Some elements of Aboriginal languages, as has already been mentioned, have been incorporated into Australian English, mainly as names for the indigenous flora and fauna (e.g. dingo, kangaroo), as well as extensive borrowings for place names. Beyond that, very few terms have been adopted into the wider language. A notable exception is Cooee (a musical call which travels long distances in the bush and is used to say «is there anyone there?»).
Although often thought of as an Aboriginal word, didgeridoo/didjeridu (a well known wooden musical instrument) is actually an onomatopoeic term coined by an English settler.
Australian English has a unique set of diminutives formed by addingo orie (-y) to the ends of (often abbreviated) words. There does not appear to be any particular pattern to which of these suffixes is used.
There are also a lot of abbreviations in Australian English without any suffixes. Examples of these are the words
beaut (great, beautiful),
deli (delicatessen),
hoon (hooligan),
nana (banana),
roo (kangaroo),
uni (university).
Australians have a distinct accent, which varies between social classes and is sometimes claimed to vary from state to state, although this is disputed. Accents tend to be strongest in the more remote areas. (Note that while there are many similarities between Australian accents and New Zealand ones, there are also a number of differences.)
In Australia they commonly distinguish between 3 accents, these are as follows:
1. Cultivated. An accent, used by about 10 per cent of the population, on which Received Pronunciation continues to exert a considerable influence. In some speakers the accent is very close to educated southern British, with just a hint of its Australian origin in certain vowels and in the intonation. In its most RP-like form, speakers of other varieties tend to think of it as affected.
2. Broad. At the opposite extreme, this accent, used by about 30 per cent of the population, is the one most clearly identified with the notion of an Australian twang. It is heard in many countries in the voices of the characters portrayed by such actors as Paul Hogan and Barry Humphries.
3. General. In between there is a mainstream group of accents used by most of the population.
The Australian vowel system is quite different from other varieties. Other standard varieties have tense vowels, lax vowels, and diphthongs. Australian English on the other hand has turned most of the tense vowels into diphthongs, and turned some of what are diphthongs in Received Pronunciation into long vowels, thus replacing the tense-lax distinction (one of quality) with a long-short distinction (one of quantity).
6. HIBERNO-ENGLISH
H iberno-English, the term applied to those varieties of English which were and are spoken, and sometimes written, in Ireland. T hese varieties are also sometimes referred to as Anglo-Irish or Irish-English. T hey are distinct from other varieties of English in that they have their own grammatical structures, vocabularies, sound systems, pronunciations, and patterns of intonation. T
he most significant varieties are the Northern and the Southern: roughly speaking, those to the north or the south of a line drawn from Bundoran in the west to Dundalk in the east. T he dialect of parts of the north and east of Ulster is also, and perhaps more appropriately, termed Ulster Scots. M odern Hiberno-English derives from the plantations of the 16th and 17th cents.
P arts of the north and east of Ulster were settled by lowland Scots (giving rise to Ulster Scots) and the rest of Ulster, Leinster, and Munster were settled by regional dialect speakers of English, many of whom are likely to have come from the north of England. F rom its introduction Modern Hiberno-English was at a remove from the English of England, and remained conservative by comparison. H
owever, it was in almost continuous contact with Irish, so that the influence of that language was considerable and pervasive. A s Modern Hiberno-English progressively superseded Irish it often added (at least temporarily) further elements from that language, but it also lay upon a deep substratum of Irish, which is exposed in the English speech of natural bilinguals. H iberno-English, like other regional varieties of English, is in general a spoken rather than a literary language. I n the late 17th and 18th cents.
a number of Irish-born dramatists achieved success in England with plays that made use of the stage Itishman and his speech to point to the follies and cruelties of English society.
Hiberno-English — known more commonly as Irish English — is spoken in Ireland and is the result of the interaction of the English and irish languages. English was mainly brought to Ireland during the Plantations of Ireland in the sixteenth century and established itself in Dublin and in the area of Leinster known as the Pale. It was later introduced into Ulster during the Plantations of Ulster through Belfast and the Lagan Valley in the seventeenth century. The linguistic influence of the Irish language is most evident in Gaeltachtai, areas where Irish (Gaelic) is still spoken, as well as in areas where, before the complete adoption of English, Irish continued to be spoken for longer than in other areas.
The standard spelling and grammar of Irish-English are largely the same as UK English. However, some unique characteristics exist, especially in the spoken language, owing to the influence of the Irish language on the pronunciation of English. Due in most part to the influence of the US media abroad, many words and phrases of American English have become interchangeable with their Irish-English equivalents, most especially with the youngest generations. British English, however, remains the greatest influence on grammar, spelling and lexicon on English in the Republic of Ireland.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ΠΡΡΡΡΠΈΠ½Π° Π. Π., ΠΡΠ°Π½Π°ΡΡΠ΅Π²Π° Π. Π., ΠΠΎΡΠΎΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π° Π. Π. ΠΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΊΠΎΠ»ΠΎΠ³ΠΈΡ Π°Π½Π³Π»ΠΈΠΉΡΠΊΠΎΠ³ΠΎ ΡΠ·ΡΠΊΠ°: Π£ΡΠ΅Π±. ΠΏΠΎΡΠΎΠ±ΠΈΠ΅ Π΄Π»Ρ ΡΡΡΠ΄Π΅Π½ΡΠΎΠ². — Π.: ΠΡΠΎΡΠ°, 1999. — 288Ρ.
ΠΠ»ΠΈΡΠ΅Π΅Π²Π° Π. Π. ΠΠ΅ΠΊΡΠΈΠΊΠΎΠ»ΠΎΠ³ΠΈΡ Π°Π½Π³Π»ΠΈΠΉΡΠΊΠΎΠ³ΠΎ ΡΠ·ΡΠΊΠ° (ΡΡΠ΅Π±Π½ΠΈΠΊ). Π‘ΠΠ±: Π‘ΠΠ±ΠΠ£, 2003. — 44 p.
Crystal, David. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. 4th edition. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 1997. — 426 p.
Fisiak J. An Outline History of English: 2 vols. Poznan, 1993.
Jespersen O. A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles. London, 1956.
Wyld H. C. A History of Modern Colloquial English. Oxford, 1936.
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language
Crystal, David. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. 4th edition. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 1997. — 426 p.
Crystal, David. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. 4th edition. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 1997. — 426 p.
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language
