Australian English

Similar to early American English, Australian English passed through a process of extensive dialect levelling and mixing which produced a relatively homogeneous new variety of English which was easily understood by all. The Gold Rushes brought immigrants and linguistic influences from many parts of the world. An example was the introduction of vocabulary from American English, including some terms later considered to be typically Australian, such as bushwhacker and squatter. This American influence was continued with the popularity of American films from the early 20th century and the influx of American military personnel that settled in Australia and New Zealand during World War II; seen in the enduring persistence of such universally-accepted terms as okay and guys. The publication of Edward Ellis Morris's Austral English: A Dictionary Of Australasian Words, Phrases And Usages in 1898, which extensively catalogued Australian English vocabulary, started a wave of academic interest and codification during the 20th century which resulted in Australian English becoming established as an endonormative variety with its own internal norms and standards. This culminated in publications such as the 1981 first edition of the Macquarie Dictionary, a major English language dictionary based on Australian usage, and the 1988 first edition of The Australian National Dictionary, a historical dictionary documenting the history of Australian English vocabulary and idiom. File:The First Fleet entering Port Jackson, January 26, 1788, drawn 1888 A9333001h.jpg|The First Fleet, which brought the English language to Australia File:Doudiet Swearing allegiance to the Southern Cross.jpg|The Australian gold rushes saw many external influences on the language. ==Phonology and pronunciation==

The most obvious way in which Australian English is distinctive from other varieties of English is through its unique pronunciation. It shares most similarity with New Zealand English. Like most dialects of English, it is distinguished primarily by the phonetic quality of its vowels. Vowels is complete in Australian English: unstressed is merged into (schwa), unless it is followed by a velar consonant. Examples of this feature are the following pairings, which are pronounced identically in Australian English: ''Rosa's and roses, as well as Lennon and Lenin. Other examples are the following pairs, which rhyme in Australian English: abbott with rabbit, and dig it with bigot''. Most varieties of Australian English exhibit only a partial trap-bath split. The words bath, grass and ''can't are always pronounced with the "long" of father. Throughout the majority of the country, the "flat" of man is the dominant pronunciation for the a vowel in the following words: dance, advance, plant, example and answer. The exception is the state of South Australia, where a more advanced trap-bath split is found, and where the dominant pronunciation of all the preceding words incorporates the "long" of father''. Consonants There is little variation in the sets of consonants used in different English dialects but there are variations in how these consonants are used. Australian English is no exception. Australian English is uniformly non-rhotic; that is, the sound does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant. Accordingly, suit is pronounced as , lute as , Zeus as and enthusiasm as . Other cases of and , as well as and , have coalesced to , , and respectively for many speakers. is generally retained in other consonant clusters. In common with most varieties of Scottish English and American English, the phoneme is pronounced by Australians as a "dark" (velarised) l () in almost all positions, unlike other dialects such as Received Pronunciation, Hiberno (Irish) English, etc. Pronunciation Differences in stress, weak forms and standard pronunciation of isolated words occur between Australian English and other forms of English, which while noticeable do not impair intelligibility. The affixes -ary, -ery, -ory, -bury, -berry and -mony (seen in words such as necessary, mulberry and matrimony) can be pronounced either with a full vowel () or a schwa (). Although some words like necessary are almost universally pronounced with the full vowel, older generations of Australians are relatively likely to pronounce these affixes with a schwa as is typical in British English. Meanwhile, younger generations are relatively likely to use a full vowel. Words ending in unstressed -ile derived from Latin adjectives ending in -ilis are pronounced with a full vowel, so that fertile sounds like fur tile rather than rhyming with turtle . In addition, miscellaneous pronunciation differences exist when compared with other varieties of English in relation to various isolated words, with some of those pronunciations being unique to Australian English. For example: • As with American English, the vowel in yoghurt and the prefix homo- (as in homosexual or homophobic) are pronounced with rather than ; • Vitamin, migraine and privacy are all pronounced with in the stressed syllable () rather than ; • Dynasty and patronise, by contrast, are usually subject to trisyllabic laxing () like in Britain, alongside US-derived ; • The prefix paedo- (as in paedophile) is pronounced rather than ; • In loanwords, the vowel spelled with is often nativized