Australian English language
| Australian English | |
|---|---|
| Region | Australia |
|
Native speakers
|
16.5 million in Australia (2012) 3.5 million L2 speakers of English in Australia (Crystal 2003) |
|
Indo-European
|
|
|
Latin (English alphabet) Unified English Braille |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | en-AU |
Australian English (AuE, en-AU) is a major variety of the English language, used throughout Australia. Although English has no official status in the Constitution, Australian English is the country's national and de facto official language as it is the first language of the majority of the population.
Australian English began to diverge from British English after the founding of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788 and was recognised as being different from British English by 1820. It arose from the intermingling of early settlers from a great variety of mutually intelligible dialectal regions of the British Isles and quickly developed into a distinct variety of English.
As a distinct dialect, Australian English differs considerably from other varieties of English in vocabulary, accent, pronunciation, register, grammar and spelling.
The earliest form of Australian English was first spoken by the children of the colonists born into the colony of New South Wales. This first generation of children created a new dialect that was to become the language of the nation. The Australian-born children in the new colony were exposed to a wide range of dialects from all over the British Isles, in particular from Ireland and South East England.
The native-born children of the colony created the new dialect from the speech they heard around them, and with it expressed peer solidarity. Even when new settlers arrived, this new dialect was strong enough to blunt other patterns of speech.
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