How The Australian English Language Has Been Influenced

The Australian English language contains many unique and incomparable qualities that sets it apart from other forms of the English language. The Australian language that is recognized today developed from the British English language in the early 1800’s. Overtime as the country grew and developed, so did its language. The country formed its own, separate form of English that is distinguishable by its unique accent and different pronunciations of words and phrases. There were many factors that resulted in the development of the language. The first major factor that led to the development of the language was the impact of a British colony that settled in the country in 1788. There is also the influence of the Aboriginal people and culture who were the first people to inhabit the country. Lastly, the development of the Australian cultural attitudes also had an impact on the language. The combination of all these factors resulted in the language the country uses today.

When the British colony led by Captain Arthur Phillip landed on the shores of Australia in 1788, they never realized the impact they would eventually have on the future of the country. They were the first English speakers to inhabit the country and their arrival would play a major impact on its future and development. The settlers hailed from all over the British Isles, bringing not only many new cultures and customs with them to the newly established country, but also many different dialects and varieties of English (Moore). A majority of the convicts hailed from Ireland, with many of them speaking little or even no English at all. Others also originated from Britain, the Scottish Highlands, and Wales (Moore). Living in a new, isolated, and remote land with all these different dialects would overtime cause the dialects to eventually come together and fuse into one, identifiable language that we now associate as the Australian accent (Moore). As the country and its diverse group of people came together to help develop, expand, and grow the country, so did their language.

Around the time when Australia was first discovered in 1770, Britain was faced with a huge problem with their prison system. As prisons started becoming overcrowded with the increasing and continuing influx of convicted felons, a solution was created to solve this overcrowding problem. It was decided that a deal would be made with some prisoners which was that they would be sent to a newly discovered island and help the British colonize it (Moore). The prisoners who were selected were preferably skilled in areas that would benefit and help the colony’s development. Therefore, a majority of the prisoners were skilled tradesmen and farmers. To attract the convicts into going to this new, unknown country, it was proposed to the prisoners that if agreed that if they served out their time helping develop the new colony, they would be rewarded with a new life in the town they helped build. Many prisoners saw this as a huge benefit and agreed with this offer and set off to the new land. Therefore, a huge majority of the people in this group who first settled in the country were prisoners (Moore). This also meant that a lot of them were from the lower class system with a poor or non-existent education, which made a major impact on the formation of the Australian language, especially in the way the future generations of Australians would articulate words (Moore).

With the arrangement of various different dialects combined with the fact that a majority of the people in the colony were from the lower class didn’t necessarily make an immediate impact on the development of the language. It rather impacted the future generations as the colony began to grow with the first native-born children. The children of the settlers were exposed to those many different dialects and those ways of pronouncing words that as they were learning to speak themselves, they in turn created a whole, new language. Even as more people started to arrive in the country, this new dialect that the native-born children of the colony created was strong enough to survive through the influence from other patterns of speech (Cunningham). Peter Miller Cunningham was a man who visited the country during its early days. He observed and detailed the Australian language in his 1827 book Two Years in New South Wales. He described seeing a distinct difference in the accent and vocabulary between the original settlers in the colony and their native-born children (Cunningham).

Over the years as the country grew and developed, so did the diversity of its people. The 1850’s saw the first huge wave of immigration since the British colonization in 1788. This was due to the first of the many Australian gold rushes, as many people journeyed to the country in search for gold (Blainey). It was recorded that two percent of United Kingdom’s population emigrated to the colonies in not only the first state of New South Wales, but to also the newly formed southern state of Victoria. The majority of those immigrants came from the south-east areas of England and according to linguist Bruce Moore, this made an impact on the structure of the Australian accent (Moore).

When the first fleet landed on the shores of Australia, they were not the first people to inhabit the land. The Aboriginal Australians actually occupied the country first and although the time of their arrival of is a matter of debate among researchers, it is estimated they first arrived back as far back as 125,000 years ago (Moore). The relationship between the settlers and the aboriginals at first wasn’t particularly great as the settlers almost destroyed and demolished the lives of the Aboriginals. Things such as diseases that the settlers brought over with them almost eradicated the aboriginal community with smallpox being the principal cause of Aboriginal deaths in the 19th century (Moore). Another consequence of the British settlement was the appropriation of land and water resources, which continued throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries as rural lands occupied by the aboriginals were converted for sheep and cattle grazing by the settlers for their colony. Due to these events, the traditions and the language of the Aboriginal communities began to diminish under the ever increasing population of the white settlers.