as the vowel (), similar to American English (), rather than the vowel (), as in British English. For example, pasta is pronounced , analogous to American English , rather than , as in British English. • Urinal is stressed on the first syllable and with the schwa for I: ; • Harass and harassment are pronounced with the stress on the second, rather than the first syllable; • The suffix -sia (as in Malaysia, Indonesia and Polynesia, but not Tunisia) is pronounced rather than ; • The word foyer is pronounced , rather than ; • Tomato, vase and data are pronounced with instead of : , with being uncommon but acceptable; • Zebra and leisure are pronounced and rather than and , both having disyllabic laxing; • Status varies between British-derived with the vowel and American-derived with the vowel; • Conversely, precedence, precedent and derivatives are mainly pronounced with the vowel in the stressed syllable, rather than : ; • Basil is pronounced , rather than ; • Conversely, cache is usually pronounced , rather than the more conventional ; • Buoy is pronounced as (as in boy) rather than ; • The E in congress and progress is not reduced: ; • Conversely, the unstressed O in silicon, phenomenon and python stands for a schwa: ; • In Amazon, Lebanon, marathon and pantheon, however, the unstressed O stands for the vowel, somewhat as with American English: ; • The colour name maroon is pronounced with the vowel: . ==Variation==

Relative to many other national dialect groupings, Australian English is relatively homogeneous across the country. Some relatively minor regional differences in pronunciation exist. A limited range of word choices is strongly regional in nature. Consequently, the geographical background of individuals may be inferred if they use words that are peculiar to particular Australian states or territories and, in some cases, even smaller regions. In addition, some Australians speak creole languages derived from Australian English, such as Australian Kriol, Torres Strait Creole and Norfuk. Academic research has also identified notable sociocultural variation within Australian English, which is mostly evident in phonology. Regional variation Although Australian English is relatively homogeneous, there are some regional variations. The dialects of English spoken in the various states and territories of Australia differ slightly in vocabulary and phonology. Most regional differences are in word usage. Swimming clothes are known as cossies, togs or swimmers in New South Wales, togs in Queensland, and bathers in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia. What Queensland calls a stroller is usually called a pram in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania. Preference for some synonymous words also differ between states. Garbage (i.e., garbage bin, garbage truck) dominates over rubbish in New South Wales and Queensland, while rubbish is more popular in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia. ;Salary–celery merger A feature common in Victorian English is salary–celery merger, whereby a Victorian pronunciation of Ellen may sound like Alan and Victoria's capital city Melbourne may sound like Malbourne to speakers from other states. There is also regional variation in before (as in school and pool). ;Full-fool allophones In some parts of Australia, notably Victoria, a fully backed allophone of , transcribed , is common before . As a result, the pairs full/fool and pull/pool differ phonetically only in vowel length for those speakers. The usual allophone for is further forward in Queensland and New South Wales than Victoria. ;Final particle but A final particle but, where "but" is the concluding word in a sentence, has also evolved as a distinctive feature in Australian English, particularly in Western Australia and Queensland. In conversational Australian English it is thought to be a turn-yielding particle that marks contrastive content in the utterance it closes. It is a linguistic trait sometimes employed in Australian literature to indicate that the character is quintessentially Australian. Sociocultural variation The General Australian accent serves as the standard variety of English across the country. According to linguists, it emerged during the 19th century. General Australian is the dominant variety across the continent, and is particularly so in urban areas. The increasing dominance of General Australian reflects its prominence on radio and television since the latter half of the 20th century. Recent generations have seen a comparatively smaller proportion of the population speaking with the Broad sociocultural variant, which differs from General Australian in its phonology. The Broad variant is found across the continent and is relatively more prominent in rural and outer-suburban areas. A largely historical Cultivated sociocultural variant, which adopted features of British Received Pronunciation and which was commonplace in official media during the early 20th century, had become largely extinct by the onset of the 21st century. Australian Aboriginal English is made up of a range of forms which developed differently in different parts of Australia, and are said to vary along a continuum, from forms close to Standard Australian English to more non-standard forms. There are distinctive features of accent, grammar, words and meanings, as