Variation in Australian English

Regional variations in pronunciation and accent of Australian English are very minor compared to the variations in British, Irish and North American English, sufficiently so that linguists are divided whether they exist at all. Overall, pronunciation is determined less by region than by social and educational influences.

Regional vocabulary

The regional variation in Australia consists primarily of differences in vocabulary rather than tone or accent.

There is also great variety in the names of beer glasses from one area 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/Tas), handle (NT/SA), ten (SA/Tas) or schooner (SA) and a ten ouncer (Tas). Such variation causes great confusion, especially since a schooner is a 425 ml (15 fl.oz.) glass in every state that uses the word except SA.

In NSW swimwear is known as swimmers or cossie and in Queensland it is togs. In most other areas the term bathers dominates. Queenslanders also call a suitcase a 'port', which can yield some confusion from interstate visitors.

Another example is the word tuckshop which is used in Queensland and NSW to describe a food outlet on school premises; the word canteen is now more common in other areas of Australia, although tuckshop may occasionally be used in those areas as well.^{[citation needed]}

There are many regional variations for describing social classes or subcultures. One example is probably bogan, which is also referred to as bevan or yobbo in Queensland, westie in NSW, and booner in the ACT.

The differences are not restricted to words. For example, it is often said that people from some parts of Queensland end sentences with the interrogative "eh?" (or "hay?", "hey"). This is also common in both New Zealand English and Canadian English. However, in Australian English, this form has also spread into some parts of New South Wales.^{[citation needed]} In Queensland the vowels of 'e' and 'o' are pronounced completely differently from other areas of Australia^{[citation needed]}. For example a Queenslander will say hello as something more like "hullohhw" and a bowl as a "buwl". The 'l' sound will be made by placing the tongue at a somewhat higher point on the roof of the mouth, creating in certain words an "ull" resonance.

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

Sport variations

Many regional variations are as a result of the Australian passion for sport and the differences in non-linguistic traditions from one state to another: the word 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 football or rugby union football with a kick off, as do soccer players across Australia.

From 2004, the national governing body for soccer (the Football Federation Australia), has promoted the use of "football" in place of "soccer". Several media outlets have adopted this use ^[1]^[2], while others have stuck with "soccer"^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]. However, use of the word "football" to mean either Australian football or rugby league, depending on the major code of the state, is still more common in Australia. In all places, the specific name or nickname of the code ("soccer", "league", "union" or "Aussie rules") can often be heard used for disambiguation - vital when there are four competing major codes of football.

The slang word footy has been traditionally associated with either Australian rules football (Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory) or rugby league football (New South Wales, Queensland). A prominent examples in popular culture are The Footy Shows; also FootyTAB, a betting wing of the NSW TAB. The use of "footy" in Australia parallels its use in other countries: New Zealand usage to refer to rugby union.

For many Australian rules followers, the verb barrack (or the accompanying noun form barracker), is used to describe following a team or club. Barrack has its origins in British English, although in the UK it now usually means to jeer or denigrate an opposing team or players. The expression "root (or rooting) for a team", as used in the United States, is not generally used in Australia (root is slang for sexual intercourse in Australia.)

Specific Regional Dialects

South Australian English

South Australian English is the collective name given to the varieties of English spoken in South Australia. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Macquarie Dictionary there are three localised varieties: Adelaide English, Eyre and Yorke Peninsula English and Northern South Australia English.

It is sometimes claimed that South Australians have a distinct regional accent. However there is no hard evidence for this, and examples are generally restricted to different pronunciation of a few words. The more significant distinguishing feature of South Australian English is vocabulary which has been strongly influenced by early settlers to the state. Of particular interest here are the German and Cornish immigrants. South Australian dialects also preserve some British English usages which do not occur elsewhere in Australia.

Western Australian English

Western Australian English, or West Australian English, is the collective name given to the variety or varieties of English spoken in Western Australia.

While there is no well-known "West Australian accent", most West Australians speak with either General Australian Accent or a broad Australian accent. Generally, those who grew up in suburban Perth speak with a General Australian accent, and those from regional areas ("from the country") speak with a broad accent. Some linguists^[8] have suggested that some Western Australians pronounce words such as beer with two syllables (/biː.ə/), where other Australians use one syllable (/bɪː/).

It is in vocabulary where Western Australian English is most distinct from other regional varieties. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation there are three localised, regional varieties of English in WA: Perth English; Central West Australian English and Northern West Australian English, and each has region specific words which have found their way into common usage^[9]. The source of these words varies from UK, USA, and the local Aboriginal language.

References

[1] Foxsports

[2] Sydney Morning Herald

[3] Daily Telegraph

[4] Herald Sun

[5] The Courier-Mail

[6] West Australian

[7] The Advertiser

[8] Sydney Morning Herald

[9] Australian Broadcasting Coorporation

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