The Australian word forms and structure found in Kalaw Lagaw Ya appear to be retentions, i.e. inherited; the original Australian forms appear to be unchanged at the core level. This suggests that the language is not a pidgin/creole in origin, but an Australian language which has undergone strong external lexical and grammatical influence. The language appears to be a classic case of shift, whereby speakers of one language retained multilingualism over a long period of time, absorbing aspects of another language. The Austronesian and Papuan overlays modified the Australian phonology and syntax profoundly. The contrast of Australian laminal "nh/ny" and "lh/ly" and apical "n" and "l" has been lost, voicing has become phonemic and "s", "z", "t", "d", "o" and "òò" have developed. This also affected the phonology of Australian vocabulary, where these 'foreign' sounds also occur.