well as language use. Academics have noted the emergence of numerous ethnocultural dialects of Australian English that are spoken by people from some minority non-English speaking backgrounds. These ethnocultural varieties contain features of General Australian English as adopted by the children of immigrants blended with some non-English language features, such as Afro-Asiatic languages and languages of Asia. Samoan English is also influencing Australian English. Other ethnolects include those of Lebanese and Vietnamese Australians. A high rising terminal in Australian English was noted and studied earlier than in other varieties of English. The feature is sometimes called Australian questioning intonation. Research published in 1986, regarding vernacular speech in Sydney, suggested that high rising terminal was initially spread by young people in the 1960s. It found that the high rising terminal was used more than twice as often by young people than older people, and is more common among women than men. In the United Kingdom, it has occasionally been considered one of the variety's stereotypical features, and its spread there is attributed to the popularity of Australian soap operas. ==Vocabulary==

Intrinsic traits captured the Australian vocabulary of the 19th century in their bush ballads. Australian English has many words and idioms which are unique to the dialect. Commonly known Internationally well-known examples of Australian terminology include outback, meaning a remote, sparsely populated area, the bush, meaning either a native forest or a country area in general, and ''g'day, a greeting. Dinkum, or fair dinkum means "true", "legitimate" or "is that true?", among other things, depending on context and inflection. The derivative dinky-di'' means "true" or devoted: a "dinky-di Aussie" is a "true Australian". Historical references Australian poetry, such as "The Man from Snowy River", as well as folk songs such as "Waltzing Matilda", contain many historical Australian words and phrases that are understood by Australians even though some are not in common usage today. British English similarities and differences Australian English, in common with British English, uses the word mate to mean friend, as well as the word bloody as a mild expletive or intensifier. "Mate" is also used in multiple ways including to indicate "mateship" or formally call out the target of a threat or insult, depending on intonation and context. Several words used by Australians were at one time used in the UK but have since fallen out of usage or changed in meaning there. For example, creek in Australia, as in North America, means a stream or small river, whereas in the UK it is typically a watercourse in a marshy area; paddock in Australia means field, whereas in the UK it means a small enclosure for livestock; bush or scrub in Australia, as in North America, means a natural, uncultivated area of vegetation or flora, whereas in England they are commonly used only in proper names (such as Shepherd's Bush and Wormwood Scrubs). Aboriginal-derived words Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been adopted by Australian English—mainly as names for places, flora and fauna (for example dingo) and local culture. Many such are localised, and do not form part of general Australian use, while others, such as kangaroo, boomerang, budgerigar, wallaby and so on have become international. Other examples are cooee and hard yakka. The former is used as a high-pitched call, for attracting attention, (pronounced ) which travels long distances. Cooee is also a notional distance: "if he's within cooee, we'll spot him". Hard yakka means "hard work" and is derived from yakka, from the Jagera/Yagara language once spoken in the Brisbane region. The word bung, meaning "dead" was originally a Yagara word which was used in the pidgin widely spoken across Australia. Places Many towns or suburbs of Australia have also been influenced or named after Aboriginal words. The best-known example is the capital, Canberra, named after a local Ngunnawal language word thought to mean "women's breasts" or "meeting place". Figures of speech and abbreviations Litotes, such as "not bad", "not much" and "you're not wrong", are also used. Diminutives and hypocorisms are common and are often used to indicate familiarity. Some common examples are arvo (afternoon), barbie (barbecue), smoko (cigarette break), Aussie (Australian) and Straya (Australia). This may also be done with people's names to create nicknames (other English speaking countries create similar diminutives). For example, "Gazza" from Gary, or "Smitty" from John Smith. The use of the suffix -o originates in , which is both a postclitic and a suffix with much the same meaning as in Australian English. In informal speech, incomplete comparisons are sometimes used, such as "sweet as" (as in "That car is sweet as."). "Full", "fully" or "heaps" may precede a word to act as an intensifier (as in "The waves at the beach were heaps good."). This was more common in regional Australia and South Australia but has been in common usage in urban Australia for decades. The suffix "-ly" is sometimes omitted in broader Australian English. For instance, "really good" can become "real good". Measures Australia's switch to the metric system in the 1970s changed most of the country's vocabulary