Australian English

Australian English (AuE) is the form of the English language used in Australia.

Relationship to other varieties of English

Australian English began to diverge from British English after the foundation of the colony of New South Wales in 1788. By the 1820s, observers had recognised that native-born white Australians spoke with a distinctive accent and vocabulary. Since the Australian goldrushes – which began in the 1850s – Australian English has borrowed increasingly from external sources, including American English.

The so-called "Americanisation" of Australian English was accelerated by a massive influx of US military personnel during World War II. The large-scale importation of television programs and other mass media content from the United States, from the 1950s onwards, has also had a significant effect. As a result, for example, Australians use the word truck instead of the British lorry, and freeway is the most common word for a high-speed, grade-separated road, although motorway is also used in some regions.

Due to their shared history and geographical proximity, Australian English is most similar to New Zealand English. However, the difference between the two spoken versions is obvious to people from either country, if not to a casual observer from a third country.

Spelling

The exposure to the different spellings of British and American English leads to a certain amount of spelling variation such as organise/organize. British spelling is generally preferred, although some words are usually written in the American form, such as program and jail rather than programme and gaol. Publishers, schools, universities and governments typically use the Macquarie Dictionary as a standard spelling reference. Both -ise and -ize are accepted, as in British English, but '-ise' is the preferred form in Australian English by a ratio of about 3:1 according to the Australian Corpus of English.

There is a widely-held belief in Australia that American spellings are a modern "intrusion", but the debate in fact goes back to the 19th century. A pamphlet titled The So Called "American Spelling.", printed in Sydney over 100 years ago, argued that "there is no valid etymological reason for the preservation of the u in such words as honor, labor, etc." At the time it was noted that "the tendency of people in Australasia is to excise the u, and one of the Sydney morning papers habitually does this, while the other generally follows the older form". Some Melbourne newspapers once excised the "u", but do not anymore, and the Australian Labor Party officially adopted the '-or' ending in 1908.

Irish influences

There is some influence from Hiberno-English, but perhaps not as much as might be expected given that many Australians are of Irish descent. Perhaps most noticeable is the widespread – but not universal – pronunciation of the name of the letter "H" as "haitch" /hæɪtʃ/, rather than the unaspirated "aitch" /æɪtʃ/ found in New Zealand, as well as most of Britain and North America. This is most often found amongst speakers of Broad Australian English and is thought to be the influence of Irish Catholic priests and nuns. Others include the non-standard plural of "you" as "youse" /jʉːz/, which is common in some social circles, and the expression "good on you" or "good onya", although both of these are also encountered in New Zealand English and British English.

Samples of Australian English

The ABC provides many streams of their radio programs. Many of these would make a good reference for the casual, relaxed Australian accent and use of the English language as opposed to scripted performances.

Non-Australians can also gain an impression of Australian English from well-known actors and other native speakers. The normal speaking voices of Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and Naomi Watts are examples of typical Australian accents (unless they are acting in roles as non-Australians). Television star Steve "Crocodile hunter" Irwin has a broad Australian accent (see below) and as a result his voice is often parodied inside Australia as well as out. Several Australian actors provided voices for Finding Nemo: Nigel the pelican, the three sharks, and the dentist have Australian accents. John O'Grady's novel They're a Weird Mob has many good examples of phonetically-written Australian speech during the 1950s.

Vocabulary

For more information on Australian vocabulary and the way it is used, see the article Australian words.

The origins of Australian words

Australian English incorporates many uniquely Australian terms, such as outback to refer to remote, sparsely-populated areas, and bush to refer to native forested areas, but also to country areas in general. One theory is that many such words or usages originated with British convicts transported to the penal colonies of Australia between 1788 and 1868. Convicts were mostly people from large English cities, such as Cockneys, and many words widely used by country Australians are or were also used in England, with variations in meaning. For example: a creek in Australia is any stream or small river, whereas in England it is a small watercourse flowing into the sea; paddock is the Australian word for a field, while in England it is a small enclosure for livestock and; wooded areas in Australia are known as bush or scrub, while in England, they are commonly used only in proper names, (such as Shepherd's Bush and Wormwood Scrubs).

The origins of other terms are not as clear, or are disputed. Fair dinkum can mean "are you telling me the truth?", "this is the truth!", or even "ridiculous!" depending on context. Dinkum is often claimed to date back to the gold rushes of the 1850s, and that it is derived from the Cantonese (or Hokkien) for "real gold". More recently, dinkum is said to derive from English regional slang for "hard work" or "fair work".[1] G'day is well known as a stereotypical Australian greeting ("G'day" is not quite synonymous with "good day", and is never used as an expression for "farewell").

Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been incorporated into Australian English, mainly as names for places, flora and fauna (for example dingo, kangaroo). Beyond that, very few terms have been adopted into the wider language, except for some localised terms, or slang. A notable exception is cooee, a high-pitched call (sounded as it is spelt) which travels long distances and is used to attract attention. Cooee has also become a notional distance: "if he's within cooee, we'll spot him".

Though often thought of as an Aboriginal word, didgeridoo (a well known wooden musical instrument) is probably an onomatopaoeic word of Western invention. It has also been suggested that it may have an Irish derivation.[2]

Varieties of Australian English

Most linguists consider that there are three main varieties of Australian English: "Broad", "General" and "Cultivated". These three main varieties are actually part of a continuum and are based on variations in accent. They often, but not always, reflect the social class and/or educational background of the speaker.

Broad Australian English

Broad Australian English is the archetypal and most recognisable variety and is familiar to English speakers around the world, because of its use in identifying Australian characters in non-Australian films and television programs. In reality it is somewhat less common than General Australian English. Broad Australian English is recognisable by a certain nasal drawl and the prevalence of long diphthongs.

General Australian English

General Australian English is the stereotypical variety of Australian English. It is the variety of English used by the majority of Australians and it dominates the accents found in contemporary Australian-made films and television programs, such as Neighbours. This variety has noticeably shorter vowel sounds than Broad Australian English, among other differences. There is perhaps a trend towards General Australian away from the extremes.

Cultivated Australian English

Cultivated Australian English (CAE) has many similarities to British Received Pronunciation, and is often mistaken for it. CAE is now spoken by less than 10% of the population. An overwhelmingly large and growing majority of Australians now have either General or Broad accents. One effect of this is that the speech of people like Alexander Downer, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is mocked as sounding "affected", "snobby" or "aloof", when his accent is simply an example of Cultivated Australian English, which was once common among public figures in Australia.

Examples

Examples of each include the normal speaking voices of the following identities:

Broad – Steve Irwin; Bryan Brown; Pauline Hanson.
General – Nicole Kidman; Hugh Jackman; Russell Crowe
Cultivated – Geoffrey Rush; Dame Joan Sutherland; Robert Hughes

Regional Variation

It is sometimes claimed that regional variations in pronunciation and accent exist, but if present at all they are very small compared to those of British and American English – sufficiently so that linguists are divided on the question. Overall, pronunciation is determined less by region than by social and educational influences.

Regional vocabulary

There is, however, some variation in Australian English vocabulary between different regions. An example often cited by linguists is the variety of names given by Australians to bland, processed pork smallgoods – known in other countries as pork luncheon meat or baloney – is so great, that these words are used by linguists to ascertain not only which Australian state or territory a person is from, but also regional origin within states in some cases. For example, in South Australia (SA) this product is known as fritz, for most people in Victoria (Vic) is is stras, in most of New South Wales (NSW) it is devon, in Western Australia (WA) polony, in Queensland (Qld) windsor, in Tasmania (Tas) belgium, and so on (see Australian words for processed pork smallgoods, for more details).

There is also variety in the names of beer glasses from one state to another. For example, a standard 285ml (10 fl.oz.) glass, in different states or regions, is known as a middy (NSW/WA/ACT), pot (Vic/Qld), handle (NT/SA), ten (SA) or schooner (SA). Such variation causes great confusion, especially since a schooner is a 425 ml (15 fl.oz.) glass in every state except SA (see Australian words for beer glasses for a full list).

Although an item of swimwear is known as bathers in most states, people in NSW and Queensland do not conform, preferring terms such as swimmers, cossie or togs (see Australian words for swimwear).

The fact that regional variation does not respect state borders is shown by the fact that both Queenslanders and people from northern New South Wales say port (short for portmanteau) while people in the other states say case, school bag, backpack and/or knapsack. In the past variation was so strong that the residents of the NSW town of Maitland would use the word port where Newcastle, some 20 kilometres away, would prefer the latter term.

Differences are increased by differences in non-lingustic traditions from one state to another: football refers to the most popular code of football in different States or regions, or even ethnic groups within them. Victorians start a game of Australian rules football with a ball up, Western Australians with a bounce down; New South Welsh people and Queenslanders start a game of Rugby League or Rugby Union with a kick off, as do soccer fans across Australia.

The differences are not resticted to words. For example, it is often said that people from North Queensland end sentences with the interrogative "eh?", although this is also common in both New Zealand English and Canadian English.

The steadily increasing centralisation of film, TV and radio production, however, may be spreading new words more rapidly and blurring such distinctions.

