100-597: Torres Strait Creole ( Torres Strait Creole : Yumplatok ), also known as Torres Strait Pidgin , Brokan/Broken , Cape York Creole , Lockhart Creole , Kriol , Papuan , Broken English , Blaikman , Big Thap , Pizin , and Ailan Tok , is an English-based creole language (a variety of Pidgin English ) spoken on several Torres Strait Islands of Queensland , Australia; Northern Cape York ; and south-western coastal Papua New Guinea (PNG). It has an estimated 20,000–30,000 mother-tongue and bi/tri-lingual speakers. It
200-524: A stroller is usually called a pram in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania. Preference for some synonymous words also differ between states. Garbage (i.e., garbage bin, garbage truck) dominates over rubbish in New South Wales and Queensland, while rubbish is more popular in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia. Additionally,
300-406: A "dinky-di Aussie" is a "true Australian". Australian poetry , such as " The Man from Snowy River ", as well as folk songs such as " Waltzing Matilda ", contain many historical Australian words and phrases that are understood by Australians even though some are not in common usage today. Australian English, in common with British English , uses the word mate to mean friend , as well as
400-499: A certain (= simplified) extent: blo — genitive: We aus blo misnari? Where is the priest's house? pò , lo — dative (in part dialect variation): Em i bin spik pò em se wesis bl’em pinis kam. She told her her wages had already arrived. Bos i bi gibi wesis pò/lo mi. The boss gave the wages to me. prom – ablative: ’San i dhe kam prom Dhaudhai. This one is coming over from Papua. lo , we , ene — locative, perlative ( lo and we are synonyms, while ene
500-499: A certain (= simplified) extent: blo — genitive: We aus blo misnari? Where is the priest's house? pò , lo — dative (in part dialect variation): Em i bin spik pò em se wesis bl’em pinis kam. She told her her wages had already arrived. Bos i bi gibi wesis pò/lo mi. The boss gave the wages to me. prom – ablative: ’San i dhe kam prom Dhaudhai. This one is coming over from Papua. lo , we , ene — locative, perlative ( lo and we are synonyms, while ene
600-569: A contrast, or where the voiced alveolar stop ⟨d⟩ realises as the rhotic tap ⟨r⟩ (e.g. Western-Central wasamada 'what's the matter/what's wrong', Eastern/Papuan wasamara ). In the Papuan dialects, the only alveolar consonant is ⟨r⟩ , while ⟨t⟩ and ⟨d⟩ can be either dental (i.e. fall together with ⟨th⟩ and ⟨dh⟩ ) or alveolar, according to local language. In Meriam influenced Broken, ⟨t⟩
700-516: A contrast, or where the voiced alveolar stop ⟨d⟩ realises as the rhotic tap ⟨r⟩ (e.g. Western-Central wasamada 'what's the matter/what's wrong', Eastern/Papuan wasamara ). In the Papuan dialects, the only alveolar consonant is ⟨r⟩ , while ⟨t⟩ and ⟨d⟩ can be either dental (i.e. fall together with ⟨th⟩ and ⟨dh⟩ ) or alveolar, according to local language. In Meriam influenced Broken, ⟨t⟩
800-406: A full passive using this form also exists: If the verb stem has e or a diphthong, then the transitive suffix is -e ; if i or u , then it can become -i , while of the stem contains a or o , the suffix can become -a . One or two others verbs have stem extensions to form the verb from a noun: Verb stems that end in vowels do not take the suffix, while a few verbs are irregular in not taking
900-406: A full passive using this form also exists: If the verb stem has e or a diphthong, then the transitive suffix is -e ; if i or u , then it can become -i , while of the stem contains a or o , the suffix can become -a . One or two others verbs have stem extensions to form the verb from a noun: Verb stems that end in vowels do not take the suffix, while a few verbs are irregular in not taking
1000-572: A full vowel ( /ˈnesəseɹiː, ˈmalbeɹiː, ˈmætɹəməʉniː/ ) or a schwa ( /ˈnesəsəɹiː, ˈmalbəɹiː, ˈmætɹəməniː/ ). Although some words like necessary are almost universally pronounced with the full vowel, older generations of Australians are relatively likely to pronounce these affixes with a schwa as is typical in British English. Meanwhile, younger generations are relatively likely to use a full vowel. Words ending in unstressed -ile derived from Latin adjectives ending in -ilis are pronounced with
1100-415: A full vowel, so that fertile /ˈfɜːtɑɪl/ sounds like fur tile rather than rhyming with turtle /ˈtɜːtəl/ . In addition, miscellaneous pronunciation differences exist when compared with other varieties of English in relation to various isolated words, with some of those pronunciations being unique to Australian English. For example: Relative to many other national dialect groupings, Australian English
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#17327903361751200-483: A fully backed allophone of /ʉː/ , transcribed [ʊː] , is common before /l/ . As a result, the pairs full/fool and pull/pool differ phonetically only in vowel length for those speakers. The usual allophone for /ʉː/ is further forward in Queensland and New South Wales than Victoria. The General Australian accent serves as the standard variety of English across the country. According to linguists, it emerged during
1300-409: A general form, and a specific dual form, as well as variation, with a strong tendency to use the clitics iya and dhea to specify position; the definitie articles are often used with the demonstrative clitics to express the demonstrative articles: Torres Strait Creole is a somewhat atypical of Pidgin-Creole languages in its word order and various other syntactic (and grammatical) properties. Though
1400-409: A general form, and a specific dual form, as well as variation, with a strong tendency to use the clitics iya and dhea to specify position; the definitie articles are often used with the demonstrative clitics to express the demonstrative articles: Torres Strait Creole is a somewhat atypical of Pidgin-Creole languages in its word order and various other syntactic (and grammatical) properties. Though
