sign in sign up
<<
Home , Aussie, Australian English, British English, English language, No worries, Roland Sussex

Masaryk Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English and Literature

Jana Krejčířová

Australian English

Bachelor’ Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph. .

2016

I declare have worked on this thesis independently, using only primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

I would to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph.D. for her patience and valuable advice. I would also like to thank my partner Martin Burian and my family for their support and understanding.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations ...... 6

Introduction ...... 7

1. AND ITS HISTORY ...... 10

1.1. Australia before the arrival of the ...... 11

1.1.1. Aboriginal people ...... 11

1.1.2. First explorers ...... 14

1.2. Arrival of the British ...... 14

1.2.1. Convicts ...... 15

1.3. Australia in the 19th century ...... 16

1.3.1. Gold rush ...... 17

1.3.2. The Chinese ...... 18

1.4. Australia in the 20th century ...... 18

1.4.1. White Australia Policy ...... 20

1.5. Present-day Australia ...... 20

1.5.1. ...... 21

1.6. Education ...... 22

1.6.1. School of the Air ...... 23

2. FROM TO ...... 24

2.1. Lexicological aspects ...... 27

2.1.1. Convicts and flash language ...... 27

2.1.2. Rhyming slang ...... 29

2.1.3. Aboriginal people or Aborigines? ...... 31

2.1.4. Borrowings from Aboriginal people ...... 32

2.1.5. Aboriginal English ...... 35

2.1.6. Impact of the USA ...... 36

2.1.7. Migrants in Australia ...... 41

2.2. Phonological aspects ...... 43

2.2.1. , RP and Standard Australian English ...... 43

2.2.2. HCE system ...... 44

2.3. Morphological aspects ...... 46

2.3.1. Reduplication ...... 46

2.3.2. ...... 49

2.3.3. ...... 49

2.3.4. Hypocoristics and diminutives ...... 51

Conclusion ...... 55

References ...... 58

English Summary ...... 65

Czech Summary ...... 66

Appendix A Map of Australia ...... 67

Appendix Clancy of the Overflow ...... 68

Appendix Number of speakers of other in Australia in 2011 ...... 70

Appendix D of into Kriol ...... 71

Appendix Phonemic transcription of Australian English, HCE system ...... 72

Abbreviations

ACT – Australian Capital Territory

AmE –

AuE – Australian English

BrE – British English

HCE – Harrington, Cox, Evans system

IPA – International Phonetic Alphabet

MD – Mitchell & Delbridge system

NSW – New South

NT -

QLD –

RP –

SA –

TAS –

VIC –

WA –

6

Introduction

When comes to English varieties, British and American are the ones that come to ´s mind instantly and people mostly do not find it difficult to provide a few examples of linguistic differences between these two varieties. However, when it comes to Australian English, people usually have a vague idea what is different there, yet providing an adequate example could be difficult for them, especially for non-English speakers.

The aim of this thesis is to on Australian English and explore some of the aspects of language that differ from British English in order to enhance the reader´s awareness about this particular , but also to improve his overall comprehension of . The emphasis is put on several aspects that are within morphological, lexicological and phonological fields, on aspects that the author considers to be the most contrasting with British English. And because “[]anguage is born of culture and in turn reflects the history of a culture” (“Strine”), a brief history of

Australia is provided and lexicological aspects are connected to ethnic groups or events that mark their origin.

As has been mentioned above, the first chapter gives a brief overview of

Australian history with an emphasis on social development of the , proceeding chronologically from the forming of Australia, through Aboriginal people, first explorers, British settlement and convicts, gold rush and White Australia Policy to the multicultural society of today. I chose to outline these aspects, because are important milestones of Australian history and because they have a direct effect on the development of Australian English.

The second chapter is dedicated to the aspects that are making Australian

English distinct from British English. The development of Australian English (since the

7

First Fleet anchored at Botany Bay to present day) is described there, and the subchapters are dealing with the individual linguistic areas. First subchapter describes lexicological aspects of this language, such as flash language, rhyming slang and borrowings from Aboriginal people and from the USA, and links them to their origin.

Second subchapter is devoted to phonological features that differs from RP and HCE vowel system is introduced. The last subchapter represents reduplication, hypocoristics and diminutives – morphological features that have greatly expanded in Australian .

It is crucial for this thesis to specify several terms to avoid ambiguity. Though

Australian English is considered to have very little differences in regional variation comparing to British English (Trudgill and Hannah, 1982, p. 16), it is not completely unified and even Australian English has two categories.

The first category identifies three accent types – Broad, General and Cultivated

(Cox, 2006, p. 4). These accents were distinguished by Mitchell and Delbridge in 1965, where Cultivated accent represents the language of upper class, similar to Received

Pronunciation (RP), and Broad accent represents the language of working class (Wells,

1982, p. 594). The majority of English-speaking use General accent, which is at the centre and is also taken as a standard in this thesis.

The second category identifies three subgroups – Standard Australian

English, Aboriginal English and Ethnocultural English varieties, where Standard

Australian English is the dominant dialect and is used by the majority of speakers.

Aboriginal English and Ethnocultural English are varieties used by minorities, allowing them to express their cultural identity (Cox & Palethorpe, 2007, p. 341). For the purposes of this thesis, Standard Australian English is used (unless stated otherwise).

8

In this thesis, by the term British English is understood (when speaking about and ) and RP (when speaking about ).

9

1. AUSTRALIA AND ITS HISTORY

Once Australia had formed along with , , Antarctica and

India a supercontinent called Gondwana, the southern half of a supercontinent of

Pangea (Encyclopædia Britannica), but about 100 million years ago Australia broke away from Antarctica and became a separate continent. Now it is the ´s sixth- largest country and also the smallest, driest, lowest and flattest continent, and although it is greater than , it is governed only by one country. It lies between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and measures about 4000 km from to west and 3200 km from north to south, with a coastline 36,735 km long. Its area is in size similar to 48 mainland states of the USA (“The Australian Continent”; Driesum, 2002, pp. 22-25). The continent is divided into 6 states (New , Victoria, Queensland, South

Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania) and 2 territories (Northern Territory and

Australian Capital Territory). The capital city is Canberra,1 which lies within Australian

Capital Territory. This city is not the largest nor the most populated, but it was built and designed in a way to fulfil every aspect of a capital city (“The Australia Capital

Territory”; “Cities, states and territories”).

For a detailed map of Australia with state borders, major cities and significant places, see Appendix A.

1 From Aboriginal Kamberra, which means “meeting place” (“Cities, states and territories”), or Kanbarra (Ramson, 1966, p. 22). 10

1.1. Australia before the arrival of the British

1.1.1. Aboriginal people

Indigenous Australian people have lived on the continent for at least 60,000 to

70,000 years2 – this estimation is based on the hard evidence, such as bones and tools, but taken into account other things (like abandoned camp sites), it is also possible that Aboriginal people arrived to Australia more than 100,000 years ago. It is highly probable that they came to Australia from the south of Asia during the last ice age, when the sea level was 130 to 200 meters lower than it is now. This allowed them to get by walking and short voyages across the sea to the north coast from which they spread over thousands of years throughout the whole continent, they also reached Tasmania and New Guinea (which were then still parts of Australian landmass).3 When the ice age ended, which was more than 10,000 years ago, the sea level rose and Aboriginal people had to stay there in isolation which lasted up to the (Clarke, 2002, pp. 6-

10).

They were hunters and gatherers, but they had also a strong connection towards the land they were occupying, so if the density of water and food supplies were sufficient, they tended to stay in the area. They hardly ever stored their food and they shared everything within the group, so there was no one possessed more than the rest of the group, there were no social classes (except for the division between males and females) and no chiefdom. They also did not fight over the land with other tribes, because every tribe had their own place which was sacred to them (Ward, 1992, pp. 12-

14). It was sacred, because they believed the land, spiritual , persons, animals and

2 This differs across the sources, e. .: in Australia the estimation is only 50,000 to possibly 70,000 (Van Driesum, 2002, p. 13). 3 Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania created one large continent, which was called Sahul (Ward, 1992, p. 3). 11 plants were connected to each other. They shared different stories about a creation of the world, which is called Dreaming (or Dreamtime), yet they cannot be understood as myths or fables, because Aboriginal people do not have any concept of time as know it. (Van Driesum, 2002, pp. 60-61; Whitlock & Carter, 1992, p. 62).

Here John Rickard describes how different tribes retell a story about a rainbow- serpent - one of the stories about the creation of the world, which occurs in most

Aboriginal mythologies:

... [It] is commonly depicted in its terrifying, animal form, with a kangaroo-like

head and crocodile teeth, ears or crown of feathers, long, spiked body and fish

tail. Usually inhabiting waterholes, the serpent is also the arching rainbow in the

sky. Thus the rainbow-serpent is a symbol of water and life; sometimes it is also

an ancestral . For the Gunwinggu4 it became Ngalyod,5 a woman, who,

with her husband, Wuragog, travelled the country carrying her digging stick and

net bag. When Wuragog sought to lie with her, Ngalyod was apt to return to her

serpent form, but their union produced children who were the first Gunwinggu.

For the Murinbata6 the rainbow-serpent became a man, Kunmanggur,7 who

made the musical instrument, the didjeridu8, from a bamboo stalk. blew on it

hard, and with the reverberation of its strange music several flying foxes flew

out of its end. Kunmanggur decided to make people, and when he blew again a

boy and girl emerged. (as cited in Whitlock and Carter, 1992, p. 61)

4 Aboriginal tribe living in the north of Northern Territory (“People name: Gunwinggu of Australia”). 5 Gunwinggu´s name for the rainbow-serpent that took a shape of a woman (Monaghan, 2014, p. 164). 6 Another tribe living in the north of Northern Territory (“People name: Murinbata”). 7 A rainbow-snake man and a culture hero of Murinbata (Stanner, 1989, p. 30). 8 Or didgeridoo, a long wooden pipe used as a musical instrument (Macquarie ). 12

As it has been pointed out, they believed everything comes from a common ancestral spirit and if one part of this chain is missing, it all falls apart. Therefore when they lost contact with their land, which the British settlers took from them, they lost part of their connection with and their identity. Dreaming did not affect only but also rituals and ceremonies, which they performed to satisfy ancestral spirits, sang songs, made totems and painted pictures depicting the sacred animals, spirits or symbols (Van Driesum, 2002, pp. 60-61).

“Aborigines were once plentiful in Australia: in 1788, it is claimed, their numbers were between 600,000 and 1 million” (Morgan, 2012, p. 4), but settlement of the British had a devastating impact on their .

