Linguistic featuresof australian english

1.

LINGUISTIC FEATURESOF
AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH
Generally speaking , Australian English takes features
from both British and American English , so it is
sometimes consider ed a combination of the two
variations . However, it is important to understa nd that
there are a number of unique features as well, including
exclusive vocabulary.

2.

Grammatical features of Australia Englis
Australian English’s reputation as an amalgam of British
and American English can be understood more clearly
when you look at its grammatic al features . For example, in
terms of spelling, Australian English most closely
resembles British English. The ‘u’ is retained in words like
‘colour’ and the ‘ise’ ending is used instead of the
Americanised ‘ize’ suffix on words like ‘realise’/’realize’ .

3.

Ye t , t h e r e a r e p l e n t y o f e xc e p t i o n s
t o t h i s . T h e wo r d ‘ i n q ui r e ’ i s o f t en
u s e d i n s t e a d o f ‘ e n q ui r e ’ , wh i c h
r e s e mb l e s A m e r i c a n E n g l i s h , wh i l e
t h e wo r d ‘ p r o gr a m ’ i s u s e d i n s t e a d
of the British English ‘programme’.
F u r t h e r m o r e , e ve n t h o u g h t h e
B r i t i s h E n g l i s h s p e l l i n g o f ‘ l a b ou r ’
is most common, the Australian
L a b o r P a r t y ’s n a m e h a s a n
A m e r i c a ni s ed s p e l l i ng i n s t ead .

4.

Much like with British English, Australian English has
irregular past tense and past participles of verbs like
‘spell’ and ‘smell’, so they become ‘spelt’ and ‘smelt’,
respectivel y. However, like with American English,
Australians are more likely to say numbers like 1,100 as
“eleven hundred ”, rather than “one thousand , one
hundred ”. When dealing with collective nouns, Australian
English has more in common with the American version of
the language. For example, both Australians and
Americans would say “the football team has scored a
goal”, whereas in British English, they would say “the
football team have scored a goal”.

5.

Pronunciation in Australia
· ‘i’ in words like ‘night’ and ‘like’, pronounced ‘oi’ (e.g. noight).
· ‘a’ in words like ‘cat’ and ‘hat’, pronounced similar to ‘eh’(ceht, heht).
· hard ‘a’ sound, in words like ‘day’, ‘way’ or ‘mate‘, pronounced somewhat
similar to how a British English person might say the w ord ‘aye’ ( the w ord
‘mate’ becomes ‘m-aye-te’).
· the ‘ing’ ending is not pronounced in full, meaning words like ‘singing’,
‘jumping’ and ‘catching’ are pronounced ‘singin’, ‘jumpin’ and ‘catchin’.
· the /r/ sound is not pronounced if it is after a vowel and not immediately
followed by another vowel. The word ‘card’ is pronounced ‘caːd’, with the /r/
sound being dropped. M eanwhile, the ending of words like ‘better’ and
‘w etter’ is lowered, to sound similar to ‘ah’. This means you w ould say ‘bettah’, ‘wett-ah’.

6.

Australian English Vocabulary
· outback – describtion of remote location
· barbie – barbecue
· doona – duvet
· aluminium – aluminum
· mobile phone - cell phone
· anti-clockwise - counter-clockwise
· petrol – gasoline
· bonnet – hood
· holiday – vacation
· soccer – football
· overalls – dungarees
· lorry – truck
· pants – trousers
· overseas – abroad
· tow n – village

7.

AUSTRALIAN SLANG WORDS
1. Amber – Beer or lager.
2. Aussie – An Australian person.
3. Drongo – Used in place of words like ‘idiot’ or ‘moron’.
4. Fair Dinkum – True, or genuine.
5. Gander – To have a look at something.
6. G’Day – Literally means ‘good day’ but is used as a general greeting.
7. Give It A Burl – Give it a try, or have a go.
8. Hooroo – Goodbye.
9. Oldies – Parents.
10. Pom/Pommie – A British person (be warned: this word can cause offense as it is
generally used in a derogatory manner).
11. Reckon – Used similar to ‘absolutely’.
12. Ripper – Similar to words like ‘great’, ‘fantastic’ and ‘awesome’.
13. She’s Apple – It is fine / It will be okay.
14. Tucker – Used to describe food of any type.
15. Yabber – Talk, or chat