Phonology

Main article: Australian English phonology

Australian English is a non-rhotic variety. It is unique in its remarkable homogeneity over a vast area. Unlike most varieties of English, it has a phonemic length distinction. It has a reasonably standard consonant inventory.

See also: phonemic differentiation.

Myths about Australian accents

Australian English is sometimes described as high-pitched, nasal, lazy, or drawling. The claims of high pitch and nasality are not entirely true, as many Australian English speakers perceive much of American English to be nasal, while laziness and drawling are impossible to test objectively. If anything, the tendency for Australians to turn pure vowels into diphthongs requires more work from the speech organs.

Similarly, the ridiculing of the Australian accent by foreigners for its supposed "questioning intonation", known in linguistics as high rising terminal, is not entirely justified. Many Australians' speech patterns do not conform to this stereotype, and the "questioning intonation" is often found in many regional speech patterns in the south of England, Northern Ireland, and in some American ones.

Use of words by Australians

Perception has it that a common trait is the frequent use of long-winded similes, such as "slow as a wet week", "built like a brick shit-house", "mad as a cut snake", or "flat out like a lizard drinking". Whether this perception is based in reality or has been produced by popular culture items of fiction such as the (successfully exported) television soap opera Neighbours and the films of Paul Hogan remains in question.

Many Australians believe themselves to be direct in manner, and this is typified by statements such as "why call a spade a spade, when you can call it a bloody shovel". Such sentiments can lead to misunderstandings and offence being caused to people from cultures where an emphasis is placed on avoiding conflict, such as people from South East Asia.

Spoken Australian English is generally more tolerant of offensive and/or abusive language than other variants. A famous exponent was the former Prime Minister Paul Keating, who referred in parliament to opponents as a "mangy maggot", a "stupid foul-mouthed grub" and so on. The widespread desire among Australians to avoid pomposity, or even polite, formal or dignified speech, is sometimes seen as reflecting a suspicion of success in general, a phenomenon sometimes known as the tall poppy syndrome.

Humour

An important aspect of Australian English usage, inherited in small part from Britain and Ireland, is the use of deadpan humour, in which a person will make extravagant, outrageous and/or ridiculous statements in a neutral tone, and without explicitly indicating they are joking. Tourists seen to be gullible and/or lacking a sense of humour may be subjected to tales of kangaroos hopping across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and similar tall tales. (See also Drop Bear.) It is frequently criticised by foreigners for being immature humour which lacks thought and wit, although it could be countered that said foreigners just didn't get the joke.

Diminutives

Australian English makes far more frequent use of diminutives than other varieties of English. These which can be formed in a number of ways such as adding -o or -ie to the ends of abbreviated words. They can be used to indicate familiarity, although in many speech communities the diminutive form is more common than the original word or phrase.

Examples with the -o ending include abo (aborigine, now considered offensive), arvo (afternoon), doco (documentary), servo (service station, known in other countries as a "petrol station" or "gas station"), bottle-o (bottle-shop or liquor store), rego (still pronounced with a soft "g" sound) (annual motor vehicle registration), compo (compensation), leso (lesbian, also offensive, pronounced with a soft "z" sound), ambo (ambulance officer). The Salvation Army is often referred to as "The Salvos". The city of Fremantle is known by many of its inhabitants as Freo.

Examples of the -ie ending include barbie (barbecue), bikkie (biscuit), bikie (member of a motorcycle club), brekkie (breakfast) and blowie (blowfly). The city of Brisbane is often called Brissie (pronounced with a "z" sound) Newcastle is known as Newie.

Occasionally, a -za diminutive is used, usually for personal names where the first of multiple syllables ends in an "r". Karen becomes Kazza and Jeremy becomes Jezza. Also popular and common is the -z diminutive form (also found in British English) whereby Karen becomes Kaz and so on.

Other diminutive forms include:

last syllable (if a word ends in consonant) or last two syllables (if a word ends in vowel), prefaced with a definite article, such as The Gabba for Woolloongabba Cricket Ground; The Gong for Wollongong.
first syllable plus "-s": turps turpentine (usually referring to drinking alcohol, e.g. "a night on the turps") or Ian Turpie; Gabs, pet form of Gabrielle.
first syllable plus "-ers": Honkers (Hong Kong).

References

Template:Journal reference
Mitchell, Alexander G., 1995, The Story of Australian English, Sydney: Dictionary Research Centre.
Peters, Pam. (1986) "Spelling principles", In: Peters, Pam, ed., Style in Australia: Current Practices in Spelling, Punctuation, Hyphenation, Capitlisation, etc.,
The So Called "American Spelling." Its Consistency Examined. pre-1900 pamphlet, Sydney, E. J. Forbes. Quoted by Annie Potts in this article

External links