Global English; Australian English.

Australian English

Australian English differs from Standard English primarily due accent and vocabulary. The colonial settlement marked the beginning of this variation of Standard English. New and original words had to be established in order to describe the new environment and communicate amongst one and another. This included the use of original Aboriginal lexis and new lexis from the English language.

Phonological Variations 

The front vowels in Australian, as in the words //, /e/, and /æ/ are all raised relative to the same vowels in British. This means that the vowel in the word // is rather closer to the /i:/ vowel than in British. The vowel /e/ is closer to the // vowel than in British and the vowel in the word /æ/ is closer to the /e/ vowel than in British. The vowels in the words /6:/ and /6/, which are back vowels in British, are more fronted in Australian and therefore closer to the /æ/ vowel. The high /U:/ and /U/ vowels are very similar to one another in British but these two are quite distinct in AusE.

• The centering diphthongs /ə/ and /e:/ occurring in Australianare often pronounced with negligible offglide such that the production is rather like prolonged monophthongal realization  // and /e/ vowels e.g. weary /wəri:/ /w:əi/.
• The glides in the /æc/ and /U/ vowels have different orientations in British relative to Australian. The rising diphthongs such as /æI/, /ae/, /ɔI/, /æc/, and /əU/ occur. /əU/, /ae/, /ɔI/ vowels have undergone a process of shift such that in Australian /æI/ is similar to British /ae/. In some instances, these differences may lead to misunderstanding such as the unfortunate woman who believed she was being sent home from the hospital ‘to die’ after being informed that she was ‘going home today’

• Australian English prefers the word-internal /ə/ and the word-final /i:/ to the unstressed //, e.g. that sounds for an Englishman as if it were thet.

• The Australian tend to merge all the unstressed vowels in /ə/ where British use / / and the ending – y, e.g., July /ʤəlai/,  Geelong, /ʤəlaŋ/. // is produced as // in most positions, in words like dance even /æ/.Like in the American South /æƱ/ occurs in words like pound (Bähr, 1974: 276.).

• As for the consonants, there are no glottal stops (in spite of all the similarities of British to Cockney). Some Australians, maybe due to Irish influx, produce rhotic words. (this is taken from an online study: http://dea.brunel.ac.uk/cmsp/home_yan_qin/intro/intro_au.htm)

 

Grammatical Variations

• There aren't many variations between Standard English and Australian English.
• Collective nouns take singular verb forms (the government has made a mistake) as opposed to the S.E plural forms (the government has decided).
• 'she' can be used to refer to inanimate objects and impersonal constructions.

Lexical Variations

 

General variations:

“to barrack for” (to support),

“footpath” (sidewalk),

“frock” (dress),

“Goodday”/”G’Day” (hello),

“gumboots” (rubber boots),

“lolly” (any sweets),

“paddock” (field),

 “picture theatre” (cinema),

“to chunder” (to vomit),

“crook” (ill, angry),

“dag” (eccentric person),

“drongo” (fool),

“to rubbish” (to pour scorn on),

“sheila” (girl),

“to front up” (to present oneself),

“to bot” (to borrow),

“to shoot through” (to leave),

“tucker” (food), “wog” (germ),

“spell” (rest, break),

 “park” (parking space),

“to chyack” (to tease),

“offsider” (partner, companion),

“chook” (chicken),

“to fine up” (to improve, esp. weather)

 

Abbreviations (with productive suffixes):

• “beaut” (beautiful, beauty), “uni” (university)

• “truckie” (truck driver), “tinnie” (beer can) “arvo” (afternoon), “muso” (musician)

• nicknames: “Stevo” (Steve(n)), “Bazza” (Barry), “Mezza” (Mary)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coursework Preparation and Texts.

Accent and Dialect

I have chosen to study the language change of Russell Brand in 2008 to 2013. Specifically using the texts; Russell Brand's Ponderland (November 2008) and his appearance on NewsNight (October 2013) with Jeremy Paxman, also briefly his appearance on The Andrew Marr Show (June 2013). I will focus on Brand's interesting variation in accent and dialect in certain contexts or given situations.

Descriptivism and Prescriptivism

Descriptivism and Prescriptivism  

Descriptivism

The idea of descriptive linguistics is that a language is defined by what people do with it. It's a non-judgmental approach to language that focuses more on how it has chosen to be spoken or written. Scientifically descriptivism is based more on facts, but also thought to be based more on the idea that the language used doesn't entirely matter as long as it can be communicated.

Famous Descriptivists

Two of the most famous descriptivists are Jean Aichison and David Crystal:

David Crystal.


David Crystal has a metaphor about 'swimming against the tide'. This is where he refers to language change as the sea and says that being prescriptivist and going against what is seen as 'normal' and acceptable, which in this case is language change. He says that going against it is like 'swimming against the tide' because it is too strong and you will never win.

Prescriptivism

Prescriptivism is the opposite to descriptivism, it argues the teaching and practice of 'correct' Standard English 

Rastamouse Controversy; article and notes

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8320549/Rastamouse-provokes-complaints-of-racism-and-teaching-bad-language.html

The article above is taken from the Telegraph online about the Rastamouse controversy in 2011. The controversy was due to the supposed racist undertones of the children's television program.

-The beginning of the article is positive explaining the level popularity of the program. With the use of lexis like entertaining, a pre-modifying adverb, love and respect, which are used to describe the the character of Rastamouse giving the connotations of a all round positive program which sets up the opposing article subject.

-The second paragraph displays a change in tone, what's interesting is the use of the abstract verb 'provoked' used in the sentence 'Rastamouse has provoke more than a hundred complaints. The use of this word suggest that the program was almost asking for, 'provoking' the audience to react.

-In the article the author has also included a few of the complaints from the parents that were posted on parenting forums. The complaints have been used as evidence regarding the subject and along with the inclusion of the usernames, it almost seems that the author is trying to pin some sort of blame on those that complained.

-Towards the middle of the article the focus is turned to other complaint that was that the program encourages children to use slang. The author has chosen a few of the Jamaican creole words and sayings used by the characters in Rastamouse. The author however uses the specific proper noun patois, this word draws negative connotations as it's rarely used today and is consider as politically incorrect.

-At the end of the article there is an inclusion of quotes from the creator of Rastamouse explaining the intention of the children's program and addressing the issue of the racism which many complained about. "The Rastamouse books are written in Afro-Caribbean Patois rhyme and this authentic voice has been transferred to the TV series to retain its heart, integrity and distinctive quality." The use of the adjectives towards the end of the quote express directly the clear intention of the speaker but it also creates the semantic field of trust and truth which is important in opposing the issue of racism.