Colonized by Europeans who understood little of their culture and spiritual

connections with the land, Aborigines faced severe effects of diseases such as

smallpox during the early decades of contact with settlers. This led to extensive

Aboriginal deaths. Although many instances of cooperation occurred between

Indigenous people and colonizers, Aboriginal lands were overrun, violence

occurred on the pastoral frontier, and Indigenous people became marginalized in

numbers and in their stake in Australian society. (Morgan, 2012, p. 127)

However, their suffering did not end there. During the 20th century, Aboriginal half-caste children (also known as the Stolen Generations) were taken from their families and put into facilities or foster homes to become members of white society

(Morgan, 2012, p. 127; Macintyre, 2009, p. 190). And it was not until 1967, when the constitutional referendum was held, that Aboriginal people were recognised as

Australian citizens by the rest of Australia (Hirst, 2002, p. 186). However, Aboriginal people still live separately from whites and are dealing with diseases, abuse and alcoholism (Morgan, 2012, p. 128).

13

1.1.2. First explorers

Although Australia is a British colony, it was not discovered by them. Ever since ancient Greece and Rome, many philosophers thought that Terra Australis Incognita – the unknown southern land, must exist (Morgan, 2012, p. 6). People imagined this land to be full of mythical beasts and enormous wealth, but when Spanish expedition did not find any significant wealth at and also Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer, did not find anything profitable on an island he named Van Diemen´s Land – which is now Tasmania, their fantasies vanished and they lost their interest in possible commercial prospects in this area (Macintyre, 2009, p. 23).

Only Dutch explorers kept exploring the area and in the middle of the mapped western coast of a continent, which they named New . This name was used until the 19th century, when it was replaced by the label Australia (Van

Driesum, 2002, pp. 15-16). Expeditions were also made by the French and Portuguese

(and possibly by the Chinese as well), but none of them claimed it as their colony

(Morgan, 2012, pp. 7-8; Ward, 1992, p. 20).

1.2. Arrival of the British

James Cook of the Royal Navy was one of the best explorers of the .

His first pacific voyage with a ship Endeavour in the years 1768 – 1771 had a great success and in April 1770 claimed eastern coast of New Holland, which he named New

South Wales, to be a colony of . The decision to settle in Botany Bay was made fifteen years later. By that time Great Britain had lost the North American colonies and could no longer transport convicts there. The original plan was to transport them to Africa, but it was more convenient to move them to Australia - there were several for doing so. They wanted to keep convicts as far as they could, but at

14 the same time they wanted to use Botany Bay as a naval base for expansion to Asia and also for whaling and import of timber and flax. (Macintyre, 2009, pp. 25-29).

The under Phillip´s command set sail from Portsmouth on its 12,000

(19,200 kilometers) voyage to Botany Bay on 13 May 1787.

Accompanying Phillip were 443 seamen, 568 male and 191 female convicts

(with 13 children), 160 marines, 51 officers and noncommissioned officers

(NCOs), 27 soldiers´ (with 19 children), and 9 members of the governor´s

personal staff. (Clarke, 2002, pp. 23-24)

Because Captain Phillip did not find Botany Bay suitable for a new settlement, the fleet moved north and on 21 January 1788 anchored in Port Jackson. Finally, after moving further into the harbour, the fleet reached Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788

(now celebrated as Australia Day) and the settlement based on convicts began

(Macintyre, 2009, p. 30; Morgan, 2012, p. 13).

1.2.1. Convicts

Between 1788 and 1868, over 160,000 convicts reached Australian shores. It is important to say that majority of those convicts were not exactly criminals. They were mostly from lower class and committed a petty or grand larceny because of experiencing hard times rather than they would incline to . Some of them were also political dissidents and exiles from . Most of convicts were men, which led to abuse of women and interracial mixing with Aboriginal women (Morgan, 2012, pp.

14-15).

Convicts did not live in gaols, yet they were not free subjects. They were a major work force for building colonial settlement in Australia. They were employed in construction work, urban trades and agricultural tasks. After a period of good conduct,

15 they could apply to the governor for a ticket-of-leave9 in order to work for a wage.

Otherwise, they had to serve for seven years, exceptionally for fourteen years or a lifetime. They were encouraged to find wives and have children, which were born into freedom (Morgan, 2012, pp. 13-15) – those children were called currency lads and lasses, in reference to locally minted money (Macintyre, 2009, p. 73). Although the

Australian settlement was heavily based on convicts for several decades, according to

Musman (1987), in 1980s it was estimated that only 10 % of Australians were their descendants (p. 80).

1.3. Australia in the 19th century

During this century Australia took shape. By the 1830 New Holland was renamed to Australia and borders of were extended (Macintyre, 2009, p. 51). It was as well a century of exploration. “In 1803 Matthew Flinders sailed right round Australia, noting how bare and uninviting most of the coast was” (Musman,

1987, p. 82). Also the internal exploration took place. After the crossing of Blue

Mountains in 1813, there were many expeditions that were tracing river systems. In the first half of the century, a part of Queensland was explored and south-east Australia was very well mapped (Macintyre, 2009, p. 55). Then, by 1840, the continent was divided into 6 separate colonies, each of them was ruled by a governor, which was appointed by the British Government (Musman, 1987, p. 81).

In 1850, there were almost 406,000 settlers (Morgan, 2012, p. 18). Yet not all of them were convicts. Some of them were free settlers who were seeking for better lives.

This led to a creation of two social classes – a lower class of emancipists (ex-prisoners

9 A document which “entitled a convict to freedom of occupation and lodging within a given district of a colony until the original expired, or a pardon was obtained” (). 16 and their descendants) and upper class of exclusionists (free settlers), with the lack of middle class citizens (Ward, 1992, p. 58).

It was mainly emancipists who were seeking their own national identity, and they found it by the end of the 19th century. Painters and writers focused especially on

Australian outback10 instead of extending urban areas, and they depicted it in a very romantic way, showing a beautiful with a cloudless sky, inhabited by good and happy people. This image was far from reality, because outback could be seen also as a very dry and inhospitable area, with bushrangers11 wandering around. Despite this fact, Australians agreed with the romantic depiction to show their patriotism, even though they knew the reality (Whitlock & Carter, 1992, p. 25). The most known writer of this era is A. B. “Banjo” Paterson, and his poem Clancy of the Overflow (see

Appendix B) best depicts the contrast between this hectic city life and over romanticized idea of the outback (Whitlock & Carter, 1992, p. 36).

The most significant event of this century was definitely the gold rush, which changed the whole situation of Australia. It did not affect only the economy, but also the ethnicity, which was not as homogenous as it was before 1851.

1.3.1. Gold rush

“The gold rush transformed the Australian colonies. In just two years the number of new arrivals was greater than the number of convicts who had landed in the previous seventy years. The non-Aboriginal population trebled, from 430,000 in 1851 to

1,150,000 in 1861” (Macintyre, 2009, p. 87). During the 1850s, there was found so much gold in Australia and that the and the

10 Outback is an “inland area remote from large centres of population” (Encyclopædia Britannica). 11 Bushrangers are bandits, the most famous is Ned Kelly (Encyclopædia Britannica). 17 could adopt the gold standard for their currencies. The deposits of gold in Australia were found mostly in the south-east, in the banks of rivers and creeks. It boosted

Australian economics – during this decade the railways were constructed, telegraph cables were laid and first steamships were built, but at the same time this “gold fever” caused neglecting of religion and education and the focus was put on making money.

This vision of becoming rich attracted not only Australians and the British, but also other nations – , the French, Italians, , the , Hungarians and the

Chinese (Macintyre, 2009, pp. 87-88).

Unfortunately, “[]he long boom, which had led to a steady improvement in the overall standard of living from the time of the gold rushes, came to a sudden end in

1891. In the depression which followed, amid the great strikes, the bank crashes, drought and unemployment, the old faith in constant progress collapsed.” (Whitlock &

Carter, 1992, p. 26).

1.3.2. The Chinese

The Chinese represent the biggest foreign contingent that were seeking gold there – there were 40,000 of them (Macintyre, 2009, p. 88). Although they were - abiding and inoffensive people, Australians hated them. Partially because they had low standard of living and strange appearance and manners, but mostly because Australians were afraid that more and more Chinese would come there until they would become a majority (Ward, 1992, pp. 143-144).

1.4. Australia in the 20th century

The turn of the century was in the name of political changes. The most important change was inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 (Morgan, 2012, p.

18

21). This change preceded a long process, which could be dated back into the early

1880s, when colonies created the Federal Council of Australasia, which main issue was to create strategies towards the designs of Germans and the French in the south-west

Pacific (Macintyre, 2009, p. 136).

Another important issue was female suffrage. Women campaigned since 1894 to get the right to vote and amusingly, they could vote in federal elections in 1902, but they could not vote in all state elections until 1908 (Macintyre, 2009, p. 134; “Women and the right to vote in Australia”).

Australia was also involved in both World Wars, and suffered many casualties, especially in the I. “From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner” (“First World War 1914-1918”). In the World War II there were 39,000 casualties and 30,000 people were taken as prisoners (“Second World War, 1939-45”).

In the middle of the 20th century the Australian identity changed. The focus went from outback to urban and suburban areas and it was no longer about a national type, but about a status quo. They called this concept “the Australian way of life” so that they appear to be more pro-migration, but the fact is, that even though this “way of life” did not have specific rules, they immediately knew when an immigrant was not following them. So when a huge migration of non- came after the World War II, it was accepted under the condition that the immigrants accept the Australian way of life.

This basically caused discrimination towards them because they could not keep their culture and beliefs and had to accept the Australian ones – which caused that the

Australian way of life is not enhanced of those other nations’ culture. It was a vague idea, no one knew what it was, but they felt it was something deep (Whitlock & Carter,

1992, pp. 42-47).

19

1.4.1. White Australia Policy

The Immigration Restriction Act (1901) effectively excluded non-Europeans as

migrants to Australia. The Pacific Island Labourers´ Act (1902) stipulated that

Polynesians, Melanesians and other islander groups should be repatriated to their

home , and excluded emigration to Australia by such people after 1904.

The formal method of exclusion was a 50-word dictation test first used in the

British South African colony of in 1897. A language could be selected for

Asian and other non-English-speaking immigrants in such a way it was virtually

impossible for the person to pass the test. (Morgan, 2012, p. 22)

Although a Migration Act in 1958 abolished the dictation test and Australia was more welcoming towards the immigrants, the White Australia Policy continued and it was not dismantled until 1973. Since this year, race was no longer an important factor in immigration policies and it was possible to obtain a citizenship after three years´ residence (Morgan, 2012, p. 23).

1.5. Present-day Australia

Most settlers clustered near the coastline, especially in the southeastern part of

the continent. Nearly half of Australia´s modern population (9 million out of 22

million)12 lives in Sydney and , which are the focal points of the most

populous states – New South Wales and Victoria. In Western Australia, South

Australia, and Queensland, urban centres are more scattered from one another

and quite isolated. Perth, for example, is 1,672 by from the nearest

large city, , making the West Australian capital one of the world´s most

isolated cities. (Morgan, 2012, pp. 5-6)

12 Population in Australia reached 24 million people in 2016 (“Australia population clock”). 20

Because of these sparsely inhabited areas there was need for special improvements. One such thing was the Royal Flying Service,13 which now helps people not only in emergencies but also offers regular medical examinations, or the

School of the Air (Van Driesum, 2002, p. 54), which is described a little bit more in a subchapter 1.6 Education.

