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Australian Englishes

Australian Englishes. Overview. Introduction History: Colonisation and language import Development of AusE Regional varieties of AusE Development of Creole languages. 1. Introduction. TV ad: "Where the bloody hell are you!?". 1. Introduction.

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Australian Englishes

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  1. Australian Englishes

  2. Overview • Introduction • History: Colonisation and language import • Development of AusE • Regional varieties of AusE • Development of Creole languages

  3. 1. Introduction TV ad: "Where the bloody hell are you!?"

  4. 1. Introduction • TV- advertisement launched by Tourism Australia earlier this year to attract travellers from all over the world • Any problems in understanding the spoken text? • ( obviously, it is mainly the pronunciation of Australian English that differs from Standard British English and General American English) • British TV bosses have banned the commercial since they regarded the language used as “bad” and too rude • England was the only country where such reactions occurred • => the British and Australian population have an extraordinary relationship concerning usage of language

  5. 2. History: Colonisation and Language Import • Australia has been inhabited by the native or Aboriginal people for over 40,000 years. • Discovery of the continent by Captain Cook / Arrival of the British in 1770 • Established as a penal colony in 1778 (NSW) mostly for Irish and Southern English convicts • Free settlers came with economic growth especially after discovering gold in 1851 • Aboriginal people lacked a single official language • technologically far less advanced • No great impact on economic developments nor on language

  6. 2. History: Colonisation and Language Import • Hundreds of different Aboriginal languages: small excerpt:

  7. 3. Development of Australian English • Despite of numerous non-British immigrant languages, English has always been the first official language • The majority of the Australian population speaks English with over 80% of them having it as their native language • Easily recognized by its pronunciation • Pronunciation has a clearly urban southern English bias and is noticably slow • southern English immigrants had the strongest influence on the nature of Australian English> AusE • Often compared to Cockney English

  8. 3. Development of Australian English • Differences between BrE and AusE: - formal style of AusE comes closer to BrE than AmE - more slang words and abbreviations in AusE • Names for places and objects are often influenced by Aboriginal terms (e.g. “Boomerang“, “Kangaroo“, “Uluru“, …) • Common shortenings are for example: Afternoon => arvo Barbecue => barbie

  9. 4. Varieties of AusE Varieties in social aspects: • Cultivated (spoken by 11%) • General (spoken by 55%) • Broad (spoken by 34%) AusE varieties do not occur in regional aspects

  10. 5. Development of Creole Languages • Creole and Aboriginal languages: • Kriol • Torres Strait Broken • Aboriginal English • Especially in Western Australia and Northern Territory

  11. 5.1 Kriol • Kriol has many sub classes or dialects • Mixture of Aboriginal English and former “pure“ Aboriginal languages that tribes used to speak • Spoken by about 30.000 people • Developed as a pidgin in early 20th century in the Northern Territory • Widespread and well understood • Established as a creole at Roper River Mission (Ngukurr), where cattle stations were established and a township developed

  12. 5.1 Kriol • 200 aboriginal people from 8 different tribes used it as the only language they had in common => became a native language then • Regions it is spoken in today: • Roper River • Katherine areas • Ngukurr • Northern Territory • Kimberley region of Western Australia • Gulf Country • Lower Cape York Peninsula • Queensland

  13. 5.2 Torres Strait Broken • Spoken on islands between Australia and New Guinea and on Cape York • Used for trade and commerce • Spoken by approximately 25.000 people • Pidgin but usually the first language / creole for many speakers • Has 5 dialects

  14. 5.3 Aboriginal English • Spoken in remote areas • Varieties between standard AusE (SAE), creoles and Australian languages • Comprehensible for English speakers • Examples: “dey poisonous“, “Like my pop got emu eggs down is place“, “Because this one boy, he wen an.. broke it“, “We bin go wi-i-i-ight aroun eberywhere“

  15. 5.4 Creoles „These Creoles are distinct languages. … They show an ingenious blend of English and Australian structural features, producing a language that seems quite appropriate to the bicultural milieu in which many Aboriginal Australians find themselves. Indeed, in some areas an increasing number of young Aborigines are speaking Kriol – instead of or as well as an Australian language – and it is coming to be thought of by them as ‘the Aboriginal language‘.“ (Dixon 1980: 73f.)

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