Australian English: a linguistic description
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to provide a general description of the linguistic
features of Australian English (AusE). For this purpose, the paper first focuses on the
sociohistorical context that explains how and why the English language arrived in
Australia in the late 18th century, as well as a brief overview of the influence of
different languages and dialects AusE has received throughout the decades. The next
section describes this variety phonologically, morpho-syntactically and lexically. The
pronunciation subsection offers an explanation of the three accents of AusE, i.e.
Cultivated, the most prestigious accent, Broad, consisting of the most distinctive AusE
features, and General, the most widely used among speakers (Horvath, 2008). The
subsection continues with a description of the vowel and consonant systems of AusE
with reference to accent variation. The morphosyntactic description follows, which
explains different phenomena that occur in AusE grammar. They are addressed by
means of a comparison with British English (BrE) and American English (AmE)
morphosyntactic features, which will help the reader to understand to what extent AusE
is moving away from the tendencies of other major English varieties and forming its
own grammatical characteristics. Lastly, the remaining subsection is devoted to the
vocabulary of AusE. First, this part focuses on the influence of Australian Aboriginal
languages, mentioning different native tongues from which AusE borrowed hundreds of
words, giving several examples. The early borrowings from different BrE dialects as
well as the late influence of AmE are also covered. This part follows with an
explanation of lexical variation given in several words, a summary of the different
abbreviation processes and a list of colloquialisms found in informal AusE.