Regional variation in Australian English
Encyclopedia
Australian English
is relatively homogenous when compared to British
and American
English. The major varieties of Australian English are sociocultural rather than regional, being General Australian, Broad Australian
and Cultivated Australian. There is however some regional variation between the states
, particularly in regards to South Australia
, Victoria
and Western Australia
. These differences come down to different preferences for word usage, as well as some pronunciations.
In Australian English, pronunciations vary regionally according to the type of vowel that occurs before the sounds nd, ns, nt, nce, nch, and mple, and the pronunciation of the suffix "-mand". In words like "chance", "plant", "branch", "sample" and "demand", the vast majority of Australians use the short /æ/ vowel from the word "cat". In South Australia however there is a high proportion of people who use the broad /aː/ vowel from the word "cart" in these words. In Victoria, "castle" and "rascal" rhyme with "hassle" rather than non-rhotic "parcel".
Centring diphthongs
Centring diphthongs, which are the vowels that occur in words like ear, beard and air, sheer. In Western Australia
there is a tendency for centring diphthongs to be pronounced as full diphthongs. Those in the eastern states will tend to pronounce "fear" and "sheer" without any jaw movement, while the westerners would pronounce them like "fia" and "shia", respectively.
"L" Vocalisation
The tendency for some /l/ sounds to become vowels (/l/ vocalisation) is more common in South Australia than other states. "Hurled", for example, in South Australia has a vocalised /l/, leading to the pronunciation "herwd", whereas in other states the /l/ is pronounced as a consonant.
Salary–celery Merger
In Victoria, many speakers pronounce the "a" and "e" vowels in a way that is distinct from speakers in other states. For many younger speakers from Victoria, the first vowel in "celery" and "salary" are the same, so that both words sound like "salary
". These speakers will also tend to say "halicopter" instead of "helicopter". For many older Victorian speakers, the words "celery" and "salary" also sound the same but instead both sound like "celery". These speakers will also pronounce words such as "alps" as "elps".
Pool, School Variation
The vowel in words like "pool", "school" and "fool" varies regionally.
There are differences in the names of beer glasses from one area to another. In the 2000s, however, the range of glass sizes in actual use has been greatly reduced. In New South Wales
swimwear is known as swimmers or cossie and in Queensland it is togs. In most other areas the term bathers dominates.
There are many regional variations for describing social class
es or subculture
s. A bogan
is also referred to as a bevan in Queensland and booner in the ACT. These variations however, have almost completely been replaced by the term "bogan".
Distinctive grammatical patterns also exist such as the use of the interrogative eh? and the position of the word but at the end of a sentence in Queensland ('But I don't like him' becomes 'I don't like him but').
refers to the most popular code of football in different States or regions, or even ethnic groups within them. Victorians
start a game of Australian rules football
with a ball up, Western Australia
ns with a bounce down; New South Wales
people and Queensland
ers start a game of rugby league
football or rugby union
football with a kick off, as do soccer
players across Australia.
From 2004, the national governing body for Association football, (the Football Federation Australia
), has promoted the use of "football" in place of "soccer". Several media outlets have adopted this use, while others have stuck with "soccer". However, use of the word "football"
to mean either Australian football
or rugby league
, depending on the major code of the state, is still more common in Australia . In all places, the specific name or nickname of the code ("soccer", "league", "union" or "Aussie rules") can often be heard used for disambiguation.
The slang word footy has been traditionally associated with either Australian rules football (Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory) or rugby league football (New South Wales, Queensland). A prominent examples in popular culture are The Footy Show
s; also FootyTAB, a betting wing of the NSW TAB. The use of "footy" in Australia parallels its use in other countries: New Zealand
usage to refer to rugby union
.
For many Australian rules followers, the verb barrack (or the accompanying noun form barracker), is used to denote following a team or club. Barrack has its origins in British English, although in the UK it now usually means to jeer or denigrate an opposing team or players. The expression "root (or rooting) for a team", as used in the United States, is not generally used in Australia (root is slang for sexual intercourse
in Australia.)
spoken in South Australia
. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
and the Macquarie Dictionary
there are three localised varieties: Adelaide English, Eyre and Yorke Peninsula English and Northern South Australia English.
spoken in Western Australia
. Most West Australians speak with either General Australian Accent or a broad Australian accent. Generally, those who grew up in suburban Perth
speak with a General Australian accent, and those from regional areas ("from the country") speak with a broad accent. It is in vocabulary where Western Australian English is most distinct from other regional varieties. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
there are three localised, regional varieties of English in WA: Perth
English; Central West Australian English and Northern West Australian English, and each has region specific words which have found their way into common usage. The source of these words varies from UK, USA, and the local Aboriginal language.