1.5.1. Multiculturalism

While White Australia Policy was still in force in 1960s, it was slowly replaced with policy that allowed a small number of non-Europeans into the country. This number steadily rose to a point, when Australians realised they are living in a multi- cultural society (Whitlock & Carter, 1992, p. 52).

By the early 1970s, Australia was being promoted as a pluralistic, tolerant,

multi-cultural society, although it did not reflect any real improvement in the

position of Aborigines and migrants, most of whom remained on the lower rungs

of the socio-economic ladder. This image coincided – somewhat paradoxically –

with what Whitlam referred to as “the new nationalism.” (Whitlock & Carter,

1992, p. 53)

The number of admitted migrants grew even more and “[t]he census of 2006 reported that almost one-quarter of people living in Australia had been born elsewhere:

1.15 million were born in the United Kingdom, 477,000 in , 220,000 in

Italy, 203,000 in the People´s Republic of , 180,000 in , 154,000 in ,

136,000 in the , and 126,000 in Greece” (Morgan, 2012, p. 26).

13 (“Royal Flying Doctor Service”). 21

1.6. Education

Before the gold rush, education was provided primarily by schools established by the or private schools, which were very expensive and only people from upper class could afford to pay the fees. There were no “national” schools and the education was not compulsory. The quality of teaching was similar to the quality in other countries, but most teachers were transported from Britain, so children were taught in the same way they would be taught in Britain – they learned their culture, customs and language, but they did not learn about their country much. In denominational schools the emphasis was also heavily held upon religion. In 1851 a

Central Board of Education was set up, which task was to administer a secular

“national” system of schools. Meanwhile, Victoria and New South Wales established a dual system, which means they still helped financially to church schools, but they also established a number of undenominational schools. However, this system proved to be expensive and inefficient. They switched to a single, national system, and by the 1880 all colonies passed Education Acts which made education compulsory, so that all children had to either attend a denominational or secular school. (Ward, 1992, pp. 159,

176-177; Morgan, 2012, p. 45).

The first established university in Australia was established even before the primary and secondary education became compulsory. It was University of Sydney and it was built in 1850, University of Melbourne followed in 1853 and University of

Adelaide in 1874. Australian National University in Canberra was established much later - in 1946. Today, there are more than 40 (Whitlock & Carter, 1992, p.

51; “Historical development of Australian university sector”).

22

1.6.1. School of the Air

Until recent times, outback children living away from either attended

boarding school or were educated through written correspondence lessons. In

1944, Adelaide Meithke recognised that HF radio transceivers could be used to

improve the children´s education, as well as their social life, by giving them

direct contact both with trained teachers and their fellow students. Her idea for a

classroom of the airwaves, using the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) radio

facilities, became a reality when Australia´s first School of the Air opened in

Alice Springs in 1951. (Van Driesum, 2002, p. 54)

Now, there are more than 16 schools across Australia where children can get a proper education without the need to spend their school years without their parents.

Thanks to the progress of technology, they are replacing the radio transmission with a network system, which allows schools to have a live streaming, where a teacher can explain things as well as in a real school (“The School of the Air and remote learning”).

23

2. FROM BRITISH ENGLISH TO AUSTRALIAN

ENGLISH

English and Australia became inseparable ever since the First Fleet anchored at its coast. However, language changes and English that was brought by the British to this continent changed over time to the point where it was no longer appropriate to call it

British English and deserved its own label – Australian English.

The change was slow and steady and there is no single date which could be marked as a year when British English became Australian English, but in the first decades of the settlement, the language changed significantly and, according to Dixon and Cunningham, the new dialect was already forming within the first 30 years of colonization (as cited in Cox, 2006, p. 4). However, this dialect was not “regarded by any of its collectors as an independent and respectable branch of English” (Ramson,

1966, p. 14) until 1898, when E. E. Morris published a dictionary called Austral English

(, 2007, p. 75), by that time also the and pronunciation changed to such an extent, it could no longer be considered a variety of British English (Ramson,

1966, p. 2).

The change of language in Australia can be described as a constant of and phrases to British English.

These may take several forms: they may be words completely new to

English, words borrowed from the Aborigines or coined by the colonists; they

may be words new to British English but current in and borrowed from other

branches of English, notably American; they may be words familiar to the

speakers of British English, which, in Australia, have been put to different uses;

or words, unfamiliar perhaps to the speakers of Standard British English, with

24

long histories of use in less refined circles, in the slang of the lower classes or in

regional dialect . (Ramson, 1966, p. 7)

These additions are explored in more depth in the following subchapter 2.1

Lexicological aspects, where they are linked to their origins. As Turner (1966) claims, when a new language is developing, it is crucial to focus more on the first generation of settlers, because new things are named and a way of speech is developed, especially when there are two different linguistic communities mixing. Later arrivals are also important, but not as much as the first settlers, because they try to fit in, so the chance of creating or adopting a new word or phrase is smaller (p. 6). Therefore, the focus is put on the additions from the era of the first settlement, flash language and rhyming slang of convicts and borrowings from Aboriginal people. Also the impact of the USA and migrants and their different approaches on accepting a non-native language are discussed there, because the author wants to show that not every contact with another language has to towards borrowings or other changes in language.

The following subchapter, 2.2. Phonological aspects, refers to the differences of pronunciation in with British RP and provides examples of those differences. Chapter 2.3. Morphological aspects focuses on reduplication and hypocoristics and diminutives, which are important features of Australian English because of the quantity in which they enrich Australian vocabulary.

Dealing with Australian English has two enormous advantages in comparison with the studying of British English (or any other language) and that is a relatively short period of existence and written records, which were available since the first encounter of English and Australia.14 This fact allows researchers to support their claims with

14 Unfortunately, the sources before 1830 were very limited, there was almost no fictional writing and most of the sources were formal letters and journals, which did not show the real form of the language (Ramson, 1966, p. 33). 25 evidence and it is more practicable to track the development since the beginning until the present day. Unfortunately, even with this advantage the author came up to some inconsistencies, for example the term kangaroo is described differently across the sources. All sources agree that kangaroo is the first term borrowed from Aboriginal people, but Ramson (1966) claims that the British later found out that Aboriginal people used this term for all animals except for dogs (p. 100), while in Guide to

Australian English Usage is written that “scholars now believe that the name originally given to Cook may have designated a very specific kind of kangaroo, and that the

Europeans made it the general term for all” (Peters, 2007, p. 450). Apparently, even a

200 years old information can get a new meaning with a proper research.

Unfortunately, Australian English did not experience as much research as, for instance, American or British English, but there are works that are a great contribution to the language - apart from the Morris´s Austral English (1898), another thorough research was done by S. . Baker in his book The Australian Language (1945), where he gives a comprehensive account of Australian vocabulary (Ramson, 1966, p. 26).

However, the biggest importance probably has the first complete Australian dictionary from 1981 with its 80 000 headwords, which is called the Macquarie Australian English

Dictionary (Peters, 2007, p. 75). “This dictionary has joined the Style Manual for

Authors, Editors and Printers of Publications (1978), as one of the few Australian works dealing with the ” (Callan & Gallois, 1987, p.

51).

Now, although Australian English is not the official language of Australia

(“Official and spoken and the Pacifics”), it is used at schools, work, in private and public places and it is used as a device for communication between two ethnic groups (Callan & Gallois, 1987, p. 50). And since Australia truly is a

26 multicultural nation, there can be found a lot of other languages as well. The 2011

Census shown that Australians speak over 200 languages, 50 of them are Aboriginal.

“The most common languages other than English are: Italian, Greek, , ,

Mandarin and Vietnamese. Collectively, Chinese languages (including Cantonese,

Mandarin and other Chinese languages) have the greatest number of speakers after

English, accounting for approximately 3% of the total population” (“Languages other than English”). Appendix C shows a figure of the number of speakers who speak also other languages than English in Australia.

2.1. Lexicological aspects

2.1.1. Convicts and flash language

Convicts have their own ,15 also called flash language, which they use to communicate with each other. They use this special vocabulary to prevent outsiders from listening but also to express some sort of solidarity among them. And because

Australia used to be a penal colony, it is not surprising that the flash language was a huge part of everyday communication (Peters, 2007, p. 299).

For instance, new chum and old hand were slang words for “new settlers” and

“established residents” (Turner, 1966, p.10). Unfortunately, there are not many official records of this language, because authorities considered it as a part of the and were trying to prevent it being used (Peters, 2007, p. 299).

However, several writers made comments about the language and in 1793

Captain Watkin Tench mentioned it in A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port

Jackson (1793), because he felt it is a necessity to translate this language at courts of

15 “The vocabulary of a variety of language associated with a particular profession, occupation or other activity” (Jackson & Amvela, 2000, p. 243). 27 justice for better understanding of the witnesses. He claims that this language has many : “The sly dexterity of the pickpocket; the brutal ferocity of the footpad; the more elevated career of the highwayman; and the deadly purpose of the midnight ruffian, is each strictly appropriate in the terms which distinguish and characterize it”

(Moore, p. 11).

Amusingly, the best information about the flash language comes from a glossary that was compiled by James Hardy Vaux, a convict. Vocabulary of the Flash Language was published in 1819 and it contains 740 words and phrases. There are not only expressions from Australia but also from other English speaking countries. Yet, there is a nice list of words which used to be thieves´ jargon, but they slightly changed their meaning and got incorporated into informal Australian English (Peters, 2007, p. 299).

Here are few examples:

• cadge - “beg” once an intransitive , now transitive

• crack - “break open” now has multiple idiomatic uses

• flash - “belonging to those on the cross” now “flamboyantly expensive”

• frisk - “empty or search thoroughly” now “search (a person) for concealed

weapons”

• job - “a planned criminal action” now “a task” or “regular employment”

• kid(dy) - “child thief” now “child”

• lag - “sentence to transportation” now “arrest or imprison”

• mob - “gang of thieves” now “herd, flock” or “angry crowd”

• pal - “partner, accomplice” now “companion”

• pig - “police runner” now “policeman”

• pull up - “accost or arrest” now “stop (a horse)”

• rig - “racket” once a , now a verb

28

• square - “honest” now “conservative in one’s habits”

• swag - “booty, stolen goods” now “bundle of belongings”

(Peters, 2007, pp. 299-300)

However, flash language was not the only thing convict era brought to

Australian English. Also the organisation and administration of the convict system needed its own terminology, and although many of them were not used since the demise of the system, they are included in the Australian Dictionary to show their importance to Australian history. E.g.: convict settler, double-convict, emancipist, exclusionist, felonry, government servant, probation and ticket-of-leave (Moore, pp. 12-

14). A very interesting term is public servant (civil servant in Britain) – convicts found the term convict insulting, so the colonists had to come up with new names, like government-men or prisoners. Public servant was one of the coined terms and later its meaning was used for anyone who worked for the government. Also the term bushranger has its roots in the convict era – it is a convict who escaped from imprisonment or from assigned service (Moore, p. 14).

