The question to ask is: ‘Why not use Standard English all the time?’
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
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Other forms of the English language are developed from speech communities with an intention, for efficiency and to show inclusion, and to exclude others. It also helps to convey a specific identity of the speaker, with the use of syntactic and phonological differences from Standard English. These modifications form non-standard dialects, transferring the speaker’s cultural background and language to provide a better perception and reflection of identity. The falling intonation accompanied with interrogatives in the Asian ethnolect, such as ‘Gravy?’, is the opposite of the rising intonation used for the same purpose by Australians, and can quickly cause conflict between the two communities due to the missing benchmark in language. Pronoun deletion in ‘No like’ (‘I don’t like it’) is a feature of many ethnolects (Greek, Aboriginal English), and is differing from the Standard, yet still helps to get the message across. Ethnolects develop from Standard English, and helps to express a user’s identity through their language use and in-group solidarity within the speech community.
There are a range of English varieties which are different from the Standard, developed from communities of speakers all sharing the same use of language. Aboriginal English, a dialect of Australian English, remains a lingua franca for their speakers, used as a common language to communicate between tribes for mutual
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
1. How important, if at all, is having one unique type of English that we all speak as Australians?
There are many supporters in favor of English being the only recognized language spoken in America and there have also been many opponents. The debate has driven many states to pass their own laws concerning the English language. As we know, the United States is a nation known as a “ Great Melting Pot” built by immigrants whom many can not speak and parse English. Most immigrants faced difficult barriers by being discriminated against and the cause of their cultural name. If an immigrant name was stenuous to pronounce, they changed it. Immigrants brings their cultures and languages, as well as their customs and traditions. Making English the official language of the US
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.
Distinctively visual representations allow the audience to envisage different purposes crafting emotions which stay with us forever. Graphic depiction is a fundamental characteristic within distinctively visual, thus the audience is able to be exposed to the intense illustrations exemplified by composers. Spudvilla’s portrayal of “Woolvs in the sitee” demonstrates the child’s inability to reconcile with himself. Contrasting to this notion; the playwright “Shoe-horn Sonata” to expose the brutal reality of POW camps during WWII. Therefore, distinctively visual forces the audience to succumb to the barriers society creates.
Broad Australian English (BAE) is a language variety unique to Australia. Despite being spoken by a minority of Australian population today, it has
1. Describe the function of the following pieces of safety equipment and how each might be used: (10 points)
School has always been a place of business, in my opinion. A place where we are educated and prepared for life, essentially. And the proper way of doing so, as I believe most people have been taught, is to enhance all skills such as vocabulary, grammar, mathematics, etc... This is why we are taught so many subjects, being tested and guided to follow whichever path we feel most comfortable or skilled at doing. During the process, is where skills are established and developed. The product that is intended after having gone through school is to shape a well skilled, educated, and productive person that can benefit society as a whole. In limiting the teaching of Standard American English, we would be limiting the amount of people that can fulfill their potential, raise the difficulty for teachers, and accept mediocrity. In keeping this dialect, students will gain new skills and learn the language of business to prepare them for any encounters along the way. There is no need, in my eyes, to minimize or put an extent to teaching the English dialect and that is what I will personally support in this essay.
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
The English language is particularly complex in almost all aspects. Many of the words in the English language have different meanings for the same word. This is not unlike the definition of the different levels of usage. McCrimmon defines the three levels, formal, moderate, and colloquial, by their sentence structure, diction, and tone (McCrimmon 193). ¹ Using McCrimmon’s definitions, authors can determine what type of writing is applicable to each of the three levels. For the formal writings, an adequate example of where readers can find it is in a professional journal, and an appropriate place to find an example of the moderate level is in a weekly news magazine. Also, the best place to look for an example of the colloquial level is in certain sections of the newspaper. All of the levels of usage apply to these different types of writings and assist in defining what each level involves.
Australia is a multicultural country that celebrates diversity. Therefore, there is no need to have a single, unified variety of English in order to be a united society. The English language is forever changing so I believe with the above statement, we do not need a single, unified variety of English in order to be a united society. Australia has a large number of citizens born overseas and we celebrate the diversity in our country. I believe that our language should reflect this and should change as more people start moving here. There are neologisms such as Singlish and Chinglish which reflect this change in English language. The language we speak should be influenced by those who have come from overseas and ever-changing to reflect that
For indigenous Australians, the use of traditional language is crucial to their identities as it is closely connected to cultural heritage and knowledge, both of which are passed on throughout each generation by their languages (Walsh & Yallop 191). In this community, there are number of various dialects spoken by different tribes of people. Each language represents the identity and culture of its speakers. Therefore, even though everyone in this community speaks Yabuyawung language, we cannot allow the school to use only one language. If we allow the school to use only one language, we cannot help maintaining our own ancestral languages for future generations. And also, the choice of Yabuyawung in both regional cities and outstations are complicated because there is a flow of young people in outstations away from their community to the
English 101-60 has taught me many things and has helped me grow and develop my skills as a writer. It has taught me how to think more creatively and use clear concrete details. In the beginning of the semester, our first writing assignment was a narrative journal entry that focused on writing about an uninteresting moment from your life and making it interesting. This was a challenging assignment because it was a broad topic that allowed the writers to take it in any direction. I remember thinking I had no idea what I am going to write about. Once I was able to narrow down the ideas I started writing what a traumatic experience I had six years ago. This was when I underwent the surgical procedure, to remove my gallbladder. My main focus
There are many people in society, especially those with a prescriptivist attitude, who strongly believe that the Standard is ‘intrinsically superior to other varieties’, as stated by K Burridge. It is clear however that this is not true, when one considers the ability of ethnolects and Aboriginal English to express identity and finer nuance. Ethnolects occur when features of someone’s first language or ‘mother tongue’ are adopted into their second language, in this case English. Features can include the phonological addition of vowel sounds to the ends of nouns e.g. bread /_/ (common to Greek and Italian); the
Language has gradually advanced over many millions of years. Slang has developed, and other cultures languages and quirks have made their way in, and it has become one. Language has a way of shaping our identities, and personal cultures. It brings us together, and sometimes it even makes us move apart.