1500-538: A historical dictionary documenting the history of Australian English vocabulary and idiom. The most obvious way in which Australian English is distinctive from other varieties of English is through its unique pronunciation. It shares most similarity with New Zealand English . Like most dialects of English, it is distinguished primarily by the phonetic quality of its vowels. The vowels of Australian English can be divided according to length. The long vowels, which include monophthongs and diphthongs , mostly correspond to
1600-556: A range of forms which developed differently in different parts of Australia, and are said to vary along a continuum, from forms close to Standard Australian English to more non-standard forms. There are distinctive features of accent, grammar, words and meanings, as well as language use. Academics have noted the emergence of numerous ethnocultural dialects of Australian English that are spoken by people from some minority non-English speaking backgrounds. These ethnocultural varieties contain features of General Australian English as adopted by
1700-399: A reduced form otherwise. In yes–no questions, statement word order is normal, with the use of a question tag sentence clitic: Verbs can be marked for transitivity and voice ( transitive - passive or intransitive - antipassive ), but not person , tense , aspect or mood . Voice marking is for the transitive-passive, and made by suffixing -e to the verb stem when the object follows
1800-399: A reduced form otherwise. In yes–no questions, statement word order is normal, with the use of a question tag sentence clitic: Verbs can be marked for transitivity and voice ( transitive - passive or intransitive - antipassive ), but not person , tense , aspect or mood . Voice marking is for the transitive-passive, and made by suffixing -e to the verb stem when the object follows
1900-412: A semantic difference difficult to show in the English translation. Plein i dhe go plai is the basic sentence — 'the plane is flying [away] over there'. Plein i plai dhe go is more along the lines of 'the plane is flying away that way'; plein i plai go dhea is 'the plane is flying away heading that way', and finally plein i dhe plai go is 'the plane is there flying away'. Unlike many pidgin-creoles,
2000-412: A semantic difference difficult to show in the English translation. Plein i dhe go plai is the basic sentence — 'the plane is flying [away] over there'. Plein i plai dhe go is more along the lines of 'the plane is flying away that way'; plein i plai go dhea is 'the plane is flying away heading that way', and finally plein i dhe plai go is 'the plane is there flying away'. Unlike many pidgin-creoles,
2100-1044: A stream or small river, whereas in the UK it is typically a watercourse in a marshy area; paddock in Australia means field, whereas in the UK it means a small enclosure for livestock; bush or scrub in Australia, as in North America, means a natural, uncultivated area of vegetation or flora, whereas in England they are commonly used only in proper names (such as Shepherd's Bush and Wormwood Scrubs ). Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been adopted by Australian English —mainly as names for places, flora and fauna (for example dingo ) and local culture. Many such are localised, and do not form part of general Australian use, while others, such as kangaroo , boomerang , budgerigar , wallaby and so on have become international. Other examples are cooee and hard yakka . The former
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#17327903361752200-567: A wave of academic interest and codification during the 20th century which resulted in Australian English becoming established as an endonormative variety with its own internal norms and standards. This culminated in publications such as the 1981 first edition of the Macquarie Dictionary , a major English language dictionary based on Australian usage, and the 1988 first edition of The Australian National Dictionary ,
2300-612: Is also the main language used in compulsory education, as well as federal, state and territorial legislatures and courts. Australian English began to diverge from British and Hiberno-English after the First Fleet established the Colony of New South Wales in 1788. Australian English arose from a dialectal melting pot created by the intermingling of early settlers who were from a variety of dialectal regions of Great Britain and Ireland , though its most significant influences were
2400-492: Is an English-based creole language (a variety of Pidgin English ) spoken on several Torres Strait Islands of Queensland , Australia; Northern Cape York ; and south-western coastal Papua New Guinea (PNG). It has an estimated 20,000–30,000 mother-tongue and bi/tri-lingual speakers. It is widely used as a language of trade and commerce. Records of pidgin English being used in Torres Strait exist from as early as
2500-478: Is an archaic word now normally found only in old songs): Aus blo Ama blo mi i stanap dhe antap lo / we il ananith lo / we big mango dhe antap. My Aunty's house is up there on the hill underneath the big mango up there. Yu mas kam wantaim lo mi. You must/have to come with me. Dhemtu baradha i sidaun ene [lo/we] kenu The two brothers were sitting in the canoe. lo — instrumental: Òl man i kate tœtœl lo naip lo bele / lo ath The men cut (butcher)
2600-478: Is an archaic word now normally found only in old songs): Aus blo Ama blo mi i stanap dhe antap lo / we il ananith lo / we big mango dhe antap. My Aunty's house is up there on the hill underneath the big mango up there. Yu mas kam wantaim lo mi. You must/have to come with me. Dhemtu baradha i sidaun ene [lo/we] kenu The two brothers were sitting in the canoe. lo — instrumental: Òl man i kate tœtœl lo naip lo bele / lo ath The men cut (butcher)