2.1.2. Rhyming slang

If someone hears an odd expression that does not seem to make sense, then he is most probably dealing with another aspect of convict contribution to the language, and that is rhyming slang, which was brought to Australia together with Cockney (Van

Driesum, 2002, p. 62; Lynch, 2012). Rhyming slang is a phrase made of two or three words where the latter rhymes with the word it actually represents, for instance and honey means “money”, but it is also possible to use only the first half of the phrase in order to make the unwanted listeners more confused, in this case instead of saying

“money”, it is possible to say only bread (“Cockney Rhyming Slang”; Peters, 2007, p.

29

700). Rhyming slang is an aspect that also overlaps into phonological field, because it is important that the rhyme represents the original word as much as possible, but for the purposes of this paper dealing with this aspect only on lexicological level is sufficient.

Rhyming slang used to be very popular together with the flash language, because it enabled convicts to talk with each other in codes, but once the real meaning was known, it lost its value. (Peters, 2007, pp. 700-701). However, there are some expressions that are still used, some of them took the meaning of the original word as their own:

• “He’s always rabbiting on about something. (rabbit-and-pork: ‘talk’)

• ’ get yourself into trouble if you keep telling porkies. (porky-pies: ‘lies’)

• Blowing a raspberry may be child’s play, but it came from a word you might

prefer not to say in front of your children. (raspberry tart: ‘’)

• To have a Captain Cook: uniquely Australian rhyming slang for ‘look’”

(Lynch, 2012)

There are also new rhymes invented in Australia, for instance Barry Crocker for

“shocker”, Stuart Diver for “survivor” or Jatz crackers for “knackers” (Lynch, 2012).

Rhyming slang also influenced used in Strine16 - ´ll be apples means

“everything will be okay” where apples comes most probably from the rhyme apples and rice meaning “nice” (“Strine”; “Australian English Idioms”; “A list of apple idioms”).

Another trick that the Convicts did to confuse their unwanted listeners was to turn the meaning upside down. That way terms such as bastard or ratbag did not have

16 Strine – “a shortened phonetic rendition of the pronunciation of the word “Australian” in an exaggerated Australian accent” (McCrindle, p. 79) 30 to necessarily mean an insult, but also an endearment, depending on the tone of the sentence and its context (“Strine”).

2.1.3. Aboriginal people or Aborigines?

Before discussing the lexicological contribution of Aboriginal people to

Australian English, it is crucial to state what are the appropriate names for them. In a lot of written sources dealing with Aboriginal culture a term Aborigines is used, but this term is no longer politically correct, because Aboriginal people find it offensive. Also

Aborigine people or Aboriginals cannot be used, because Aborigine refers to a noun and

Aboriginal to an adjective (Dillon, 2011).

It is recommended to use terms such as Aboriginal people/s, Aboriginal person or Indigenous Australian people/s. If it is known from which region a person is, it is possible to use the terms from the language of that particular area, e.g.:

• Murri – Qld, north west NSW

• Nyoongah – WA

• – NSW

• Goori – north coast NSW

• Koorie – Vic

• Yolngu – Arnhem Land

• Anangu – Central Australia

• Palawa – Tasmania

• Nunga – SA (not always a more appropriate term)

• Ngarrindjeri – SA - River Murray, Lakes, Coorong people (“Appropriate

Terminology”)

31

2.1.4. Borrowings from Aboriginal people

It is estimated that in the time of the arrival of the First Fleet there were around

250 Aboriginal languages with 700 dialects17 - some of them distinct like English is from Chinese. It is believed that all the languages evolved from a single , because there are few expressions that occur across the whole continent, such as jina (foot) and mala (hand) and also some grammatical structures bear similar features

(Van Driesum, 2002, pp. 16, 62).

Most of the words18 were borrowed from Aboriginal languages during the first century of settlement – they were primarily that refer to fauna and flora or

Aboriginal culture. Below are several examples, explanations are extracted from the

Macquarie Dictionary, other variations19 or from other Aboriginal languages are provided in the brackets.

Flora:

• brigalow (or burigal) – a species of Acacia

• coolibah (or coolabah, gulabaa) – a species of Eucalyptus

• geebung (or jibung) – any shrub or tree of the genus Persoonia

• jarrah (or jarily)– a large tree with durable dark red timber – Eucalyptus

marginata

• kurrajong (or currajong, garajung) – a tree valued as fodder

• mallee (or ) – another species of Eucalyptus

• mulga (or malga)– another species of Acacia

• waratah (or warata) – a shrub or small tree with a dense globular head of red

flowers surrounded by red bracts, also the floral emblem of NSW

17Whitlock admits only 500 – 600 dialects (Whitlock & Carter, 1992, p. 63). 18 Approximately 400 words from 80 Aboriginal languages (Moore, p. 3). 19 Since their languages do not have a written form, the spelling might vary (Peters, 2007, p. 11). 32

Fauna:

• barramundi – a large, silvery- fish

• boobook (or bug-bug, bubug) – a small owl

• brolga (or buralga) – a large, silvery-grey crane, the faunal emblem of QLD

• budgerigar (or budgerygah) – a small parrot

• currawong (or tullawong, garrawang) – large and white

• (or din-gu) – a wild dog

• galah (or gilaa) – a small cockatoo

• gang-gang – a greyish cockatoo, the faunal emblem of ACT

• koala (or gulawang) – a tailless, grey, furry marsupial, the faunal emblem of

QLD

• kookaburra (or gugubarra) – a large brown and white kingfisher, the faunal

emblem of NSW

• numbat – a small, slender, reddish-brown marsupial, banded anteater, the

faunal emblem of WA

• potoroo (or badaru) – several species of small macropods with pointed

heads

• quokka (or kwaka) – a small wallaby

• wobbegong (or wobbygong, wobegong) – various sharks with flattened body

• wallaby (or wallaba) – small sized mammals, similar to kangaroos

• wallaroo (or walaru) – similar to wallabies and kangaroos

• warrigal (or warragul, warregal) – a dingo

• witchetty – a large caterpillar

• wombat (or wambad) – a large marsupial, heavily built with short legs and a

rudimentary tail, resembling small bears

33

• wonga-wonga (or wanga-wanga) – a pidgeon

• yabby (or yabij) – edible freshwater crayfish

Environment:

• billabong (or wiradjuri) – an anabranch where water stopped flowing or a

watercourse which runs only after rain

• willy-willy (or wili wili, wilang-wilang) – a spiralling wind

Aboriginal culture:

• – a bent or curved piece of hard for hunting

• bunyip – an imaginary creature of Aboriginal legend

• coolamon (or gulaman) – a basin-shaped wooden dish

• – an Aboriginal assembly of sacred, festive, or warlike character;

large, noisy gathering

• gunyah (or gunya, ganya) – a hut made of boughs and

• humpy – similar to gunyah

• lubra – an Aboriginal woman

• mia-mia – a temporary bush shelter, similar to gunyah and humpy

• myall (or mayal) – an Aboriginal person living in a traditional manner,

outside European society

• nulla-nulla (or ngala ngala) – a heavy weapon

• waddy (or wadi) – a heavy wooden club

• woomera (or womera, wumara) – throwing stick with a notch at one end for

holding a dart or spear

(Peters, 2007, p. 11; Macquarie Dictionary)

“Similarly, Aboriginal languages have absorbed many English words, which are invariably adapted to suit Aboriginal and sound systems. For example, many

34 central Australian Aboriginal people use the words “taraka” (), “tiipii” (TV),

“riipula” (rifle) and “ruuta” (road)” (Van Driesum, 2002, p. 63).

2.1.5. Aboriginal English

Because Aboriginal people and Australians shared the land and not the language but they often had to communicate with each other, they developed a language.

“A pidgin is an original system of communication, developed out of existing languages under special circumstances. It usually happens when groups of people who have no language in common try to communicate with each other, using whatever words they hear being used around them” (Peters, 2007, p. 620). It often develops during trading and it consists of basic words without or suffixes and one word often has several meanings. Its sentences have the simplest grammatical structures. When topics of conversation increase the pidgin gets more elaborate, sometimes to such an extent it becomes a creole – that means the grammar is more complicated, vocabulary is more extensive and it becomes a native language for some people. This happened in New

Guinea - New Guinea pidgin () became a native language, but the name remained the same. Some recorded Aboriginal Creoles across northern Australia are also collectively known as Kriol (Peters, 2007, p. 621). Kriol “contains many English words, but, once again, grammatical usage is along Aboriginal line. For example, the

English sentence ʻHe was amazedʼ becomes ʻI bin luk kwesjinmakʼ” in Kriol (Van

Driesum, 2002, p. 63).

John Harris in the book Language and Culture in Aboriginal Australia (1993) compares an excerpt from Bible in English with a translation in Kriol. The excerpt is from Ephesians 1: 5-10, where St. Paul discusses ´s plan for humankind (see

Appendix D). This excerpt provides a nice example of how distinct two languages can

35 get, even though one is based on the other. Translation of Bible was chosen because the author believes it is done more precisely than, for instance, a story.

When we are speaking of this combination of an Aboriginal language and

Australian English, we might as well use term Aboriginal English – it is used for a range of forms very close to standard Australian English to very close to Kriol. Though

Aboriginals do not have problems with incorporating English words when communicating with a non-Aboriginal, they often struggle with pronunciation.

For example, many Aboriginal languages do not include the sounds “s”, “”,

“”, “” or “th” and do not distinguish between “b” and “p”, or “d” and t”. This

is one of the reasons why the names of some languages have several ,

such as Walbiri/Warlpiri, which is spoken in central Australia. Conversely, it´s

difficult for some English-speaking people to roll their ´s, or to distinguish

between retroflexed (made with the tongue curled back on the roof of the mouth)

and non-retroflexed sounds that are typical of most Aboriginal languages. (Van

Driesum, 2002, p. 63)

2.1.6. Impact of the USA

Contact between Australians and Americans was made at the beginning of the

19th century and until the beginning of the gold rush communication was held only between sealers, whalers and traders. Yet this group of people was not responsible for the first borrowings from the United States. Yet, there are some words that were borrowed during that time, all of them from one area of usage. Block, location, section and township were used for surveying the land for settlement and bush, bushranger

(meaning “woodsman”, “bushman”), landshark and squatter belong to the same context. It is unlikely that those words were brought by whalers or sealers, because they

36 also appeared in formal correspondence and in colloquial contexts. It is possible that those words got to Australia via colonial administrators, who were familiar with

American practice (Ramson, 1966, pp. 133-135).

