Australian English Language Analysis

Australia is celebrated for its multiculturalism and acceptance of ethnic minorities, however, according to linguist Ben crustal ‘Australia…recaptured by a pervasive monolingual mindset which sees monolingualism as the norm and multilingualism as the exception even as a problem or deficit.’ Although ethnolects are viewed negatively by the mainstream society, its usage is both beneficial to ethnic minorities and has been adopted as the Lingua Franca in some situations. As a result of the majority’s consensus on the dislike of ethnolects, minorities are pressured to adopt Standard Australian English (SAE) in formal and public domains; limiting the usage of ethnolects. These observations are reflected in a recent interview with X; a forty-year-old

British linguist David Crystal once said “languages that don’t change are dead ones”, and the evolution of English language; not only in Australia, but on a global scale has developed in such a way that formal language is progressively becoming obsolete, whilst informal language is transforming into an increasingly contemporary form of written and spoken communication. The wide utilisation of informal language especially in modern-day Australian society functions to aid in the building of rapport, as well as enabling an increased association of an individual 's identity with the richness of Australian culture. Although this is clearly evident

Language use in Australia constantly and rapidly changes to reflect the ever-evolving Australian national identity. It is being influenced by American culture, through its pervasive media, and altered to create a unique identity that addresses the needs of the younger Australians. Technology, the loss and gain of expressions, changing perception of taboo words and political correctness also attribute to the way that language has evolved to fabricate our national identity.

“Intrinsic arguments describe the English language as providential, rich, noble and interesting. Such arguments tend to assert what English is and what other languages are not”. As mentioned previously, notwithstanding that the english language is widely-spoken around the world, diversity is important and for many individuals language is the basis of their culture. Making english the global language is essentially

The teaching resource selected to support diverse literacy and language learning in a grade one classroom is a children’s book ‘I’m Australian Too’ written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh (Fox, M. (2017) ‘I’m Australian Too’ Australia; Scholastic Australia). The book is available for purchase both online and at ‘Readings’ stores in Hawthorn, Carlton, Malvern and St Kilda for $19.99. It can also be accessed as an audio copy from http://memfox.com/books/im-australian-too/. The book details all the multiple cultural identities that can be found across Australia. It poetically details that no matter where our families come from, or the hardships that may have faced, we can all find a home in Australia. The resource is useful in

Jaky Troy (2012) mentions, “without knowledge of our language we feel culturally and spiritually diminished.” There are over 250 original languages and majority of indigenous people in Australia belong to one or more of them. Nonetheless majority of them cannot remember or hardly speak it (Troy, 2012). Consequently, many Aboriginals do not speak their languages but rather speak one or more forms of Aboriginal English. This results in Aboriginal students feeling uncomfortable regardless of the amount of good teachers that were there to help them (Troy, 2012). According to (Hanlen, 2002) Aboriginal kids are given next to nothing in terms of learning Western literacy or the English language, resulting in separation from the Mainstream society inevitably leading to marginalisation. When Aboriginal students use Aboriginal English they feel inadequate and inferior. In relation to intelligence, students are said to be or even been given the impression, that they lack and must seek intelligence (Shipp, 2012). Throughout

This course has really enlightened my view of being able to learn the value of linguistic and cultural diversity and the influential learning opportunities it gives today’s classrooms and schools. We as teacher educators were allowed to examine our attitudes, beliefs, and preferences regarding linguistically and culturally diverse students, families, and communities and learn methods for working together to confirm high levels of learning for all students. Also, strategies for guaranteeing

I think that it is important that we have our own unique type of English that we speak as Australians so that we are unique from other nations. It is important that we allow our language to change as we are a multicultural nation and our language can reflect that. 

2. Does the English we speak in Australia give us all a sense of belonging and a shared identity? Or do you think it causes more exclusion than inclusion? Explain. 
I think that Australian English gives us a sense of belonging in that we use British English in words such as colour and flavour but we don’t always use British English. I think Australian English is unique as it is influenced

Despite Australia’s ever-growing multiculturalism, it has been found that ‘monolingualism is extraordinarily common in Australia throughout the general population and all occupational levels (Bostock, 1973).’ With such an array of cultures present, one would assume that Australian education systems would have endless bilingual programs in place. However, this is not the case. Despite the successes of bilingual education on a global scale, little effort has been made to preserve any Australian languages, meaning that language death has become an everyday factor that Indigenous individuals have to deal with (Wurm, 1991). This paper discusses the concept of bilingual education and its faults in the transition from theory to

In the following paragraphs I convey my thoughts supported by research in relation to the following questions: Why is it essential to consider the cultural and linguistic diversity of our classroom? What are some ways educators can become more culturally competent? What should be considered when managing the behavior of culturally and linguistically diverse learners? What should be avoided? How can the information presented in this article be applied to my own classroom?

There are many indicators of identity by which we are made known individually, socially and culturally; the best of these would be language and how it has shown great flexibility in accommodating the needs of people. Through language people have been able to establish their identities and cultivate friendships with others who share the same common ground. By looking at accents such as Broad Australian English, slang and phonological features as they apply to Australian varieties, we can see how it has forged solidarity and assisted in creating an identity on an individual and national scale.

Language is oftentimes perceived as intrinsic to human nature which while true to an extent, ignores the way human behaviour today has affected our communication with one another. Since the end of the twentieth century, globalization changed the way people in the globalized countries are understood through language in ways that have both strengths and weaknesses. Languages have switched from being simply indicators of cultural background to being a commodity in the economic sphere. This reworking of the purpose of language has affected the growth of English worldwide and given it new ways to develop. Unfortunately, Standard English has largely become the focus of the international world at a cost for many people not born in English-speaking countries. Despite its shortcomings, globalization has provided different languages, and minority dialects, meaningful spaces in which they can develop their own worth. There are still important studies to be done into the effect of globalization on multilingualism and I propose doing multiple case studies to compare the progression of language in countries around the world. To start, it is important to looked at how that progression changed to begin with.

Language is a powerful communication tool the user holds to express their individual identity and ingroup solidarity. The use of Standard English helps to direct this, as it acts as the structure of communication, ingroup and between speech communities to effectively present a standard for mutual understanding. Outside of Standard English comes the use of slang, netspeak and textspeak, which helps to develop and enrich the language, as well as evolve with contemporary Australia and its fast paced lifestyle. Using the Standard all the time would be exclusive of the linguistic freedom formed by the world beyond Standard English with varying ethnolects, but is also a

Furthermore this national language is inflected with dissimilar rhythms and sounds, and follows different syntaxes and forms of expressions. As McLeod argued in Beginning Postcolonialism “these writers were creating new ‘englishes’ […] by incorporating many different creolized versions of English into their texts,” (McLeod 2000: 29) the result of which was an undeniable separation from the language of the colonizers. Even though the words were English, they were so to a lesser

     “In the world were over seven thousand languages have exisisted, one language had become dominate. This dominant language is English.” “In the majority of countries throughout the world speak English as their second or first language, no longer just America or England.” English has taken many forms, American English, the Queen’s English, Australian, Canadian English, and several others. Even American English has taken several types of English, Jersey English, East Coast English, West Coast English, Southern English, slang English, and Ebonics. All of these languages have major variants between them, but are all of them are still understood aboard. Without English the world couldn’t operate,