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)