of measurement from imperial to metric measures. Since the switch to metric, heights of people are listed in centimetres on official documents and distances by road on signs are listed in terms of kilometres and metres. Comparison with other varieties Where British and American English vocabulary differs, sometimes Australian English shares a usage with one of those varieties, as with petrol (AmE: gasoline) and mobile phone (AmE: cellular phone) which are shared with British English, or truck (BrE: lorry - truck has a slightly different meaning) and eggplant (BrE: aubergine) which are shared with American English. In other circumstances, Australian English sometimes favours a usage which is different from both British and American English as with: Some examples of terminology associated with food, transport and clothing is used below to demonstrate the variations which exist between Australian English and other varieties: Terms with different meanings in Australian English There also exist words which in Australian English are ascribed different meanings from those ascribed in other varieties of English, for instance: • Paddock in Australian English refers to an open field or meadow whereas in American and British English it refers to a small agricultural enclosure • Premier in Australian English refers specifically to the head of government of an Australian state, whereas in British English it is used interchangeably with Prime Minister • Public school in Australian (and American) English refers to a state school. Australian and American English use private school to mean a non-government or independent school, while British English uses private school for the same concept, public schools are a subset of private schools • Pudding in Australian (and American) English refers to a particular sweet dessert dish, while in British English can also refer to dessert (the food course) in general • Thongs in Australian English refer to British and American English flip-flop (footwear), whereas in both American and British English it refers to Australian English G-string (underwear) (in Australian English the singular "thong" can refer to one half of a pair of the footwear or to a G-string, so care must be taken as to context) • Vest in Australian (and American) English refers to a padded upper garment or British English waistcoat but in British English vest refers to Australian English singlet - an obsolete term in British English Idioms taking different forms in Australian English In addition to the large number of uniquely Australian idioms in common use, there are instances of idioms taking different forms in Australian English than in other varieties, for instance: • A drop in the ocean (shared with BrE usage) as opposed to AmE a drop in the bucket • A way to go (shared with BrE usage) as opposed to AmE a ways to go • Home away from home (shared with AmE usage) as opposed to BrE home from home • Take (something) with a grain of salt (shared with AmE usage) as opposed to BrE take with a pinch of salt • Touch wood (shared with BrE usage) as opposed to AmE knock on wood • ''Wouldn't touch (something) with a ten-foot pole (shared with AmE usage) as opposed to BrE wouldn't touch with a barge pole'' British and American English terms not commonly used in Australian English There are extensive terms used in other varieties of English which are not widely used in Australian English. These terms usually do not result in Australian English speakers failing to comprehend speakers of other varieties of English, as Australian English speakers will often be familiar with such terms through exposure to media or may ascertain the meaning using context. Non-exhaustive selections of British English and American English terms not commonly used in Australian English together with their definitions or Australian English equivalents are found in the collapsible table below: British English terms not widely used in Australian English ==Grammar==

The general rules which apply to Australian English are described at English grammar. Grammatical differences between varieties of English are minor relative to differences in phonology and vocabulary and do not generally affect intelligibility. Examples of grammatical differences between Australian English and other varieties include: • Collective nouns are generally singular in construction, i.e., the group was leaving as opposed to the group were leaving. This is in common with American English. • Australian English has an extreme distaste for the modal verbs shall (in non-legal contexts), ''shan't and ought (in place of will, won't and should respectively), which are encountered in British English. However, shall is found in the Australian Constitution, Acts of Parliament, and other formal or legal documents such as contracts, and ought'' sees use in some academic contexts (such as philosophy). • Using should with the same meaning as would, e.g. I should like to see you, encountered in British English, is almost never encountered in Australian English. • River follows the name of the river in question, i.e., the Brisbane River, not the River Brisbane. However, there are exceptions: the official names of the Derwent and Torrens rivers (in Tasmania and South Australia, respectively) are River Derwent and River Torrens. In South Australian English, the name of the