, as distinct from Torres Strait Creole
, developed separately to, but has been significantly influenced by, General Australian English, and is spoken by the inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands
.
, which developed in and around the Sydney
region in the days of early settlement, now exists only in rural areas of the Northern Territory
.
Australian English
Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
is relatively homogenous when compared to British
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
and American
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
English. The major varieties of Australian English are sociocultural rather than regional, being General Australian, Broad Australian
Strine
Strine is a term coined in 1964 and subsequently used to describe a broad accent of Australian English. The term is a syncope, derived from a shortened phonetic rendition of the pronunciation of the word "Australian" in an exaggerated Broad Australian accent, drawing upon the tendency of this...
and Cultivated Australian. There is however some regional variation between the states
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
, particularly in regards to South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
and Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. These differences come down to different preferences for word usage, as well as some pronunciations.
Pronunciation Differences
Trap–bath SplitIn Australian English, pronunciations vary regionally according to the type of vowel that occurs before the sounds nd, ns, nt, nce, nch, and mple, and the pronunciation of the suffix "-mand". In words like "chance", "plant", "branch", "sample" and "demand", the vast majority of Australians use the short /æ/ vowel from the word "cat". In South Australia however there is a high proportion of people who use the broad /aː/ vowel from the word "cart" in these words. In Victoria, "castle" and "rascal" rhyme with "hassle" rather than non-rhotic "parcel".
Centring diphthongs
Centring diphthongs, which are the vowels that occur in words like ear, beard and air, sheer. In Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
there is a tendency for centring diphthongs to be pronounced as full diphthongs. Those in the eastern states will tend to pronounce "fear" and "sheer" without any jaw movement, while the westerners would pronounce them like "fia" and "shia", respectively.
"L" Vocalisation
The tendency for some /l/ sounds to become vowels (/l/ vocalisation) is more common in South Australia than other states. "Hurled", for example, in South Australia has a vocalised /l/, leading to the pronunciation "herwd", whereas in other states the /l/ is pronounced as a consonant.
Salary–celery Merger
In Victoria, many speakers pronounce the "a" and "e" vowels in a way that is distinct from speakers in other states. For many younger speakers from Victoria, the first vowel in "celery" and "salary" are the same, so that both words sound like "salary
Salary
A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis....
". These speakers will also tend to say "halicopter" instead of "helicopter". For many older Victorian speakers, the words "celery" and "salary" also sound the same but instead both sound like "celery". These speakers will also pronounce words such as "alps" as "elps".
Pool, School Variation
The vowel in words like "pool", "school" and "fool" varies regionally.
Regional vocabulary
The regional variation in Australia consists primarily of differences in vocabulary rather than tone or accent.There are differences in the names of beer glasses from one area to another. In the 2000s, however, the range of glass sizes in actual use has been greatly reduced. In New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
swimwear is known as swimmers or cossie and in Queensland it is togs. In most other areas the term bathers dominates.
There are many regional variations for describing social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
es or subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
s. A bogan
Bogan
The term bogan is Australian slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for an individual who is recognised to be from a lower class background or someone whose limited education, speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies such a background....
is also referred to as a bevan in Queensland and booner in the ACT. These variations however, have almost completely been replaced by the term "bogan".
Distinctive grammatical patterns also exist such as the use of the interrogative eh? and the position of the word but at the end of a sentence in Queensland ('But I don't like him' becomes 'I don't like him but').
Sport variations
Many regional variations are as a result of the Australian passion for sport and the differences in non-linguistic traditions from one state to another: the word footballFootball
Football may refer to one of a number of team sports which all involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
refers to the most popular code of football in different States or regions, or even ethnic groups within them. Victorians
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
start a game of Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
with a ball up, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
ns with a bounce down; New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
people and Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
ers start a game of rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
football or rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
football with a kick off, as do soccer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
players across Australia.