The second group of borrowings is from the gold rush era. In this case was borrowing mutual – Australians adopted goldmining vocabulary from American miners and adventures and Australians and returning Americans brought Australian expressions to the United States – e. g. the verb to buck was recorded twenty years earlier in

Australia than in the United States (Ramson, 1966, pp. 132, 145). Most of the borrowed words from California were not American coinages or new formations, they were usually used long time ago in British English, but they found new application in the gold mining. Here are two examples:

• digger - AmE: a prospector; AuE: a person who searches for gold20

• dirt - BrE: excrement or unclear matter, filth; later mud or soil; AmE, AuE:

the substance that is dug – earth, clay, gravel (Ramson, 1966, p. 147)

Other examples of borrowing are:

• gold-digger, gold-diggings, gold district, gold / yellow fever, gold seeker

• to salt a claim – “to sprinkle salt over the dirt”, salt looks like a gold-dust

and it gives the miner an impression that he has found gold

• wet or dry diggings – those who work in the river and those who work on the

river bank

• dipper, pan – equipments used for digging

• bowie knife – a heavy sheath knife, usually made of old file or piece of

metal

20 Since the World War I this name also meant Australian soldiers (Macquarie Dictionary). 37

• Corduroy road – trees cut in halves are put onto a swampy part of a road so

that a coach can get over (Ramson, 1966, pp. 148-150)

In the following years, tourists and traders travelled between Australia and the

United States, but this exchange of words did not leave a significant impact (Ramson,

1966, p. 134). What had an impact (and still have) were the years since 1918, when

Hollywood cinema offices were introduced in Australia. Although Australians produced their own films, three-quarters of the films shown in cinemas were American (Morgan,

2012, p. 106).

The Americanization was intensified with visits of the U.S. troops during World

War II. One of the reasons this was happening is, that Australians were confronted by a dominant culture and started to imitate it, because they liked the image of this bright, attractive place that the United States gave (Maslen, 1996).

And even after the World War II Australia still has very close ties with the USA, so there is no wonder they keep borrowing some of their words. Mr. Sussex made a research where he collected more than 10,000 words and phrases that Australians adopted from the United States. They do not copy only words and phrases, but also grammar, speech patterns or types of dress or behaviour. What´s worse is that

Australian do not only add Americanisms to their language, they replace their original words with them. For example, sandshoes are now , flats became , garbage replaced rubbish, and instead of Australian “,” it is more likeable to hear “No sweat” (Maslen, 1996).

Australians are not the only one who are under the influence of the United

States, but the linguistic and cultural adoption is happening here faster and further than in any other country during the last decades. And while there are countries where people are ready to fight to protect their culture and language, Australians accept this

38

Americanization willingly. Mr. Sussex claims he sees it as a cultural insecurity. He accepts that the English language is constantly changing and that this Americanization has also a bright side – for instance, Australian English has become more expressive, but he is still worried about the extent to which Australians copy them and encourages

Australians to use their own expressions instead of the American ones (Maslen, 1996).

Also Sidney J. Baker, a philologist from New Zealand, was interested in the

Americanisation in Australia, but his point of view on this subject was rather the contrary. In his contribution to journal American Speech from 1943 he wrote that

Australians tend to feel inferior and that “they have been told so often by the misinformed that their own slang lacks originality and has been imported in bulk from

America that they have lost confidence in themselves” (p. 253). He mentions, that in the

Dictionary of American English can be found a lot of expressions, which Australians considered to be theirs, but since they did not have any dictionary of their language at that time, they assumed they were mistaken and accepted them as American expressions

(Baker, 1943, pp. 253-254).

Here are words Baker selected from the Dictionary of American English, which were recorded earlier in Australia:

Australia USA

Australian, adj. (pertaining to Australia) 1814 1856 boomer, . (notable, impressive) 1860 1887 bullpuncher 1872 1874 brush, n. (forest-covered country) 1799 1881 buck, v. (of a horse) 1848 1864 buckjumper (a horse that bucks) 1848 1878 bush (forest-covered land) 1803 1827

39 bushranger 1805 1830

Chink (a Chinese) 1879 1901 coast about (to wander) 1878 1889 dray (a wheeled waggon) 1833 1836 jumper (a man´s blouse) 1852 1853

(Baker, 1943, p. 254)

In 1943, he doubted that more than 500 Americanisms in Australian usage could dominate the field of Australian slang, where could be found more than 6,000 terms

(Baker, 1943, p. 256). As has been mentioned above, Mr. Sussex managed to find

10,000 words by 1996 (but let´s not forget the possibility that a lot of them might be of a different origin). This enormous increase looks scary and supports the fears about the future of Australian language, which Mr. Sussex has, but at The Macquarie Dictionary

Online we can get an access to the Macquarie Dictionary Sixth Edition (2013) with annual updates of words which is comprised of more than 150,000 headwords21 and run-on headwords22 (Macquarie Dictionary). As we can see, the enormous increase is on both sides, yet I think it is not to be a little bit sceptical here and encourage

Australians to use and invent more of their own vocabulary rather than borrow more and more words from Americans.

Nevertheless, according to Kel Richards, Australians do not borrow words as thoughtlessly as has been presented here. He provides few examples of Americanisms that Australians get into contact on everyday basis via media, yet they still have not adopted them:

• back of – “behind”

21 80,000 headwords in 1981 (Peters, 2007, p. 75). 22 “Words which are derivatives of the headword and which are simple extensions of the meaning” (Macquarie Dictionary). 40

• drug stores – “chemists”

• gas – “petrol”

• freight – “goods trains”

• rain check – no equivalent in AuE, although it is a useful expression they do

not use it

• milquetoast – weak or timid person (Richards, 2015)

2.1.7. Migrants in Australia

As has been mentioned in the first chapter, Australia is a multicultural society.

That means that although Australia is not surrounded by other nations, Australian

English can still get in touch with other languages via immigrants and other visitors.

Four ethnic groups – the Chinese, Germans, Italians and Scandinavians, were chosen because they have very different attitudes towards accepting Australian English.

The first group, the Chinese, constituted the biggest non-British group during the gold rush and even after this era their numbers remained significant. But because of racial prejudices coming from Australians, Chinese were forced to create their community and isolate themselves from the rest of the Australia, so their importance was rather economic than linguistic (Ramson, 1966, p. 153).

The German settlers were highly regarded by the British and they made a significant proportion of the population in parts of South Australia and Queensland, so a heavy borrowing of words would be expected, but the reality was different. They were also living in isolation, but from different reasons. Although they were surrounded by

Australians, their settlement did not disintegrate – a huge influence had the Lutheran

Church, whose pastors were mostly born and trained in , which led to creating

German-speaking school, clubs and press. Due to this Deutschtum, “Germanness”, not

41 even bilingualism was very common – German was considered to be a prestige language and they did not mix it with English if it was not necessary. Also the fact that

German was banned in Australia during World War I did not bring any contribution to the language – in fact, cities that were occupied by the Germans and bore German name were renamed. It had the biggest impact in South Australia, where more than 60 place- names were changed. For instance, Bismarck became “Weeroopa”, Hahndorf

“Ableside”, Klaebes “Kilto”, New Hamburg “Willyaroo” and Summerfeldt

“Summerfield” (Ramson, 1966, pp. 153-157). The selection of new names is very interesting. Usage of translations could be predicted and also use of a completely new name is not strange, but the use of Aboriginal names is almost shocking, if we take into consideration the fact that at that time Aboriginal people were not taken as Australian citizens yet.

Italians are considered to be the most important immigrant minority since 1891, whose numbers reached 228,00023 in 1961. They stayed in groups like Germans did and first generations of Italians also spoke only their native language, but their children learned English at school which led to bilingual and opened communities, which did not need to form “a little Italy” within Australia (Ramson, 1966, p. 158).

From these four groups only Scandinavians dissipated and adopted Australian culture and language as their own (Ramson, 1966, p. 152).

23 “According to the 2001 census, over 800,000 (4.3 per cent) Australians claimed Italian descent with 218,718 Australian residents having been born in Italy” (“Australian Communities: ”) 42

2.2. Phonological aspects

2.2.1. Cockney, RP and Standard Australian English

One of the biggest characteristic feature of Australian English is their speech. As has been mentioned in the introduction, Australian English has three accents – Broad,

General and Cultivated, where Broad accent is based on Cockney and Cultivated accent shares pronunciation with RP, because it expresses prestige and education. These differences within happened gradually and although the trend of the last years is to shift away from these extremities, it is still possible to find speakers of the

Broad and Cultivated accents there. The language was developing since the first settlement, where people (especially children) spoke with different variations of English and in order to understand each other better, they found a common ground and it is possible that this proto-broad form of language was already well developed by the second generation of native-born settlers. By the end of the 19th century, the proto- broad form, as Bernard named it, developed into the earlier mentioned accents (as cited in Cox, 2006, p. 4).

Standard Australian English with General accent is non-rhotic, which means the

/r/ is not usually pronounced (far -> /fɐ:/), unless using linking /r/ (far out -> /fɐ:ræɔt/), or intrusive /r/ (Tina Arena -> /ti:nərəri:nə/). Its is flatter, speech rhythm slower and is more evenly spaced than in RP. (Cox, 2006, p. 5; Cox & Palethorpe,

2007, p. 341; “Australian English”).

While Australian consonantal features are very similar to those of other English dialects, differ from RP significantly. Some of the differences are:

• /i:/ rather than /ɪ/ in very, many, etc. That means seedy has the same vowel in

both , but city does not

43

• /ə/ rather than /ɪ/ in unstressed syllables. That means /ə/ occurs in the final

of horses and wanted, but also in the final syllable of naked, David

and honest

• /æ/ in dance, sample, plant, branch

• Front vowels tend to be closer than in RP - the body of the tongue is closer

to the palate (Trudgill & Hannah, 1982, pp. 16-17)

• The is used more often, frequently replacing /ɪ/ in unaccented

positions, as in boxes, dances, darkest, velvet, acid

• Shift of /eɪ/ towards /ʌɪ/ as in Australia, day, mate, and /aɪ/ towards /ɒɪ/, as

in high, wide (“Australian English”)

There are also other differences, for instance, days of the week are often pronounced with final /eɪ/ rather than /ɪ/ (Monday /mʌndeɪ/), especially by younger speakers (Trudgill & Hannah, 1982, p. 19).

2.2.2. HCE vowel system

As has been mentioned, the vowel features differ from RP. In fact, they differ to such an extent, they should no longer take RP as its external standard, nor use the

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols for transcription, because it does not correspond with the reality. Currently, it is the best to use the Harrington, Cox and

Evans (HCE) system from 1997, which better corresponds with reality (Cox, 2006, pp.

5-10).