2700-586: Is being replaced by Tok Pisin . Torres Strait Creole has six main dialects: Papuan, Western-Central, TI, Malay, Eastern, and Cape York. Its main characteristics show that it is a Pacific Pidgin, but the future in X [i] go VERB aligns it with Atlantic Creoles. Related languages are Pijin of the Solomon Islands , Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea, and Bislama of Vanuatu . The other creoles of Australia (such as Roper River Kriol and Australian Kriol language ) are more distantly related, being descendants of
2800-507: Is dental, while ⟨d⟩ is alveolar. The stops ⟨p⟩ , ⟨b⟩ , ⟨th⟩ , ⟨dh⟩ , ⟨k⟩ and ⟨g⟩ are aspirated and also have fricative allophones, particularly ⟨p⟩ (thus [pʰ~ɸ] , [bʱ~β] , [t̪ʰ~θ] , [d̪ʱ~ð] , [kʰ~x] , [ɡʱ~ɣ] ) while ⟨s⟩ and ⟨z⟩ vary in pronunciation when word initial and medial between [s~z] and [tʃ~dʒ] , with only [s~z] appearing at
2900-507: Is dental, while ⟨d⟩ is alveolar. The stops ⟨p⟩ , ⟨b⟩ , ⟨th⟩ , ⟨dh⟩ , ⟨k⟩ and ⟨g⟩ are aspirated and also have fricative allophones, particularly ⟨p⟩ (thus [pʰ~ɸ] , [bʱ~β] , [t̪ʰ~θ] , [d̪ʱ~ð] , [kʰ~x] , [ɡʱ~ɣ] ) while ⟨s⟩ and ⟨z⟩ vary in pronunciation when word initial and medial between [s~z] and [tʃ~dʒ] , with only [s~z] appearing at
3000-402: Is found across the continent and is relatively more prominent in rural and outer-suburban areas. A largely historical Cultivated sociocultural variant, which adopted features of British Received Pronunciation and which was commonplace in official media during the early 20th century, had become largely extinct by the onset of the 21st century. Australian Aboriginal English is made up of
3100-683: Is generally retained in other consonant clusters . In common with most varieties of Scottish English and American English , the phoneme /l/ is pronounced by Australians as a "dark" (velarised) l ( [ɫ] ) in almost all positions, unlike other dialects such as Received Pronunciation , Hiberno (Irish) English , etc. Differences in stress, weak forms and standard pronunciation of isolated words occur between Australian English and other forms of English, which while noticeable do not impair intelligibility. The affixes -ary , -ery , -ory , -bury , -berry and -mony (seen in words such as necessary, mulberry and matrimony ) can be pronounced either with
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3200-516: Is mostly evident in phonology. Although Australian English is relatively homogeneous, there are some regional variations. The dialects of English spoken in the various states and territories of Australia differ slightly in vocabulary and phonology. Most regional differences are in word usage. Swimming clothes are known as cossies , /ˈkɔziːz/ togs or swimmers in New South Wales, togs in Queensland, and bathers in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia. What Queensland calls
3300-454: Is no exception. Australian English is uniformly non-rhotic ; that is, the /ɹ/ sound does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant. As with many non-rhotic dialects, linking /ɹ/ can occur when a word that has a final ⟨r⟩ in the spelling comes before another word that starts with a vowel. An intrusive /ɹ/ may similarly be inserted before a vowel in words that do not have ⟨r⟩ in
3400-653: Is often pronounced ɹ . The following are the forms of the personal pronouns in the Western-Central-Cape York dialects. Where the Eastern dialect is concerned, the dental-alveolar contrast is on the whole non-operative, and the dual forms are less commonly used than elsewhere. Furthermore, the 1–2 form yumi is often used as the general non-singular 1–2 form; and is sometimes used as such in other dialects in rhetorical discourse. The Central Islands dialect (and sometimes others) tends to also use wi for
3500-519: Is often pronounced ɹ . The following are the forms of the personal pronouns in the Western-Central-Cape York dialects. Where the Eastern dialect is concerned, the dental-alveolar contrast is on the whole non-operative, and the dual forms are less commonly used than elsewhere. Furthermore, the 1–2 form yumi is often used as the general non-singular 1–2 form; and is sometimes used as such in other dialects in rhetorical discourse. The Central Islands dialect (and sometimes others) tends to also use wi for
3600-636: Is relatively homogeneous across the country. Some relatively minor regional differences in pronunciation exist. A limited range of word choices is strongly regional in nature. Consequently, the geographical background of individuals may be inferred if they use words that are peculiar to particular Australian states or territories and, in some cases, even smaller regions. In addition, some Australians speak creole languages derived from Australian English, such as Australian Kriol , Torres Strait Creole and Norfuk . Academic research has also identified notable sociocultural variation within Australian English, which
3700-441: Is spoken or by the language of the ethnic groups that use the language as well as a certain amount of superstrata influence from English. Apart from accent and intonation, differences are mainly vocabulary used for local fauna, flora and so on, retentions from local indigenous languages or other substrata languages (such as Malay) and minor differences in pronunciation because of substrata influences. The dialects group generally into
3800-480: Is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia . It is the country's common language and de facto national language ; while Australia has no official language , English is the first language of the majority of the population , and has been entrenched as the de facto national language since British settlement , being the only language spoken in the home for 72% of Australians . It