Murray River is also reversed. • While prepositions before days may be omitted in American English, i.e., She resigned Thursday, they are retained in Australian English: She resigned on Thursday. This is shared with British English. • The institutional nouns hospital and university do not take the definite article, i.e., ''She's in hospital, and He's at university. This is in contrast to American English where the is required, i.e., In the hospital, and At the university''. • On the weekend is used in favour of the British at the weekend which is not encountered in Australian English. • Ranges of dates use to, i.e., Monday to Friday, rather than Monday through Friday. This is shared with British English and is in contrast to American English. The hybrid form Monday through to Friday is sometimes used. • When speaking or writing out numbers, and is always inserted before the tens, i.e., one hundred and sixty-two rather than one hundred sixty-two. This is in contrast to American English, where the insertion of and is acceptable but nonetheless either casual or informal. • The preposition to in write to (e.g. "I'll write to you") is always retained, as opposed to American usage where it may be dropped. • Australian English does not share the British usage of the verb read to mean "study at degree level". Therefore, it may be said that "He is studying medicine" but not that "He is reading medicine". • When referring to time, Australians will refer to 10:30 as half past ten and do not use the (optional and informal) British half ten. Similarly, a quarter to ten is used for 9:45 rather than (a) quarter of ten, which is sometimes found in American English. • To have a shower or have a bath are the most common usages in Australian English, in contrast to American English which uses take a shower and take a bath. • The past participle of saw (to cut with a saw) is sawn (e.g. sawn-off shotgun) in Australian English, in contrast to the American English sawed. • The verb visit is transitive in Australian English. Where the object is a person or people, American English also uses visit with, which is not found in Australian English. • An outdoor event which is cancelled due to inclement weather is rained out in Australian English. This is in contrast to British English where it is said to be rained off. • In informal speech, sentence-final but may be used, e.g. "I don't want to go but" in place of "But I don't want to go". Extended discourse markers of this nature are sometimes used for comedic effect, but the meaning is generally found in the final affirmative/negative. ==Spelling and style== As in all English-speaking countries, there is no central authority that prescribes official usage with respect to matters of spelling, grammar, punctuation or style. Spelling There are several dictionaries of Australian English which adopt a descriptive approach. The Macquarie Dictionary and the Australian Oxford Dictionary are most commonly used by universities, governments and courts as the standard for Australian English spelling. Australian spelling is significantly closer to British compared with American spelling, as it did not adopt the systematic reforms promulgated in Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary. Notwithstanding, the Macquarie Dictionary often lists most American spellings as acceptable secondary variants. The minor systematic differences which occur between Australian and American spelling are summarised below: • French-derived words which in American English end with or, such as color, honor, behavior and labor, are spelt with our in Australian English: colour, honour, behaviour and labour. Exceptions are the Australian Labor Party and some (especially South Australian) placenames which use harbor, notably Victor Harbor. • Words which in American English end with ize, such as realize, recognize and apologize are spelt with ise in Australian English: realise, recognise and apologise. The British Oxford spelling, which uses the ize endings, remains a minority variant. The Macquarie Dictionary says that the -ise form as opposed to -ize sits at 3:1. The sole exception to this is capsize, which is used in all varieties. • Words which in American English end with yze, such as analyze, paralyze and catalyze are spelt with yse in Australian English: analyse, paralyse and catalyse. • French-derived words which in American English end with er, such as fiber, center and meter are spelt with re in Australian English: fibre, centre and metre (the unit of measurement only, not physical devices; so gasometer, voltmeter). • Words which end in American English end with log, such as catalog, dialog and monolog are usually spelt with logue in Australian English: catalogue, dialogue and monologue; however, the Macquarie Dictionary lists the log spelling as the preferred variant for analog. • A double-consonant l is retained in Australian English when adding suffixes to words ending in l where the consonant is unstressed, contrary to American English. Therefore, Australian English favours cancelled, counsellor and travelling over American English canceled, counselor and traveling. • Where American English uses a double-consonant ll in the words skillful, willful, enroll, distill, enthrall, fulfill and installment, Australian English uses a single consonant: skilful, wilful, enrol, distil, enthral, fulfil