The following passage is based on a table made by Felicity Cox, where she compared Mitchell and Delbridge (MD)24 system with the new HCE system (Cox,

2012, p. 17). There are 19 examples, each for one vowel transcription symbol. The

24 Previously used system for transcription of Australian English (Cox, 2006, p. 7). A.G. Mitchell wrote The Pronunciation of English in Australia (1946) (Ramson, 1966, p. 30). 44 author will rewrite the table and add one more column with the IPA transcription of

Received Pronunciation of these examples:

Example word MD HCE IPA (RP)

beat /i/ /iː/ /iː/

bit /ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/

bet /ɛ/ /e/ /e/

cared /ɛə/ /eː/ /eə/

bat /æ/ /æ/ /æ/

Bart /a/ /ɐː/ /ɑ:/

but /ʌ/ /ɐ/ /ʌ/

pot /ɒ/ /ɔ/ /ɒ/

bought /ɔ/ /oː/ /ɔ:/

put /ʊ/ /ʊ/ /ʊ/

boot /u/ /ʉː/ /u:/

Bert /ɜ/ /ɜː/ /ɜː/

bait /eɪ/ /æɪ/ /eɪ/

bite /aɪ/ /ɑe/ /aɪ/

Boyd /ɔɪ/ /oɪ/ /ɔɪ/

bout /aʊ/ /æɔ/ /aʊ/

boat /oʊ/ /əʉ/ /əʊ/

beard /ɪə/ /ɪə/ /ɪə/

the (not “thee”) /ə/ /ə/ /ə/

(Cox, 2012, p. 17; “IPA Vowels”; “Phonetizer”).

It is apparent that the old MD system mostly copied the IPA chart and RP pronunciation, which in some cases does not create any problems, but it is visible that

45 the old system, nor the IPA transcription does not work for words such as cared, Bart, but, pot, bought, boot, bait, bite, Boyd, bout and boat and the HCE vowel system is much needed for a correct transcription of Australian English.

In Appendix D, a short passage is transcribed via HCE system to provide a more extensive example.

2.3. Morphological aspects

2.3.1. Reduplication

Reduplication is a word-formation process and it is a part of derivational morphology. It is a repetition of a base word and it is possible to copy the whole word, in that case it is a full reduplication, or only a part of the word, and that is a partial reduplication (Booij, 2012, p. 36). Reduplicant25 can be used as , or as an internal reduplication (Katamba & Stonham, 2006, p. 190). “The subject of reduplication is practically inexhaustible with classical examples coming from languages where this linguistic strategy is grammatically less marginal than in English”

(Bubeník, 1999, p. 7).

Reduplication is widely used across languages. This process can change singular form to (e.g.: ren “man” – renren “everybody” in Mandarin), suggest repetition

(e.g: guyon “to jest” – guguyon “to jest repeatedly” in Sundanese) or suggest an increase of frequency or intensity (e.g.: dii “to be good” – díídii “to be extremely good” in Thai).

It can also have a diminutive effect (e.g.: xóyamac “child” – xoyamacxóyamac “small child” in Nez Perce) (Katamba & Stonham, 2006, pp. 182-183).

25 “That part of the word which is the result of copying from the base” (Katamba & Stonham, 2006, p. 350). 46

As it has been pointed out, this process is very widespread, but Eurocentric writers tend to treat this word-formation process as a curiosity. Though there are not many expressions in British English, Australian English has a wide variety of them, due to heavy borrowing of words from Aboriginal languages, which are rich in reduplicating. For example, Walpiri, Australian language, uses full reduplication to refer to plural form of :

- kurdu “child” – kurdukurdu “children”

- kamina “girl” – kaminakamina “girls”

- mardukuja “woman” – mardukujamardukuja “women” (Katamba & Stonham,

2006, pp. 180, 183)

Australian English uses Aboriginal reduplicatives, for instance, as names for their places – e. g.: Wagga Wagga, Woy Woy or hypothetical remote outback Woop

Woop (Peters, 2007, p. 76).

There are also other reduplications that are used widely used in Australian

English, such as:

• fuddy-duddy – a fussy, stuffy or old fashioned person

• hanky-panky – jugglery or sexual play

• heebie-jeebies – delirium tremens, nervousness or revulsion

• mumbo-jumbo – or ritual

• razzle-dazzle – noisy and showy display

• walkie-talkie – a combined radio transmitter and receiver

• chitchat – small talk

• crisscross – a crisscross mark, pattern, manner

• dillydally – to waste time, especially by indecision

• dingdong – any similar sound of repeated strokes

47

• mishmash – hotchpotch, jumble

• riffraff – worthless or low persons

• tittle-tattle – to reveal private matters in idle gossip

• zigzag – a line that goes sharply from one side to another

• fifty-fifty – in equal quantities

• goody-goody – a sentimentally good person

• hush-hush – highly confidential

• never-never – a remote, isolated region, outback

• pooh-pooh – dismiss as unworthy consideration

• pretty-pretty – pretty, but lacking character or style

• tut-tut – expressing disapproval

• bandy-bandy – a small, nocturnal, venomous snake

• mia-mia – a temporary bush shelter

• willy-willy – a spiralling wind

• nulla-nulla – an Aboriginal weapon

• wonga-wonga – a pigeon (Peters, 2007, p. 684; Macquarie Dictionary)

These expressions are often used in Australia, some of them are taken from Aboriginal languages and their meaning is usually connected with Aboriginal culture or with

Australian environment. They can be also invented by Australians, to sound more casual and funny or borrowed from other languages. Unfortunately, it is not clear which reduplications originated in Australia and which were borrowed. According to British

National Corpus, words such as fifty-fifty, zigzag or hush-hush are also used in British

English.

48

2.3.2. Clipping

Clipping is a word formation process during which parts of a word are removed in order to create a new, shorter version, where the remnant takes the same meaning as the original form, e.g. pram from perambulator, fridge (originally frig) from refrigerator or mike from microphone (Jackson & Amvela, 2000, p. 241; Booij, 2012, p.

312). As can be seen, most clippings are one syllable long, even if the base word is very long (Bauer, Lieber, & Plag, 2013, p. 190).

It is also possible to use term truncation, especially if the word functions as hypocoristics – for instance in the process of forming personal names:

• David -> Dave

• Elizabeth -> Liz

• -> Kate

• Susan -> Sue

“Truncation may operate in connection with the addition of an ending. In

English the endings – or –ie can be added to the truncated form:”

• Rebecca -> Becky

• Suzanne -> Suzy

• Communist -> commie (Booij, 2013, p. 21)

This word formation process is an important feature for another word formation

process, which is discussed in the subchapter 2.3.4 Hypocoristics and

diminutives.

2.3.3. Suffixes

There is an enormous amount of suffixes that allows to enhance the language with a great number of new words. They cannot create words by themselves, because

49 they are bound morphemes – that means they have to be attached behind another morpheme to create a new word. With suffixes, it is possible to create nouns, adjectives, and .

Here are several examples of creating personal and concrete non-personal nouns in English:

• -ee addressee, employee

• -eer mountaineer, profiteer

• -er hunter, writer

• -ess hostess, actress

• -ist violinist

• -ite Sybarite

• -ster gangster (Bubeník, 1999, p. 173)

These are regular suffixes, which are used in British English as well, but there are also suffixes that are used especially in Australian English, those are –aroo and – eroo and -oroo.

Suffix –aroo is connected with several Aboriginal words for fauna and flora – kangaroo, wallaroo, willaroo, calgaroo, with names of places such as Coorparoo

(QLD), Gundaroo (NSW) and Liparoo (VIC) and common nouns like jackaroo26 and jillaroo27 (Peters, 2007, p. 62).

Suffix –eroo was, at first, popular in the United States in the 1940s, but it spread around with movements of military. This led to confounding with the suffix -aroo in

Australia. While in New South Wales there is a place called Boolaroo, in South

26 “A young man working on a sheep or , to gain practical experience in the skills needed to become an owner, overseer, manager” (Macquarie Dictionary). 27 “A young woman working on a sheep or cattle station to gain practical experience in the skills needed to become an owner, overseer, manager” (Macquarie Dictionary). 50

Australia there is Booleroo. It also led to creating new words – a place called Nackeroo, boozeroo28 and switcheroo.29

There also exists one word with a suffix –oroo – potoroo30 (Peters, 2007, p. 62;

Macquarie Dictionary).

However, these three suffixes are not as important as those that are used across all varieties of English. Without these regular suffixes and clipping that has been mentioned earlier, there would be no hypocoristics and diminutives, a huge asset to

Australian English.

2.3.4. Hypocoristics and diminutives

These two morphological aspects are probably the most important for Australian

English, but not because they could be found only in Australian English (they are actually used in many languages, in other varieties of English as well), but because of the quantity that came into this language. While one source claims, that there are about

5000 diminutives identified in Australian English (“Strine”), Roland Sussex states, that there are about 4300 forms of hypocoristics, which is estimated to create 4 % of

Australian lexis (Kidd, Kemp, & Quinn, 2011, p. 360). The problem here is, that it is hard to tell the total number of these two aspects, because the definitions of them vary and sometimes overlaps across the sources.

A diminutive is described as “a morpheme indicating smallness or endearment”

(Katamba & Stonham, 2006, p. 350), or as a word which is denoting “… smallness and possibly also expressing an attitude. The expressed attitude can be either positive or negative, i.e. either affectionate or derogatory, depending on the specific interplay of

28 “A drinking spree” (Macquarie Dictionary). 29 “A turnabout” (Macquarie Dictionary). 30 Small macropods living in dense grass (Macquarie Dictionary). 51 linguistic and situational factors in a given context” (Simpson, 2004, p. 4).

Hypocoristics is described as “a pet-name, often used as a proper name to express affection” (Booij, 2012, p. 316) or as a form that is easier and quicker to say than the original word while “creating the feeling that comes from sharing a common expression” (Bardsley & Simpson, 2009, p. 54). From the provided definitions one can assume that although these aspects are divided by a very thin line and that there are words which can express smallness and affection at the same time (e.g. doggy/doggie), there is a difference between these terms. Yet, there are also works where these terms are taken as synonyms, like in this case: “These are called hypocoristics or hypo- coristics depending on how you're going to pronounce it. We call them various other things like clippies or diminutives and these are forms like Tassie for Tasmania, povo for poverty or poverty-stricken, and pav for pavlova.31 These occur in pretty much every dialect of English but are very, very common in Australian English” (Kidd).

Overlaps are not only in the meanings of these two aspects, but also in their grammatical forms. The most popular way of creating a hypocoristics or a diminutive is

(usually) by clipping and adding a suffix -ie or -y:

• Australia -> Aussie

• -> footy

• -> bickie

• Breakfast -> brekkie

• -> telly (Kidd, Kemp, Quinn, 2011 , pp. 174-175)

Usually both spellings are acceptable, but there are some terms that are recorded only with the suffix -ie (e.g. bookie, groupie, townie) and some words are better to use

31 A dessert with an unknown origin, Australians and argue in whose country it was invented – according to Oxford English Dictionary, New Zealanders were first (“What is pavlova?”; “Pavlova created in New Zealand”). 52 with this suffix in order to distinguish the colloquial noun from a regular adjective

(bushie as “one from the bush”/ bushy as an adjective). Colloquialisms describing family relationships use -y (daddy, granny, mummy) (Peters, 2007, pp. 385-386).