3900-511: Is used as a high-pitched call, for attracting attention, (pronounced /ˈkʉːiː/ ) which travels long distances. Cooee is also a notional distance: "if he's within cooee , we'll spot him". Hard yakka means "hard work" and is derived from yakka , from the Jagera /Yagara language once spoken in the Brisbane region. The word bung , meaning "dead" was originally a Yagara word which was used in
4000-402: Is widely used as a language of trade and commerce. Records of pidgin English being used in Torres Strait exist from as early as the 1840s (e.g. Moore 1979), and therefore Torres Strait Creole may very well be as old as, if not older, than its sister languages, and not a descendant of any of these. It was spread throughout the islands because many considered it to be English. The main importers of
4100-626: The Australian gold rushes in the 1850s began a large wave of immigration , during which about two percent of the population of the United Kingdom emigrated to the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria . The Gold Rushes brought immigrants and linguistic influences from many parts of the world. An example was the introduction of vocabulary from American English , including some terms later considered to be typically Australian, such as bushwhacker and squatter . This American influence
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4200-464: The Solomon Islands , Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea, and Bislama of Vanuatu . The other creoles of Australia (such as Roper River Kriol and Australian Kriol language ) are more distantly related, being descendants of the Pidgin English that developed in and around Sydney after the colonisation of Australia . Dialects differ mainly from the influences in the various areas the language
4300-510: The de facto standard dialect , which is perceived to be free of pronounced regional or sociocultural markers and is often used in the media. The earliest Australian English was spoken by the first generation of native-born colonists in the Colony of New South Wales from the end of the 18th century. These native-born children were exposed to a wide range of dialects from across the British Isles . Similar to early American English ,
4400-811: The pidgin widely spoken across Australia. Many towns or suburbs of Australia have also been influenced or named after Aboriginal words. The best-known example is the capital, Canberra , named after a local Ngunnawal language word thought to mean "women's breasts" or "meeting place". Litotes , such as "not bad", "not much" and "you're not wrong", are also used. Diminutives and hypocorisms are common and are often used to indicate familiarity. Some common examples are arvo (afternoon), barbie (barbecue), smoko (cigarette break), Aussie (Australian) and Straya (Australia). This may also be done with people's names to create nicknames (other English speaking countries create similar diminutives ). For example, "Gazza" from Gary, or "Smitty" from John Smith. The use of
4500-474: The tense vowels used in analyses of Received Pronunciation (RP) as well as its centring diphthongs. The short vowels, consisting only of monophthongs, correspond to the RP lax vowels. There exist pairs of long and short vowels with overlapping vowel quality giving Australian English phonemic length distinction , which is also present in some regional south-eastern dialects of the UK and eastern seaboard dialects in
4600-577: The 1840s (e.g. Moore 1979), and therefore Torres Strait Creole may very well be as old as, if not older, than its sister languages, and not a descendant of any of these. It was spread throughout the islands because many considered it to be English. The main importers of the pidgin were British and other sailors, many of whom were South Sea Islanders, both Melanesian and Polynesian, as well as Island South-East Asians, Jamaicans , Cantonese Chinese , Japanese , and others. Therefore, Torres Strait Creole has various characteristics of these different types of Pidgin,
4700-519: The 19th century. General Australian is the dominant variety across the continent, and is particularly so in urban areas. The increasing dominance of General Australian reflects its prominence on radio and television since the latter half of the 20th century. Recent generations have seen a comparatively smaller proportion of the population speaking with the Broad sociocultural variant, which differs from General Australian in its phonology. The Broad variant
4800-425: The 1st person plural. The non-identifying 3rd plural òl is also found as a nominal plural marker: There is a strong tendency for dhiswan and its forms to be used to the exclusion of dhaswan . Three interrogatives and the two deictics have two forms, this being (interrogatives) a reduced clause initial form and a fuller clause final form, and in the case of the deictics, a pre-clitic and independent form, as in
4900-425: The 1st person plural. The non-identifying 3rd plural òl is also found as a nominal plural marker: There is a strong tendency for dhiswan and its forms to be used to the exclusion of dhaswan . Three interrogatives and the two deictics have two forms, this being (interrogatives) a reduced clause initial form and a fuller clause final form, and in the case of the deictics, a pre-clitic and independent form, as in
5000-524: The Central Islands. Creolisation is post-1960s elsewhere. The Papuan dialect was replaced by Hiri Motu in many parts of its former territory, which in turn is being replaced by Tok Pisin . Torres Strait Creole has six main dialects: Papuan, Western-Central, TI, Malay, Eastern, and Cape York. Its main characteristics show that it is a Pacific Pidgin, but the future in X [i] go VERB aligns it with Atlantic Creoles. Related languages are Pijin of
