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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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“

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.)