and instalment. However, the Macquarie Dictionary has noted a growing tendency to use the double consonant. • The American English defense and offense are spelt defence and offence in Australian English. • In contrast with American English, which uses practice and license for both nouns and verbs, practice and licence are nouns while practise and license are verbs in Australian English. • Words with ae and oe are often maintained in words such as oestrogen and paedophilia, in contrast to the American English practice of using e alone (as in estrogen and pedophilia). The Macquarie Dictionary has noted a shift within Australian English towards using e alone, and now lists some words such as encyclopedia, fetus, eon or hematite with the e spelling as the preferred variant and hence Australian English varies by word when it comes to these sets of words. Minor systematic difference which occur between Australian and British spelling are as follows: • Words often ending in eable in British English end in able in Australian English. Therefore, Australian English favours livable over liveable, sizable over sizeable, movable over moveable, etc., although both variants are acceptable. • Words often ending in eing in British English end in ing in Australian English. Therefore, Australian English favours aging over ageing, or routing over routeing, etc., although both variants are acceptable. • Words often ending in mme in British English end in m in Australian English. Therefore, Australian English favours program over programme (in all contexts) and aerogram over aerogramme, although both variants are acceptable. Similar to Canada, New Zealand and the United States, (kilo)gram is the only spelling. Other examples of individual words where the preferred spelling is listed by the Macquarie Dictionary as being different from current British spellings include analog as opposed to analogue, guerilla as opposed to guerrilla, verandah as opposed to veranda, burqa as opposed to burka, pastie (noun) as opposed to pasty, neuron as opposed to neurone, hiccup as opposed to hiccough, annex as opposed to annexe, raccoon as opposed to racoon etc. Unspaced forms such as onto, anytime, alright and anymore are also listed as being equally as acceptable as their spaced counterparts. Additionally, the spellings donut and percent as opposed to doughnut and per cent have become more common than their counterparts; however, the official Australian style manual considers percent to be a misspelling. There is variation between and within varieties of English in the treatment of -t and -ed endings for past tense verbs. The Macquarie Dictionary does not favour either, but it suggests that leaped, leaned or learned (with -ed endings) are more common but spelt and burnt (with -t endings) are more common. Different spellings have existed throughout Australia's history. What are today regarded as American spellings were popular in Australia throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the Victorian Department of Education endorsing them into the 1970s and The Age newspaper until the 1990s. This influence can be seen in the spelling of the Australian Labor Party and also in some place names such as Victor Harbor. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary has been credited with re-establishing the dominance of the British spellings in the 1920s and 1930s. For a short time during the late 20th century, Harry Lindgren's 1969 spelling reform proposal (Spelling Reform 1 or SR1) gained some support in Australia and was adopted by the Australian Teachers' Federation and minister Doug Everingham in personal correspondence. Punctuation and style Prominent style guides for the Government of Australia is the Australian Government Style Manual. It is a comprehensive guide that includes usage guides on grammar, punctuation, and conventions for government writers and editors. To indicate speech, both single and double inverted comma quotation marks are used. Generally, double quotation marks are preferred for use in the first instance, with single quotation marks used for quotes within quotes. However, the opposite is true in the government and corporate sectors, where double quotation marks are reserved for quotes within quotes. The punctuation mark used to end a sentence is called a full stop; a period usually refers to menstruation or an interval of time. The DD/MM/YYYY date format is followed and the 12-hour clock is generally used in everyday life (the 24-hour clock is used by the military and police, and for transport timetables). The country has used the metric system since the 1970s, though the imperial system is still sometimes used informally, especially among older Australians, in idioms (e.g. to "go the extra mile", not "go the extra kilometre") and in reference to a person's height. In betting, decimal odds are used in preference to fractional odds, as used in the United Kingdom, or moneyline odds in the United States. Keyboard layout There are two major English language keyboard layouts, the United States layout and the United Kingdom layout. Keyboards and keyboard software for the Australian market universally uses the US keyboard layout, which lacks the pound (£), euro and negation symbols and uses a different layout for punctuation symbols from the UK keyboard layout. ==Demographics==