5100-618: The Pidgin English that developed in and around Sydney after the colonisation of Australia . Dialects differ mainly from the influences in the various areas the language is spoken or by the language of the ethnic groups that use the language as well as a certain amount of superstrata influence from English. Apart from accent and intonation, differences are mainly vocabulary used for local fauna, flora and so on, retentions from local indigenous languages or other substrata languages (such as Malay) and minor differences in pronunciation because of substrata influences. The dialects group generally into
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#17327903361755200-695: The US. An example of this feature is the distinction between ferry /ˈfeɹiː/ and fairy /ˈfeːɹiː/ . As with New Zealand English and General American English, the weak-vowel merger is complete in Australian English: unstressed /ɪ/ is merged into /ə/ ( schwa ), unless it is followed by a velar consonant. Examples of this feature are the following pairings, which are pronounced identically in Australian English: Rosa's and roses , as well as Lennon and Lenin . Other examples are
5300-572: The Western-Central-Cape York dialects where the western and central language of Torres Strait (Kala Lagaw Ya) has a strong influence (an influence which is also 'over-powering' other sub-strata influences), 'TI' Brokan with a strong Malay / Indonesian - Filipino -European influence, Eastern Brokan with a South Seas and Meriam Mìr influence, and Papuan, with influences from languages such as Agöb , Bine , Gizrra , Wipi , Kiwai , Motu and (now) Tok Pisin . Influences from other languages such as Japanese are to do with vocabulary specific to Japanese (or
5400-572: The Western-Central-Cape York dialects where the western and central language of Torres Strait (Kala Lagaw Ya) has a strong influence (an influence which is also 'over-powering' other sub-strata influences), 'TI' Brokan with a strong Malay / Indonesian - Filipino -European influence, Eastern Brokan with a South Seas and Meriam Mìr influence, and Papuan, with influences from languages such as Agöb , Bine , Gizrra , Wipi , Kiwai , Motu and (now) Tok Pisin . Influences from other languages such as Japanese are to do with vocabulary specific to Japanese (or
5500-486: The adjective categorically comes before the noun. Similarly, adverbs that mark adjectives come before the adjective: Unlike Tok Pisin , Bislama and the Australian creoles, -pla is not used as an adjective formant. When not before the referent, adjectives are often suffixed by -wan , the adjective nominaliser, or by an appropriate nominal, such as man 'man, person' All verb tense and aspect markers come before
5600-427: The adjective categorically comes before the noun. Similarly, adverbs that mark adjectives come before the adjective: Unlike Tok Pisin , Bislama and the Australian creoles, -pla is not used as an adjective formant. When not before the referent, adjectives are often suffixed by -wan , the adjective nominaliser, or by an appropriate nominal, such as man 'man, person' All verb tense and aspect markers come before
5700-502: The both prominent codes, rugby league and Australian rules football, interchangeably, depending on context of usage outside of regional perrameters. In some pockets of Melbourne & Western Sydney "football" and more rarely "footy" will refer to Association football although unlike more common international terminology, Australian English uses the term soccer and not football or footy. Beer glasses are also named differently in different states. Distinctive grammatical patterns exist such as
5800-487: The case endings have evolved to postposition status, which contrast the following cases to varying extents, but which have little or no number marking on nouns: They also contrast the following derived forms (among others according to language), which are not case forms in the local languages, but rather nominals: The use of the prepositions in Torres Strait Creole reflect these cases and nominalisations to
5900-415: The case endings have evolved to postposition status, which contrast the following cases to varying extents, but which have little or no number marking on nouns: They also contrast the following derived forms (among others according to language), which are not case forms in the local languages, but rather nominals: The use of the prepositions in Torres Strait Creole reflect these cases and nominalisations to
6000-607: The children of immigrants blended with some non-English language features, such as Afro-Asiatic languages and languages of Asia . Samoan English is also influencing Australian English. Other ethnolects include those of Lebanese and Vietnamese Australians. A high rising terminal in Australian English was noted and studied earlier than in other varieties of English. The feature is sometimes called Australian questioning intonation . Research published in 1986, regarding vernacular speech in Sydney , suggested that high rising terminal
6100-436: The development of the new variety and constituted "the major input of the various sounds that went into constructing" Australian English. All the other regions of England were represented among the early colonists. A large proportion of early convicts and colonists were from Ireland, and spoke Irish as a sole or first language . They were joined by other non-native speakers of English from Scotland and Wales . The first of
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#17327903361756200-423: The dialect. Internationally well-known examples of Australian terminology include outback , meaning a remote, sparsely populated area, the bush , meaning either a native forest or a country area in general, and g'day , a greeting. Dinkum , or fair dinkum means "true", "legitimate" or "is that true?", among other things, depending on context and inflection. The derivative dinky-di means "true" or devoted:
6300-509: The dialects of South East England . By the 1820s, the native-born colonists' speech was recognisably distinct from speakers in Britain and Ireland. Australian English differs from other varieties in its phonology , pronunciation , lexicon , idiom , grammar and spelling . Australian English is relatively consistent across the continent, although it encompasses numerous regional and sociocultural varieties . "General Australian" describes
6400-609: The end of a word or morpheme before any vowel in the same breath group. Examples of this feature are that the following pairs are pronounced similarly or identically: latter and ladder , as well as rated and raided . Yod -dropping generally occurs after /s/ , /l/ , /z/ , /θ/ but not after /t/ , /d/ and /n/ . Accordingly, suit is pronounced as /sʉːt/ , lute as /lʉːt/ , Zeus as /zʉːs/ and enthusiasm as /enˈθʉːziːæzəm/ . Other cases of /sj/ and /zj/ , as well as /tj/ and /dj/ , have coalesced to /ʃ/ , /ʒ/ , /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ respectively for many speakers. /j/
6500-530: The ends of words in Torres Strait and Papuan dialects. These reflect indigenous language allophony as well as a rationalisation of the larger English (and Malay, etc.) consonant phoneme inventory. The consonants ⟨t⟩ , ⟨d⟩ , ⟨m⟩ , ⟨n⟩ , ⟨l⟩ , ⟨w⟩ , ⟨y⟩ and ⟨ng⟩ do not have any major allophonic variation, while ⟨r⟩ varies between ɾ and r (particularly when syllable final), and in songs
6600-530: The ends of words in Torres Strait and Papuan dialects. These reflect indigenous language allophony as well as a rationalisation of the larger English (and Malay, etc.) consonant phoneme inventory. The consonants ⟨t⟩ , ⟨d⟩ , ⟨m⟩ , ⟨n⟩ , ⟨l⟩ , ⟨w⟩ , ⟨y⟩ and ⟨ng⟩ do not have any major allophonic variation, while ⟨r⟩ varies between ɾ and r (particularly when syllable final), and in songs
6700-470: The following examples: Clause position variation (initial, final) Pre-clitic vs independent form: Two interrogatives have variant words/forms, used interchangeably: Dialectal variation is only found in two forms: The language has no indefinite article , and uses the definite article much less than it is in English, it having a more demonstrative feel than the English equivalent. There are singular, dual and plural forms: The demonstrative articles have
6800-470: The following examples: Clause position variation (initial, final) Pre-clitic vs independent form: Two interrogatives have variant words/forms, used interchangeably: Dialectal variation is only found in two forms: The language has no indefinite article , and uses the definite article much less than it is in English, it having a more demonstrative feel than the English equivalent. There are singular, dual and plural forms: The demonstrative articles have
6900-400: The following pairs, which rhyme in Australian English: abbott with rabbit , and dig it with bigot . Most varieties of Australian English exhibit only a partial trap-bath split . The words bath , grass and can't are always pronounced with the "long" /aː/ of father . Throughout the majority of the country, the "flat" /æ/ of man is the dominant pronunciation for the a vowel in
7000-447: The following words: dance , advance , plant , example and answer . The exception is the state of South Australia , where a more advanced trap-bath split is found, and where the dominant pronunciation of all the preceding words incorporates the "long" /aː/ of father . There is little variation in the sets of consonants used in different English dialects but there are variations in how these consonants are used. Australian English
7100-585: The language have estimated that from 20,000 to 30,000 Indigenous Australians spoke it as their first language in 2010. In 2007 a translation of the Bible was published, called the Holi Baibul , which was the first complete translation of the Bible into any Indigenous language within Australia. Most Torres Strait Islander people speak Yumplatok in addition to their local languages, and a 2014 study suggests that
7200-422: The language have estimated that from 20,000 to 30,000 Indigenous Australians spoke it as their first language in 2010. In 2007 a translation of the Bible was published, called the Holi Baibul , which was the first complete translation of the Bible into any Indigenous language within Australia. Most Torres Strait Islander people speak Yumplatok in addition to their local languages, and a 2014 study suggests that
7300-407: The like) items. Torres Strait Creole exists as part of a lect continuum: a local language, a local language mix called Ap-ne-Ap, a pidgin basilect creole, a mesolect English influenced creole, local Torres Strait (Thursday Island) English, and General Australian English , as this example shows: The 2016 Australian census recorded 6,171 people who spoke Yumplatok at home, but linguists working on
7400-406: The like) items. Torres Strait Creole exists as part of a lect continuum: a local language, a local language mix called Ap-ne-Ap, a pidgin basilect creole, a mesolect English influenced creole, local Torres Strait (Thursday Island) English, and General Australian English , as this example shows: The 2016 Australian census recorded 6,171 people who spoke Yumplatok at home, but linguists working on
7500-466: The main ones being mid- to late 1800s Malay-area Pidgin English (but not Singlish , one of its modern representatives), Pacific Pidgin and Jamaican Patois . It may have creolised quite early (pre-1900) on Darnley Island , and somewhat later (post-1910) at St Pauls on Moa and on Yorke Island in the Central Islands. Creolisation is post-1960s elsewhere. The Papuan dialect was replaced by Hiri Motu in many parts of its former territory, which in turn