It is also possible to add suffix -:

• Afternoon -> arvo

• Garbage collector -> garbo

• Bottle shop / -> bottlo (Kidd, Kemp, & Quinn, 2011, pp. 174-

175)

Although according to Evan Kidd, usage of this suffix is declining. Words like povo “poverty-stricken”, dero/derro “derelict person” or ambo “ambulance” are now more used by older people than younger people, who rather use one syllable words instead of adding -o (Kidd).

There are also other ways of creating hypocorisms:

• Adding the – The Isa “Mount Isa, The Sov “the Sovereign Hotel”

• Truncation – Copa “Copacabana Beach”, Port “Port Macquarie”

• Initials – KI “Kangaroo Island”, TI “”

• Suffix -a – Macca “Macquarie Island” (or “McDonald´s”, depending on a

context)32

• Suffix -s – Margs “Margaret River area (Bardsley & Simpson, 2009, p. 68)

Hypocorisms can be found in almost part of Australian life. Jane Simpson found

346 colloquial names for places: “The referents of these toponyms include countries

(Oz: Australia), states (Tazzie: Tasmania), towns (Adders: Adelaide), (Sevvo:

Seven Hills), sports grounds (The WACA), schools (Stannies: St Stanislaus School),

32 Term Macca is now more used for McDonald´s. Its popularity is so great that even McDonald´s changed their name for celebration of Australia Day to Macca´s across all Australia (“McDonald´s rebrands to Macca´s in Australia”). 53 buildings (Wenty: Wentworth Building), pubs (The Wello: The )” (Simpson,

2001, p. 90). They are also widely used between skiers, surfers, fishermen and farmers.

Brand names are shortened – a Rangy is “Range Rover”, a Fergie is “Fergusson tractor”. Plant names are not “gladiolus” and “rhododendron”, but gladdie and rhodo.

Sallies or salvos for “Salvation Army”, Presbie or Presbo for “Presbyterians”. The Libs for “the Liberal Party” or the Nats for “the National Party” – and many more (Bardsley

& Simpson, 2009, p. 56).

54

Conclusion

The aim of this thesis has been to enhance the reader’s awareness about

Australian English and show its differences in comparison with British English. The author has chosen this topic because she believes this variety of English is as important as any other variety, yet this one is not very much discussed (compared to British or

American English) and people, especially non-English speakers, often do not know what makes Australian English so special or how it evolved. Though this paper does not deal with every aspect that differs from British English, the author believes it will give the reader a good idea about the differences and the origin of this language. It will also improve reader´s overall comprehension of English language and possibly excite his interest for this issue.

The thesis is divided into two main chapters. The first one is dedicated to

Australian history. It proceeds chronologically from the forming of Australia to present day and it gives a brief summary of the most important events of Australian history, familiarizes the reader with Aboriginal culture and their struggles, the first settlement and convict colony, gold rush and economic boom which followed and explains the

White Australia policy that made Australia hostile to many non-European immigrants, but also the shift that followed and turned Australia into multicultural nation. Also brief history of Australian education is provided.

The second chapter is devoted to the topic of this thesis and that is Australian

English. It gives information about its development and the most important works written about the language. The chapter is divided into three subchapters dealing with lexicology, phonology and morphology.

In the first subchapter, 2.1 Lexicological aspects, the additions of words are divided into groups according to their origin. There is flash language (square, pal, pig)

55 and rhyming slang (porkies -> porky-pies “lies”) of the convicts and terms used during the first settlement (bushranger, ticket-of-leave). There are also borrowings from

Aboriginal (billabong, mia-mia), definitions of pidgin languages and example of Kriol language. The positive and negative impact of borrowing from American English is discussed there, along with examples of borrowing (block, squatter) but also with

American examples that are useful but for some Australians did not incorporate them into their language (rain check). Four migrant groups and their different approaches towards Australian English are pointed out.

In the second subchapter, 2.2 Phonological aspects, Broad, General and

Cultivated accents of Australian English and their connection to Cockney and RP are distincted. Also differences between Standard Australian English and RP (such as the shift of /eɪ/ towards /ʌɪ/ as in Australia, day, mate, and /aɪ/ towards /ɒɪ/, as in high, wide) are provided and HCE vowel system, used for transcription of Australian

English, is introduced.

The last subchapter, 2.3 Morphological aspects, draws attention to reduplication, hypocoristics and diminutives which are aspects that the author considers to be the most prevalent in morphology of Australian English. The reader will know what is the meaning of reduplicatives such as never-never or willy-willy, or what is the original term for hypocoristics like dero or bickie, or how do Australians call McDonald´s.

What has been found interesting during the research for this thesis is that for more than two hundred years Australians kept their English understandable for other varieties of English and yet they found a way to customize the language in such a way it represents their historical legacy, while their speech is full of nuances that resemble their free and happy lifestyle. Although not every aspect of the language is mentioned here, the author hopes the thesis provides sufficient information that will help the reader

56 to broaden his awareness not only about Australian English but about the language overall.

57

References

A list of apple idioms. Retrieved from

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/01/apple-idiom-day/

Appropriate Terminology, Indigenous Australian Peoples. In City of Ipswich. Retrieved

from

http://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/10043/appropriate_i

ndigenous_terminoloy.pdf

Australia population clock. (2016, April 29). Retrieved from

http://countrymeters.info/en/Australia

Australia regions map. Retrieved from http://www.worldmap1.com/australia-regions-

map

Australian Communities: Italian Australians. In Teaching resources. Retrieved from

http://www.racismnoway.com.au/teaching-resources/factsheets/58.html

Australian English. Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. Retrieved

from http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-

transcripts-and-maps/australian-english

Australian English Idioms. Retrieved from

https://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/country/australian+english.html

Baker, S. J. (1943). The influence of American slang on Australia. American

Speech, 18(4), 253–256. http://doi.org/10.2307/486636

Bardsley, D., & Simpson, J. (2009). Hypocoristics in New Zealand and Australian

English. In P. Peters, P. Collins, A. Smith (Eds.), Comparative Studies in

Australian and : Grammar and Beyond, pp. 49-69.

Amsterdam, The : John Benjamins Publishing. Retrieved from

58

https://books.google.cz/books?id=2foT6e766G0C&lpg=PA49&dq=bardsley%2

0simpson&hl=&pg=PA49#v=onepage&=bardsley%20simpson&=false

Bauer, L., Lieber, R., & Plag, I. (2013). The Oxford Reference Guide to English

Morphology. Oxford, : .

Booij, G. (2012). The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology

(3rd ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Bubeník, V. (1999). An introduction to the study of morphology. München, Germany:

LINCOM Europa.

Callan, V. J., & Gallois, C. (1987). -Australians' and immigrants' attitudes toward

language and accent: A review of experimental and survey research. The

International Migration Review, 21(1), 48–69. http://doi.org/10.2307/2546129

Cities, states and territories. Retrieved from http://www.australia.com/en/facts/cities-

states-territories.html

Clarke, F. G. (2002). The . Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Cockney Rhyming Slang. Retrieved from

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words04/usage/slang_cockney.html

Cox, F. (2006). Australian English pronunciation into the 21st century. Prospect, 21, pp.

3-21. Retrieved from

http://ezproxy.muni.cz/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=

true&AuthType=ip,cookie,uid&db=edo&AN=21210649&lang=cs&site=eds-

live&scope=site

Cox, F. (2012). Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription. Sydney, NSW:

Cambridge University Press.

59

Cox, F., & Mannell, R. (2014a). Australian English Transcription: Practice Exercises. In

Macquarie University ( and Phonology). Retrieved from

http://clas.mq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/transcription/exercises/index.html

Cox, F., & Mannell, R. (2014b). Australian English Transcription: Practice Exercises.

In (Phonetics and Phonology). Retrieved from

http://clas.mq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/transcription/exercises/exercises_phonem

ic.html

Cox, F., & Palethorpe, S. (2007). Australian English. Journal of the International

Phonetic Association, 37, pp. 341-350. Retrieved from

http://ezproxy.muni.cz/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=

true&AuthType=ip,cookie,uid&db=edb&AN=27792876&lang=cs&site=eds-

live&scope=site

Dillon, A. (2011, Dec 14). Political correctness: an impediment to reconciliation. ABC.

Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-15/dillon---political-

correctness3a-an-impediment-to-reconciliati/3731552

Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/place/Gondwana-

supercontinent

First World War 1914-1918. Retrieved from https://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww1/

Hirst, J. B. (2002). Australia´s democracy: A short history. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen &

Unwin.

Historical development of Australian university sector. Retrieved from

http://www.australianuniversities.com.au/directory/history-of-australian-

universities/

IPA Vowels. In International Phonetic Alphabet. Retrieved from

http://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-charts/vowels/

60

Jackson, ., & Amvela, E. Z. (2000). Words, meaning and vocabulary: An introduction

to lexicology (2nd ed.). Trowbridge, England: The Cromwell

Press.

Katamba, F., & Stonham, J. (2006). Morphology (2nd ed.). New , NY: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Kidd, E. How Australians use hypocoristics. Retrieved from

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2011/podcasts/how-australians-use-

hypocoristics/transcript

Kidd, E., Kemp, N., & Quinn, S. (2011). Did you have a choccie bickie this arvo? A

quantitative look at Australian hypocoristics. Language , 33, pp. 359-

368. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2010.11.006

Languages other than English. In Australia´s cultural diversity. Retrieved from

http://www.racismnoway.com.au/about-racism/population/index-Diversit-2.html

Lynch, D. (2012). Australian rhyming slang. Ozwords. Retrieved from

http://ozwords.org/?p=1293

Macintyre, S. (2009). A concise history of Australia (3rd ed.). , NY:

Cambridge University Press.

Macquarie Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/

Maslen, G. (1996, February 9). The Americanisation of Australian English has some

scholars worried. Chronicle of Education, 42(22), A39. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/214725684?accountid=16531

McCrindle, . (2011). Word up: A and Guide to Communication in the 21st

Century. Sydney, NSW: Halstead Press, pp. 68-88.

61

McDonald´s rebrands to Macca´s in Australia. In The Telegraph. Retrieved from

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9787581/

McDonalds-rebrands-to-Maccas-in-Australia.html

Monaghan, P. (2014). of Goddesses and Heroines (Rev. ed.). Santa

Barbara, CA: Greenwood / ABC CLIO.

Moore, B. Australian English in the twentieth century. Retrieved from

http://public.oed.com/aspects-of-english/english-in-use/australian-english-in-

the-twentieth-century/

Moore, B. The vocabulary of Australian English. Retrieved from

http://andc.anu.edu.au/australian-words/vocabulary

Morgan, . (2012). Australia: A very short introduction. Oxford, England: Oxford

University Press.

Musman, R. (1987). Background to English-speaking countries. Basingstoke, England:

MacMillan Publishers.