From 2004, the national governing body for Association football, (the Football Federation Australia
Football Federation Australia
Football Federation Australia is the governing body for the sport of football in Australia. Before 1 January 2005, it was known as the Australian Soccer Association , which succeeded Soccer Australia in this role in 2003...
), has promoted the use of "football" in place of "soccer". Several media outlets have adopted this use, while others have stuck with "soccer". However, use of the word "football"
Football (word)
The English language word football may mean any one of several team sports , depending on the national or regional origin and location of the person using the word....
to mean either Australian football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
or rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
, depending on the major code of the state, is still more common in Australia . In all places, the specific name or nickname of the code ("soccer", "league", "union" or "Aussie rules") can often be heard used for disambiguation.
The slang word footy has been traditionally associated with either Australian rules football (Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory) or rugby league football (New South Wales, Queensland). A prominent examples in popular culture are The Footy Show
The Footy Show
The Footy Show can refer to one of the following television shows:*The Footy Show , a sports entertainment programme centred around Australian rules football first screened in 1994...
s; also FootyTAB, a betting wing of the NSW TAB. The use of "footy" in Australia parallels its use in other countries: New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
usage to refer to rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
.
For many Australian rules followers, the verb barrack (or the accompanying noun form barracker), is used to denote following a team or club. Barrack has its origins in British English, although in the UK it now usually means to jeer or denigrate an opposing team or players. The expression "root (or rooting) for a team", as used in the United States, is not generally used in Australia (root is slang for sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
in Australia.)
South Australian English
South Australian English is the collective name given to the varieties of EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
spoken in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
and the Macquarie Dictionary
Macquarie Dictionary
The Macquarie Dictionary is a dictionary of Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand English. Originally it was a publishing project of Jacaranda Press, a Brisbane educational publisher, for which an editorial committee was formed, largely from the Linguistics...
there are three localised varieties: Adelaide English, Eyre and Yorke Peninsula English and Northern South Australia English.
Western Australian English
Western Australian English, or West Australian English, is the collective name given to the variety or varieties of EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
spoken in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. Most West Australians speak with either General Australian Accent or a broad Australian accent. Generally, those who grew up in suburban Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
speak with a General Australian accent, and those from regional areas ("from the country") speak with a broad accent. It is in vocabulary where Western Australian English is most distinct from other regional varieties. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
there are three localised, regional varieties of English in WA: Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
English; Central West Australian English and Northern West Australian English, and each has region specific words which have found their way into common usage. The source of these words varies from UK, USA, and the local Aboriginal language.
Torres Strait English
Torres Strait EnglishTorres Strait English
Torres Strait English is a dialect of the English language spoken by the people of various backgrounds born and raised on Thursday Island and neighbouring islands in Torres Strait, North Queensland, Australia...
, as distinct from Torres Strait Creole
Torres Strait Creole
Torres Strait Creole is an English-based creole language spoken on several Torres Strait Islands , Northern Cape York and South-Western Coastal Papua...
, developed separately to, but has been significantly influenced by, General Australian English, and is spoken by the inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands
Torres Strait Islands
The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea but Torres Strait Island known and Recognize as Nyumaria.The islands are mostly part of...
.
Australian Kriol language
Australian Kriol languageAustralian Kriol language
Kriol is an Australian creole language that developed initially in the region of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales in the early days of White colonisation, and then moved west and north with White and Black stockmen and others...
, which developed in and around the Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
region in the days of early settlement, now exists only in rural areas of the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
.
See also
- Australian EnglishAustralian EnglishAustralian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
- Australian English vocabularyAustralian English vocabularyMany works giving an overview of Australian English have been published; many of these are humour books designed for tourists or as novelties.One of the first was Karl Lentzner's Dictionary of the Slang-English of Australia and of Some Mixed Languages in 1892. The first dictionary based on...
- Australian English phonologyAustralian English phonologyAustralian English is a non-rhotic variety of English spoken by most native-born Australians. Phonologically, it is one of the most regionally homogeneous language varieties in the world...
- Regional accents of English speakersRegional accents of English speakersThe regional accents of English speakers show great variation across the areas where English is spoken as a first language. This article provides an overview of the many identifiable variations in pronunciation, usually deriving from the phoneme inventory of the local dialect, of the local variety...