The University of Tuzla

Faculty of philosophy
English language and literature
History of English language

English language in Australia and New Zealand main features

Professor:

Student

dr. sc. Tanja Pavlovi

Admir Husi

-Aim
This essay provides the main features of English language in Australia and New Zealand
as well as the differences between them. There are also many examples of Australian and
New Zealand English that represent their similarities and differences regarding to the
other countries where English language is frequently used. The introduction gives some
basic characteristics of these two varieties of the English language, while the first part of
the body paragraph provides the main features of Australian English. The second part of
the body paragraph provides the main features and some examples related to New
Zealand English.

- Introduction
Australian English is a type of the English language that is spoken in Australia. This
variety of the English language differs from other varieties because of their differences in
accents and dialects that are spoken in this country. There are three varieties of Australian
English being identified: Cultivated, Broad and Australian English. All these varieties
have many similar features but, in some areas, differ from each other by pronunciation
and grammar. They are mostly similar but differ from other varieties of English spoken in
other countries where this language is the Native language.1
Australian English originates from 1770 and with the word kangaroo and the glossary
of local words by Captain James Cook that were used in negotiations with the Endeavour
River tribes. This language is derived from the aboriginal vocabulary as well and there
are some examples such as billabong that means a waterhole, jumbuck a sheep,
corroboree an assembly, boomerang a curved throwing stick and budgerigar
that was derived from two words; bundgeree good and gar parrot. Australian
English took only the words of plants, trees, birds, animals and fish from Aboriginal
language.2
New Zealand English is a younger variety of English language spoken in New Zealand;
on the North Island and Southern Island. This country as well as Australia was the British
colony so the British Empire brought culture, tradition and language as well.3
New Zealand English has almost the same history of the arrival of this language as
Australia had. There were many conflicts in the 1770s between Maori tribes and James
Cook, who was a British explorer, and Jean Francios Marie de Surville, a commander of
French trading ship, arrived during their fight on the islands of New Zealand. Both
1

http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/AustralianEnglishterm.htm - Australian English by Richard Nordquist

January 24th 2013
2
http://australianenglish1.narod.ru/ - Australian English Development and Peculiarities; January 24 th 2013
3
http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/eng6365-ladd.htm - English, Maori and Maori English in
New Zealand by Heather Ladd; January 24th 2013

British and French colonies arrived there but only the British stayed that was confirmed
by a Treaty with the Britons in 1840. Because of that, Britain brought its culture as well
as its language.4
-The main features of Australian English language
Nowadays, Australian English is the native language of almost all the Australian people
except some Aboriginals. This language became established around the beginning of the
19th century. It is similar to the accents of todays England but it also has some differences
depending on the region where this language was spoken through history. There are three
main dialects in Australia: Broad, General and Cultivated Australian.
-Pronunciation
The main differences in the quality of vowel are: it is very similar to RP (Received
Pronunciation), minority accent in cultivated Australian English and it is considered
snobbish; strong vowel shifts are similar to southeastern England in general Australian
English and it has a middle-class accent and; it has a strong rural and working-class
accent with lengthened first elements of diphthongs in broad Australian English. Another
important feature of vowel in this language is a push-chain effect on long vowels and
diphthongs as it is presented in the next examples (/aI/ vs /a:I/):
1st chain: /i:/ > [I] (see [sI]), /I/ > [I] (say [sI]), /I/ > [I] (sigh [sI]),
/I/ > [oI] (soy [soI])
2nd chain: /u:/ > [u] (boot [but]), /U/ > [U (boat [bUt]), /U/ [o] (bout
[bot])
There are also two differences in raised front vowels and fronted back vowels as well as
the differences of centering diphthongs that are monophthongized to long vowels and
weak vowels that are different from RP. When it comes to consonants, there are three
features that differ from Standard English: Australian English is non-rhetoric and has
both linking and intrusive /r/; tapping of /t/, /d/ possible; and no allophonic variation of
/l/, usually a dark realization. Miscellaneous pronunciation features are in the words such
as assume or presume, /s/ is pronounced as //; initial /tj/ and /dj/ are often
4

http://history-nz.org/ - The history of New Zealand: a brief overview of the pre-historic, colonial and
modern periods; January 24th 2013