Official and spoken languages of Australia and the Pacifics. Retrieved from

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/oceania_languages.htm

Paterson, A. B. (1917). Saltbush Bill, J.P., and Other Verses. Retrieved from

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00071.txt

Paterson, A. B. (1997). The Man From Snowy River and Other Verses. Sydney, NSW:

University of Sydney Library. Retrieved from

http://adc.library.usyd.edu.au/data-2/v00001.pdf

Pavlova created in New Zealand not Australia, OED rules. BBC News. Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11897482

People name: Gunwinggu of Australia. (2016, April 28). Retrieved from

http://www.peoplegroups.org/explore/groupdetails.aspx?peid=7921

62

People name: Murinbata. (2016, April 28). Retrieved from

http://www.peoplegroups.org/explore/PeopleDetails.aspx?rop3=106924

Peters, P. (2007). The Cambridge guide to Australian English usage. New York, NY:

Cambridge University Press.

Phonetizer. Retrieved from http://www.phonetizer.com/ui

Ramson, . S. (1966). Australian English: An historical study of the vocabulary 1788-

1898. Canberra, ACT: Australian National University Press.

Richards, K. (2015). The story of Australian English. Sydney, NSW: University of New

South Wales Press.

Royal Flying Doctor Service. Retrieved from https://www.flyingdoctor.org.au/

Second World War, 1939-45. Retrieved from https://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww2/

Simpson, J. (2001). Hypocoristics of place-names. In D. Blair, P. Collins (Eds.), English

in Australia (pp. 89-92). , The Netherlands: John Benjamins

Publishing. Retrieved from https://books.google.cz/

Simpson, J. (2004). Hypocoristics in Australian English. In B. Kortmann, K. Burridge,

R. Mesthrie, E.W. Schneider, C. Upton (Eds.), A Handbook of Varieties of

English (pp. 641-656). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.

Stanner, W. E. H. (1989). Introduction. In L. R. Hiatt (Ed.), On Aboriginal religion (p.

30). Sydney, NSW: Sydney University Press.

Strine (Australian English); How it Differs from British and American English.

Retrieved from http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/strine.htm

The Australian Capital Territory. Retrieved from

http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/[email protected]/0/d41f48b6cb4d1240ca2569de002811

39?OpenDocument

63

The Australian continent. Retrieved from http://www.australia.gov.au/about-

australia/our-country/the-australian-continent

The School of the Air and remote learning. Retrieved from

http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/school-of-the-air

Turner, G. W. (1966). The English language in Australia and New Zealand. ,

England: Longmans.

Trudgill, P., & Hannah, J. (1982). : A Guide to Varieties of

Standard English. London, England: Edward Arnold.

Van Driesum, R. (2002). Outback Australia (3rd ed.). Melbourne, NSW: Lonely Planet.

Walsh, M., & Yallop, C. (Eds). (2007). Language and culture in Aboriginal Australia

(3rd ed.). Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press.

Ward, R. (1992). Concise history of Australia (5th ed.). St. Lucia, QLD: University of

Queensland Press.

Wells, C. J. (1982). Accents of English: Beyond the . Cambridge, England:

Cambridge University Press.

What is pavlova? Retrieved from

http://www.cookthink.com/reference/1573/What_is_a_pavlova

Whitlock, G., & Carter, D. (Eds.). (1992). Images of Australia: An introductory reader

in . St. Lucia, QLD: Press.

Women and the right to vote in Australia. (2015, April 14). Retrieved from

http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/australian_electoral_history/wright.htm

64

English Summary

The purpose of this thesis is to enhance reader´s awareness about Australian

English and improve comprehension of English language overall.

This paper discusses several specific features of Australian English that differ from British English.

There are two chapters in this thesis. The first chapter provides a brief history of

Australia, which gives the reader necessary background for the second part.

In the second chapter the development of Australian English and important works are presented. Then, the chapter is divided into three section – lexicological, phonological and morphological.

The lexicological subchapter links individual aspects to their origin. Flash language and rhyming slang of convicts are described, as well as the first settlement vocabulary, Aboriginal borrowings, Aboriginal English and borrowings from the USA.

The second subchapter presents Broad, General and Cultivated accents of

Australia, provides several examples of differences of Standard Australian English from

RP and introduces HCE vowel system – a unique system used for transcription of

Australian English.

The third subchapter focuses on morphological aspects, primarily on reduplication, hypocoristics and diminutives, because of the quantity in which they expanded Australian vocabulary.

Every aspect is explained and supported by several examples with help of printed and online academic sources.

Upon this thesis reader should be able to recognize several aspects of

Australian English that differ from British English and support them with examples.

65

Czech Summary

Cílem této práce je obohatit čtenářovo povědomí o australské angličtině a také zlepšit jeho celkové chápání problematiky anglického jazyka.

Tato práce se zabývá několika typickými znaky australské angličtiny, které se v britské angličtině nepoužívají.

Práce se dělí na dvě části, přičemž se první část ve zkratce věnuje historii

Austrálie, která tvoří základ pro druhou část této teze.

Ve druhé části se zabýváme vývojem australské angličtiny a důležitými díly týkající se této tématiky. Poté se kapitola dělí na tři části – lexikologickou, fonologickou a morfologickou.

Lexikologická podkapitola spojuje jednotlivé aspekty k jejich původu. Zabývá se vězeňským slangem a jejich rýmy, slovní zásobou z dob prvního osídlování, přejímáním slov z domorodých jazyků a vznikem domorodé angličtiny a přejímáním slov z USA.

V druhé podkapitole je vysvětlen rozdíl mezi akcenty Broad, General a

Cultivated, je zde zmíněno několik odlišností australské angličtiny od britské RP a také popsán HCE systém, který se používá k přepisu samohlásek australské angličtiny.

Třetí podkapitola řeší morfologické aspekty, hlavně reduplikaci a zdrobňování, které tvoří velkou část australské angličtiny.

Každý aspekt byl v této práci, za pomoci tištěných a online zdrojů, vysvětlen a podpořen několika příklady.

V závěru této práce by měl být čtenář schopný rozpoznat několik typických znaků australské angličtiny a uvést několik příkladů.

66

Appendix A Map of Australia

(“Australia Regions Map”)

67

Appendix B Clancy of the Overflow

(Paterson, 1917, pp. 20-22)

I HAD written him a letter which I had, for want of better

Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago,

He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,

Just ‘on spec’, addressed as follows, ‘Clancy, of The Overflow’.

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,

(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)

'Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:

‘Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are.’

* * * * *

In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy

Gone a-droving ‘down the ' where the Western drovers ;

As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,

For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him

In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,

And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,

And at night the wond'rous glory of the everlasting stars.

* * * * *

I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy

Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,

And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city

Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle

68

Of the tramways and the 'buses making hurry down the ,

And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting,

Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me

As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,

With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted forms and weedy,

For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste.

And I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,

Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,

While he faced the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal —

But I doubt he'd suit the office, Clancy, of ‘The Overflow’.

69

Appendix C Number of speakers of other languages

in Australia in 2011

(“Languages other than English”)

70

Appendix D Translation of Bible into Kriol

(Walsh & Yallop, 2007, pp. 151-152)

Revised Standard Version

He destined us in love to be his through Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us, for he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Holi Baibul

Longtaim God bin jinggabat blanga meigim wi san blanga im, dumaji imbin laigim wi, en bambai after imbin meigim wi im san wen imbin joinimap wi langa Jisas

Krais, dumaji imbin gudbinji blanga dum lagijat, en imbin meigim im ron plen. Wal wi garra preisim God en gibit im teingks, dumaji imbin abum detkain filing blanga wi, en imbin shoum wi det filing blanga im wen imbin gibit wi ola enijing friwan thru Jisas det brabliwan san blanga im, dumaji wen Jisas bin weistim im blad, imbin meigim wi fri, en

God bin larramgo wi fri brom ol detlot nogudbala ting weya wibin oldei dumbat.

Trubala God im brabli kainbala, en brabliwei imbin shoum wi im kainbala. Wal God im brabli sabibala du, en imbin shoum dum wanim imbin wandim, en imbin shoum wi det plen blanga im weya imbin jinggabat blanga dum garram Jisas Krais. Nobodi bin sabi det plen basdam, bat we sabi na. Wi sabi wen im rait taim, God garra joinimap ebrijing weya imbin meigim langa dis wel en langa hebin, en Jisas na garra sidan boswan blanga olabat.

71

Appendix E Phonemic transcription of Australian English,

HCE system

(Cox & Mannell, 2014a; Cox & Mannell 2014b)

Original text:

“Deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don't know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He was a Gollum - as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. He had a little boat, and he rowed about quite quietly on the lake; for lake it was, wide and deep and deadly cold. He paddled it with large feet dangling over the side, but never a ripple did he make. Not he. He was looking out of his pale lamp-like eyes for blind fish, which he grabbed with his long fingers as quick as thinking. He liked meat too. Goblin he thought good, when he could get it; but he took care they never found him out. He just throttled them from behind, if ever they came down alone anywhere near the edge of the water, while he was prowling about. They seldom did, for they had a feeling that something unpleasant was lurking down there, down at the very roots of the mountain”

(Cox & Mannell, 2014a).

Phonemic transcription (HCE system):

/diːp dæɔn hɪə bɑe ðə dɐːk woːtə lɪvd əʉld ɡɔləm ə smoːl slɑemiː kɹiːtʃə ɑe dəʉnt nəʉ weː hiː kæɪm fɹɔm noː hʉː oː wɔt iː wɔz hiː wəz ə ɡɔləm əz dɐːk əz dɐːknəs əksept fə tʉː bɪɡ ɹæɔnd pæɪl ɑez ɪn hɪz θɪn fæɪs hiː hæd ə lɪtəl bəʉt ən iː ɹəʉd əbæɔt kwɑet kwɑeətliː ɔn ðə læɪk foː læɪk ɪt wɔz wɑed ən diːp ən dedliː kəʉld hiː pædəld ɪt wɪθ lɐːdʒ fiːt dæŋɡəlɪŋ əʉvə ðə sɑed bɐt nevə ɹ ə ɹɪpəl dɪd iː mæɪk nɔt hiː hiː wəz lʊkɪŋ æɔt əv hɪz pæɪl læmplɑek ɑez fə blɑend fɪʃ wɪtʃ hiː ɡɹæbd wɪθ ɪz lɔŋ fɪŋɡəz əz kwɪk əz θɪŋkɪŋ hiː lɑekt miːt tʉː ɡɔblən hiː θoːt ɡʊd wen iː kəd ɡet ət bət hiː tʊk keː ðæɪ nevə fæɔnd hɪm

72

æɔt hiː dʒəs θɹɔtəld əm fɹəm biːhɑend ɪf evə ðæɪ kæɪm dæɔn ələʉn eniːweː nɪə ðiː edʒ əv

ðə woːtə wɑel hiː wəz pɹæɔlɪŋ əbæɔt ðæɪ seldəm dɪd fə ðæɪ hæd ə fiːlɪŋ ðət sɐmpθɪŋ

ɐnplezənt wəz lɜːkɪŋ dæɔn ðeː dæɔn ət ðə veɹiː ɹʉːts əv ðə mæɔntən/ (Cox & Mannell,

2014b).

73