Gateway to World Englishes

	The Bochum Gateway to World Englishes

Pacific

Australia

New Zealand

Australia

The first British penal colony in Australia was established in the late 18th century. Apart from convicts, there were also “free” settlers, though not many in the beginning. Today, the population of Australia is about 19 million and it is composed of a wide variety of ethnicities.
The basis for the Australian variety of English lies in the British and Irish dialects that were spoken by the early settlers. Traces of those dialects can still be found in Australian English today. There have also been influences of the Aboriginal languages spoken by the native people of Australia. These influences mostly occur in the form of loanwords, as seen especially in the names of places, plants and animals (such as kangaroo).

Apart from the Aboriginal names, Australian English differs from British Standard English most noticeably by the pronunciation of its vowels. For example the short vowel in fish and chips is raised and more tense, resulting in a pronunciation similar to feesh and cheeps. Furthermore, Australians are rather creative in coining new idioms and expressions. An example for a typical Australian expression is smoko (‘a work break’), but the most commonly known one is probably Aussie (‘an Australian’).

There is some regional variation throughout Australia, but not yet as much as, for example, in England or in the USA. Instead, Australia is characterized by a high amount of social variation. And in addition to the varieties of Australian English spoken by the descendants of the original settlers, there are also Creoles and Aboriginal varieties of English.

Reviews of available literature on books dealing with this English variety can be found here

Official government site of Australia

Australian
Broadcasting Corporation (TV)

The Australian (Newspaper)

List of radio stations

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