pronounced as /t/ and /d/; and the sequence /lj/ is often pronounced as /j:/. Australian
English does not have many differences from British English and some of them are that
collective nouns take singular verb forms (e.g. the government has decided in BE it
is the government have decided) and that she can be used for inanimate objects in
impersonal constructions.
-Vocabulary
Australian English words vs. British English words: to barrack for - to support, footpath sidewalk, frock - dress, gumboots - rubber boots, lolly - any sweets, paddock - field,
picture theatre - cinema, to chunder - to vomit, crook ill or angry, dag - an eccentric
person, drongo - fool, to rubbish - to pour scorn on, sheila - girl, to front up - to present
oneself, to bot - to borrow, to shoot through - to leave, tucker - food, wog - germ, spell
rest or break, park - parking space, to chyack - to tease, offsider partner or companion,
chook - chicken, to fine up - to improve, especially weather.5
- The main features of New Zealand English language
New Zealand English is quite similar to Australian English but also has some different
features and it was established in the 1840s. There are no differences between North and
South Island of New Zealand and the only exception of this feature is southernmost
provinces of South Island such as Otago and Southland. There is the similar range of
social dialects from Cultivated to General and to Broad New Zealand English.
Grammatical (morphological and syntactic) features are similar with Australian English
as well.6
-Pronunciation
New Zealand English pronunciation is similar to Australian English; both of them have
some similar features such as non-rhetoric vowels, occasional tapping, shifted long and
raised front vowels. Centralized pronunciation of /I/ as /a/ leading to a merger with the
phoneme /a/ means that /I/ is missing in New Zealand English but it has a lowered
allophone in final position that is similar to Australian English. The shifting of the
5

http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/jilka/teaching/dialectology/d12_AustraliaNZ.pdf - Australian
English and New Zealand English; January 24th 2013
6
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/jilka/teaching/dialectology/d12_AustraliaNZ.pdf - Australian
English and New Zealand English; January 25th 2013

phoneme /a/ instead of /I/ is the major distinctive feature of New Zealand English.
Centering diphthongs exist but are raised e.g. fair sounds like fear; very dark /l/
retracts preceding vowels e.g. doll is pronounced as dole.
-Lexical characteristics
When it comes to diminutive suffixes, those are ie such as boatie boating enthusiast,
swannie - all-weather wool jacket, wharfie - waterside worker, truckie - truck driver etc.
and o/-oh in the words such as arvo - afternoon, bottle-oh - dealer in used bottles, compo
- compensation, smoko - break from work etc.7
There are some other words that are frequently used in New Zealand English such as
barbie barbeque, bickie biscuit, breckie breakfast, Chrissy Christmas, footie
football, hubby husband, kindy kindergarten, mozzie mosquito, pozzie position,
prezzie present, sammie sandwich, sossie sausage, telly television etc.8
-Some relevant characteristics of English, Maori and other Polynesian languages
distinctive English vocabulary: tramping - hiking, to jack up - arrange, joker guy or
bloke, to skite - to boast, domain - recreation area, to uplift - to collect or to pick up, to go
crook at - be angry with, bach cabin or cottage, chilly bin - portable insulated food
container, grass fence - strip of long grass along an electric fence, share-milker - tenant
farmer etc.
shared with Australian English: barrack, wowser - spoilsport, offsider, crook, dill - fool,
chook, dunny - lavatory, informal vote - invalid vote etc.
adoptions from Maori and other Polynesian languages: mana prestige or power, aue expression of astonishment, haere mai - a greeting, haka posture dance, pakeha - a
white New Zealander, tapu sacred etc.9

-Conclusion

http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/jilka/teaching/dialectology/d12_AustraliaNZ.pdf - Australian
English and New Zealand English; January 25th 2013
8
http://chris.heathens.co.nz/NZese.html - Some characteristics of New Zealand English; January 25 th 2013
9
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/jilka/teaching/dialectology/d12_ AustraliaNZ.pdf Australian English and New Zealand English; January 25th 2013

Australian and New Zealand English are not popular in the world because these
languages are only spoken in these two countries. There are some British linguistics who
are interested in these languages and they briefly study their features; grammar,
vocabulary and pronunciation but only for the purpose of people who live or to be lived
in Australia and New Zealand. These languages are spoken in these countries except
some old people who live there and stick to their native languages such as Maori and
Aboriginals. They are not too different from standard British English because the only
two features of their differences are usually pronunciation of the words and vocabulary.
Australian and New Zealand English are different from each other in pronunciation and
some words as well as their difference from British or American English.

-References

1. http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/AustralianEnglishterm.htm
2. http://australianenglish1.narod.ru/
3. http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/eng6365-ladd.htm
4. http://history-nz.org/
5.http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/jilka/teaching/dialectology/d12_
AustraliaNZ.pdf
6. http://chris.heathens.co.nz/NZese.html