7600-459: The normal sentence word order is the expected transitive S-V-O -X(-) and intransitive S-V-X(-), there is variation in the form of S-X-V(-O), such as where the directional adverbs dhe 'there' and ia/ya 'here' come before the verb, as happens in all local languages (this is in common with virtually all verb tense/aspect/mood markers in the language). Verb clause strings are normal in the language: The four sentences in Torres Strait Creole carry
7700-459: The normal sentence word order is the expected transitive S-V-O -X(-) and intransitive S-V-X(-), there is variation in the form of S-X-V(-O), such as where the directional adverbs dhe 'there' and ia/ya 'here' come before the verb, as happens in all local languages (this is in common with virtually all verb tense/aspect/mood markers in the language). Verb clause strings are normal in the language: The four sentences in Torres Strait Creole carry
7800-552: The numbers of people speaking Kriol are growing. It is widely used as a language of trade and commerce. The language has the following vowels (with some dialect variation): Vowel length for the language as a whole is non-contrastive, though in some subdialects/dialects it appears to be contrastive. The dental-alveolar contrast exists in the Western, Central and Cape York dialects, however only exists in other dialects in so far as either English or Western-Central influences force
7900-496: The numbers of people speaking Kriol are growing. It is widely used as a language of trade and commerce. The language has the following vowels (with some dialect variation): Vowel length for the language as a whole is non-contrastive, though in some subdialects/dialects it appears to be contrastive. The dental-alveolar contrast exists in the Western, Central and Cape York dialects, however only exists in other dialects in so far as either English or Western-Central influences force
8000-511: The other states they may also be realised as monophthongs: [nɪː, skweː] . A feature common in Victorian English is salary–celery merger , whereby a Victorian pronunciation of Ellen may sound like Alan and Victoria's capital city Melbourne may sound like Malbourne to speakers from other states. There is also regional variation in /ʉː/ before /l/ (as in school and pool ). In some parts of Australia, notably Victoria,
8100-551: The other states. Accordingly, words such as dance , advance , plant , example and answer are pronounced with /aː/ (as in father ) far more frequently in South Australia while the older /æ/ (as in mad ) is dominant elsewhere in Australia. L -vocalisation is also more common in South Australia than other states. In Western Australian and Queensland English, the vowels in near and square are typically realised as centring diphthongs ( [nɪə, skweə] ), whereas in
8200-609: The pidgin were British and other sailors, many of whom were South Sea Islanders, both Melanesian and Polynesian, as well as Island South-East Asians, Jamaicans , Cantonese Chinese , Japanese , and others. Therefore, Torres Strait Creole has various characteristics of these different types of Pidgin, the main ones being mid- to late 1800s Malay-area Pidgin English (but not Singlish , one of its modern representatives), Pacific Pidgin and Jamaican Patois . It may have creolised quite early (pre-1900) on Darnley Island , and somewhat later (post-1910) at St Pauls on Moa and on Yorke Island in
8300-471: The process of dialect levelling and koineisation which ensued produced a relatively homogeneous new variety of English which was easily understood by all. Peter Miller Cunningham 's 1827 book Two Years in New South Wales described the distinctive accent and vocabulary that had developed among the native-born colonists. The dialects of South East England , including most notably the traditional Cockney dialect of London, were particularly influential on
8400-463: The spelling in certain environments, namely after the long vowel /oː/ and after word final /ə/ . This can be heard in "law-r-and order", where an intrusive R is voiced between the AW and the A. As with North American English, intervocalic alveolar flapping is a feature of Australian English: prevocalic /t/ and /d/ surface as the alveolar tap [ɾ] after sonorants other than /m, ŋ/ as well as at
8500-450: The stem of intransitive verbs, and to the full transitive-passive form of transitive verbs. When used as transitive-passive verbs, they also suffix the transitive ending after the suffix. They also derive verbs from other words. Torres Strait Creole shows strong substrata influence in its use of its prepositions . All local languages are either prepositionless case-marking agglutinative languages, or case-marking agglutinative languages where
8600-450: The stem of intransitive verbs, and to the full transitive-passive form of transitive verbs. When used as transitive-passive verbs, they also suffix the transitive ending after the suffix. They also derive verbs from other words. Torres Strait Creole shows strong substrata influence in its use of its prepositions . All local languages are either prepositionless case-marking agglutinative languages, or case-marking agglutinative languages where
8700-572: The suffix -o originates in Irish : ó , which is both a postclitic and a suffix with much the same meaning as in Australian English. In informal speech, incomplete comparisons are sometimes used, such as "sweet as" (as in "That car is sweet as."). "Full", "fully" or "heaps" may precede a word to act as an intensifier (as in "The waves at the beach were heaps good."). This was more common in regional Australia and South Australia but has been in common usage in urban Australia for decades. The suffix "-ly"