As time passed by, the Aboriginals started to integrate into mainstream society and certain words from their culture began to make its way into the Australian society and its English Language. These words were mainly names for places, flora and fauna and local culture. Some of the more popular words include words like Kangaroo and Koala. However, a really large majority of the Australian animals have aboriginal names, because since the settlers had never seen these animals before, they called them by what the aboriginals called them. Along with kangaroo and koala that I mentioned before, there are also animals such as the dingo, kookaburra, wallaby, and the wombat that also have aboriginal names (Grandpa Pencil's).

Some places also have aboriginal places, such as the capital city of Australia “Canberra”. Canberra is the Australian equivalent of Washington D.C. as that is where our parliament house is. As it is the central location for where the country’s political meetings are all held, the word “Canberra” in the Aboriginal language means “Meeting place”, which is a perfect fit (Grandpa Pencil's). Another example of places with Aboriginal names is the street of the school that I went to growing up. The street name that ran along my school has an aboriginal name of “Curragundi”, which means “place of many Spiders” (Grandpa Pencil's).

Along with names of animals and particular places, there are also many other words that have derived from the Aboriginal language. Certain phrases from the Aboriginal culture have also made its way into the Australian English language, which include terms such as “hard yakka” and “bung”. “Hard yakka” simply refers to one who has or will complete some hard work (Grandpa Pencil's). I personally don’t use the phrase, as it is more commonly known to be used more by tradespeople and workman. For example, if it was a tough day at work, someone would say “gosh, that was some hard yakka today”. Another word that originated from the Aboriginal culture is the word “bung”. “Bung” in Aborigine translates as the word dead, but its meaning actually translates to refer to something “broken" or "useless"(Grandpa Pencil's). This is a term that I hear and use all the time, especially as an athlete. An example of using “bung” in a sentence would be me saying “I have a bung foot” for when I hurt my foot, or I have a problem with my eye I would say “I got a bung eye”.

With the federation of all the colonies in 1901, the country had made great strides from when it was first colonized in 1788. Heading into the 20th century, the country of Australia was becoming more well-known worldwide which again had an effect on the Australian English Language. The language began to receive some influence from the most powerful country in the world, America (Bell). With the creation of films in the late 19th century, America led the worlds film industry. The films created in America became popular worldwide, and also played an influence on the Australia’s language (Bell). Another event that impacted the language was the arrival of America’s army to the country during the events of World War II. Due to certain events that occurred during the war, the US military set up bases across Australia. As the US soldiers explored their new cities and interacted with the Australian people, their different variety of English had an impact on Australia’s English (Bell). With the combination of American Films and the arrival of US militia, certain American phrases integrated their way into Australia’s English language. Terms such as “okay” and “you guys” were new phrases that Australians had never heard or used before the arrival of American influence (Bell).

In today’s Australian society, there are now many different variations to the Australian English language. These variations in Australian English occur primarily between the different sociocultural groups. According to linguists, there are three main sociocultural variants of Australian English and are classified as broad, general and cultivated accents (Wells). The ‘broad’ accent is what you imagine when you think of what a stereotypical Australian accent sounds like, for example, the accents of the famous crocodile hunter Steve Irwin or Paul Hogan who was known for his character in the movie Crocodile Dundee. This type of accent is spoken nationwide, however it is most common in rural areas, or as Australians would call “The Outback”. The ‘general’ accent is used primarily by people living in metropolitan areas (Wells). I would categorize myself in this group as I come from a city called Brisbane, which is the third largest city in Australia. An example of the ‘general’ accent would be famous actor Hugh Jackman as his accent is distinctly different to that of Steve Irwin’s and Paul Hogan’s. The ‘Cultivated’ Australian English is much less common now than it was in previous generations (Wells). This is perhaps due to the changes in Australia’s social values. It historically signified high social class or education, however it is often considered to be somewhat pretentious these days.

Not only are their differences between certain accents, but there are also slight differences between the Australian states and territories as well (Wells). In Australia, there six states and two territories with the majority of the people living around the coastline of the country. Because there is a vast empty space of land that separates the country and its people, some states have different terms and phrases for certain things. An example of this would be the controversial debate of what to call swimwear. I come from the state of Queensland where we call swimwear “togs”. The people of the state New South Wales call swimwear “swimmers”. Then there are the states of Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, who call swimwear “bathers”. This is the most common situation which shows how different areas of the country also have differences due to location.

After completing my research on this topic, I was happy with the information that I had found. Initially, I never expected to learn this much new information. I had always known that the arrival of the first fleet in 1788 was mainly responsible for the language that Australians use today, but I never knew that the language was compromised of the intermingling of all these different dialects from the British Isles. I also discovered the meanings behind many of the Aboriginal words that I am familiar with but never knew the meaning behind that particular word. I had always known that Steve Irwin had a different type of Australian compared to mine, but now I know that his accent is a broad accent, and I have a general accent. It is always fun to learn about how things came about, but even more when it is directly connected to you and that you can relate in some way to information.