U4: AOS1: Language Variation in Australian Society Flashcards
Hypocoristic use of suffixes
Process of shortening, modifying or altering words from their original form by adding a suffix such as ‘o’ or ‘ie’.
Creates a more colloquial expression.
Standard Australian English
The variety of Australian English that represents a common language standard agreed to by the general population.
-Generally follows British English.
-Double consonants, lexical differences
-Associated with prestige.
Australian accents
Broad, General, Cultivated
Broad Accent
Associated with working class and lack of education or refinement.
-Elision and assimilation
General
The most common accent, heard on mainstream media
Cultivated Accent
Patterned after the formerly prestigious British accent known as British Received Pronunciation.
-Associated with the upper class and education
Common values associated with Australia’s national identity
Anti-authoritarianism
Anti-intellectualism
Connection to land
Connection to country
Democratic values
Egalitarianism
Laid-back attitudes
Mateship
Multiculturalism
Anti-authoritarianism
Negative attitudes to those in authority
Anti-intellectualism
Negative attitudes to intellectuals or highly educated people, often based on the belief that they are out of touch with ordinary people
Connection to land
An affiliation with the land and its natural features is often used as a symbol of national identity
Connection to country
For First Nations people, connection to Country is a central aspect of identity
Democratic values
The values that underpin our governance, including our freedom to vote, gather and participate in products, express opinions and beliefs and the principle that everyone should be subject to the same laws.
Egalitarianism
The idea that all individuals should have equal rights regardless of their status, wealth of background. “Fair go”
Laid-back attitudes
Associated with the idea of taking things easy, not getting too stressed and living life.
Mateship
Reflects the values of loyalty, solidarity and friendship
Multiculturalism
Refers to a society that is made up of many different cultures, ideally celebrating diversity and inclusiveness
Aboriginal Australian Englishes
Aboriginal Australian Englishes is an umbrella term used to refer to the many different varieties of English that many First Nations people speak.
Migrant Ethnolect
A variety of language specific to a particular migrant community with a shared cultural background
Purposes of Migrant ethnolects and AAEs
Maintain and express cultural identity
Facilitate communication
Foster a sense of community
Promote bilingualism and multilingualism
Contribute to the diversity and evolution of a language
Facilitate cultural exchange
Preserve and maintain heritage languages
Contribute to the linguistic richness of Australia
Light varieties
AAEs similar to SAE, more urban areas
Heavy varieties
AAEs similar to a creole
Phonetic and Phonological features of Aboriginal Australia English
-Replace voiced ‘th’ with a voiced /d/. E.g. “dat”
-‘h’ sound added to words that start with a vowel
-Switch ‘k’ and ‘s’ sounds in ‘ask’ (metathesis)
Morphological features of Aboriginal Australia English
-Omitting plural noun marking eg “two dog”
-Different verb tense
-
Lexical features of Aboriginal Australia English
-Words that aren’t in SAE, such as borrowing from First Nations languages. E.G. “policeman” being “monatj”.
Syntactic features of Aboriginal Australia English
-Auxiliary verb ommition “she wicked big” instead of “she is wicked big”.
-Reduced use of prepositions “Darwin way” meaning “going to Darwin.
-‘Bin’ used a tense marker “he bin came home” meaning “he came home”
-‘One’ used as a substitute indefinite article ‘she has one bag’ meaning ‘she has a bag’
-Use of double negative ‘I don’t know nothing’
Semantic features of Aboriginal Australia English
-Kinship terms such as “Cousin” refering to all extended family members
-“Blak” used to reclaim and celebrate cultural identity
-“Country” is a culturally significant term
Discourse and Pragmatic features of Aboriginal Australia English
-Primarily oral varieties
-“Yarning” meaning a conversational approach in which speakers share real-life experience and knowledge through different situational contexts; using paralinguistic features, prosodic features
-Discorse particle ‘ey’ confirms information or understanding.
-Declarative questioning instead of interrogative.
-Pragmatic use: eye contact could be seen as a face-threatening act in AAEs. Silence holds significance.
Influence of Aboriginal Australian Englishes on Standard Australian English
-Names of plants and animals into SAE: “kangaroo”
-Use of traditional place names in SAE: “Wendouree”, “Uluru”, “Wathaurung”
Phonetic and Phonological Features of Migrant Ethnolects
Assimilation, vowel reduction or insertion, elision, prosody
Morphological Features of Migrant Ethnolects
Inflection patterns (conjugation, pluralisation), affixation
Lexicological Features of Migrant Ethnolects
Borrowing, code-switching
Syntactic Features of Migrant Ethnolects
Modification of word order, ellipsis, partically of prepositions and determinants.
Semantic Features of Migrant Ethnolects
Culture-specific expressions, such as idiomatic expressions, metaphor with specific cultural meaning
Discourse and Pragmatic Features of Migrant Ethnolects
Expected levels of formality, politeness strategies, types of discourse strategies
Greek ethnolect
-Non-rhotic
-No voiced and voiceless ‘th’ sound
-Lexical borrowings
-Conversational ‘re’
Lebanese Australian Ethnolect
-Certain parts of words for different durations
-Higher pitch into contractions ‘doon’t’
-Longer ‘er’ final sound
-Borrowings
Cultural cringe
Playing down Australianess.
-Most Australians will accomodate their vocabulary
Prescriptivist attitudes to SAE, AAE and ethnolects
-Attitudes to SAE often uphold it as the correct form of English
-Mistakes AAE and ethnolects as ‘broken’ due to a lack of understanding
Descriptivist attitudes to SAE, AAE and ethnolects
Aims to describe language objectively without making judgements about what is correct.
-SAE is just one valid variety, as are AAEs and etholects.