8800-436: The suffix: Certain verbs of position and movement are not followed by a preposition in their most normal clause types. These are not to be confused with transitive clauses: Four derivational suffixes exist which add aspectual meaning to verb stems. Though their origin are English intransitive prepositions, in Torres Strait Creole their status is completely aspectual; they can only be used as suffixes. They are suffixes to
8900-436: The suffix: Certain verbs of position and movement are not followed by a preposition in their most normal clause types. These are not to be confused with transitive clauses: Four derivational suffixes exist which add aspectual meaning to verb stems. Though their origin are English intransitive prepositions, in Torres Strait Creole their status is completely aspectual; they can only be used as suffixes. They are suffixes to
9000-729: The turtle with a knife on the bottom shell . òlsem , waze ( waze is the somewhat more common reduced form of òlsem ) – similative (like): Dhempla lo Mari Ailan i no tòk waze yumpla . The people on Murray Island don't talk like us. Em i dhe swim go waze aligeta. He's swimming away over there like a crocodile. The prepositions also have syntactic uses, including the following, where they govern verbs or adjectives: Torres Strait Creole language Torres Strait Creole ( Torres Strait Creole : Yumplatok ), also known as Torres Strait Pidgin , Brokan/Broken , Cape York Creole , Lockhart Creole , Kriol , Papuan , Broken English , Blaikman , Big Thap , Pizin , and Ailan Tok ,
9100-536: The turtle with a knife on the bottom shell . òlsem , waze ( waze is the somewhat more common reduced form of òlsem ) – similative (like): Dhempla lo Mari Ailan i no tòk waze yumpla . The people on Murray Island don't talk like us. Em i dhe swim go waze aligeta. He's swimming away over there like a crocodile. The prepositions also have syntactic uses, including the following, where they govern verbs or adjectives: Australian English Australian English ( AusE , AusEng , AuE , AuEng , en-AU )
9200-412: The use of the interrogative eh (also spelled ay or aye ), which is particularly associated with Queensland. Secret Santa ( ) and Kris Kringle are used in all states, with the former being more common in Queensland. The most pronounced variation in phonology is between South Australia and the other states and territories. The trap–bath split is more complete in South Australia, in contrast to
9300-435: The verb (see Verbs below), apart from the clitic nau . A fully operational relative clause structure exists, marked by the relative clause marker we : Questions vary between using English/Meriam Mìr-like word order, i.e. question word initially, or Kala Lagaw Ya/Malay-like word order, i.e. question word order is the same as that of statements. As stated above, the question word has its full form when used clause finally, and
9400-435: The verb (see Verbs below), apart from the clitic nau . A fully operational relative clause structure exists, marked by the relative clause marker we : Questions vary between using English/Meriam Mìr-like word order, i.e. question word initially, or Kala Lagaw Ya/Malay-like word order, i.e. question word order is the same as that of statements. As stated above, the question word has its full form when used clause finally, and
9500-485: The verb, and -em when the object is elsewhere in the clause. Note that the suffix -em is of fairly recent development, and is in origin an abbreviation of the verb phrase form VERB-e em , where the cross referencing pronoun em and the suffix have coalesced (via -i em → -yem → -em ). All these versions exist in everyday speech, as illustrated by tek 'take': intransitive-antipassive tek , transitive-passive teke , teki em , tekyem , tekem : The development of
9600-485: The verb, and -em when the object is elsewhere in the clause. Note that the suffix -em is of fairly recent development, and is in origin an abbreviation of the verb phrase form VERB-e em , where the cross referencing pronoun em and the suffix have coalesced (via -i em → -yem → -em ). All these versions exist in everyday speech, as illustrated by tek 'take': intransitive-antipassive tek , transitive-passive teke , teki em , tekyem , tekem : The development of
9700-417: The word bloody as a mild expletive or intensifier . "Mate" is also used in multiple ways including to indicate "mateship" or formally call out the target of a threat or insult, depending on internation and context. Several words used by Australians were at one time used in the UK but have since fallen out of usage or changed in meaning there. For example, creek in Australia, as in North America, means
9800-403: The word footy generally refers to the most popular football code in an area; that is, rugby league or rugby union depending on the local area, in most of New South Wales and Queensland. More commonly "rugby" is used to distinguish rugby union from "footy" which refers to the more popular rugby league. Footy commonly is used for Australian rules football elsewhere however the term refers to
9900-437: Was continued with the popularity of American films from the early 20th century and the influx of American military personnel during World War II ; seen in the enduring persistence of such universally-accepted terms as okay and guys . The publication of Edward Ellis Morris 's Austral English: A Dictionary Of Australasian Words, Phrases And Usages in 1898, which extensively catalogued Australian English vocabulary, started
10000-519: Was initially spread by young people in the 1960s. It found that the high rising terminal was used more than twice as often by young people than older people, and is more common among women than men. In the United Kingdom , it has occasionally been considered one of the variety's stereotypical features, and its spread there is attributed to the popularity of Australian soap operas . Australian English has many words and idioms which are unique to
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