daga, meaning food. Other sounds are represented with two letters, like ny as in nyuspeipa (newspaper). There are 21 letters used in the Kriol alphabet to represent 21 one-letter sounds and 14 two-letter sounds. The 35 Kriol sounds and letter-combinations are all found on the Kriol Elfabet poster along with bright illustrations and an example word. Scroll down to read notes on the words used on the poster. The Kriol Elfabet poster was created by Meigim Kriol Strongbala working in collaboration with Batchelor Press and can be purchased in various sizes via the Batchelor Press website: http://batchelorpress.com/node/387 

Notes on the Kriol Elfabet poster

• Where possible, we have tried to use words that are widely used across different Kriol-speaking communities but it is not always possible to use words, spellings and pronunciations that suit all Kriol speakers.
• The poster is most suitable for Kriol-speaking communities east of Katherine. In the Kimberley, a different spelling system is used for Kriol, although some Kriol speakers there will be familiar with the spelling system used in this poster.
• Here is a list of all the words used on the Kriol Elfabet poster with their meanings and any special notes on how widely the word is used:
  • a – alibala – in the morning/early
  • b – bingga – hand/finger
  • d – daga – food
  • e – epul – apple (may also be pronounced ‘apul’)
  • f – feis – face
  • g – gel – girl
  • h – het – hat
  • i – irriwul – ear
  • j – jinggabat – think (may pronounced in slightly different ways like jinggibat, jingimbat)
  • k – kenggurru – kangaroo
  • l – lisid – lizard
  • m – mun – moon
  • n – nos – nose (may also be pronounced nous)
  • o – olkain – assorted, various
  • p – peipa – paper
  • r – riba – river
  • s – sneik – snake (may also be pronounced sineik)
  • t – tedul – turtle
  • u – fut – foot
  • w – wada – water (may also be pronounced and written as woda)
  • y – yelowan – yellow (also written as yelawan)
  • ai – ai – eye
  • au – klaud – cloud
  • ei – sheid – shade
  • oi – boi – boy
  • ou – roud – road
  • ng – ngarra – peek (used mostly in Roper Kriol. In Barunga Kriol, the word roih is preferred for ‘peek’)
  • ny – nyuspeipa – newspaper
  • rr – garramap – carry (may also be written as garrimap)
  • sh – shuga – sugar
  • th – thribala – three (may also be pronounced thrribala)
  • rd – bard – bird (this pronunciation is used mostly in Roper Kriol. Other places pronounce this as berd)
  • rl – yarlbun – lilyseed (used mostly in Roper Kriol. In Barunga Kriol, the word datam is preferred)
  • rn – barn – burn (may also be pronounced bern)
  • tj – tjeya – chair

If you have any questions about the content of the Kriol Elfabet poster, please get in touch!