Languages in Australia

In Australia, English is the main language. However their pronunciation may differ from the normal British English as the use of slang, also known as strine, is commonly used amongst the locals. The usage of strine is also part of the Australian culture as it makes them who they are.

With a rich past with a large wave of immigrations from countries such as Europe, Asia and North America, the Australians are heavily influenced with the way they speak. They use British and American words and spelling interchangeably, such as pants/trousers, lift/elevator, alcohol/liquor and labor/labour. Australia is also influenced from Irish English though not as many as might be expected, such as the usage of non-standard plural of ‘you’- ‘youse’ (pronounced as yews), the expression ‘good on you’, ‘good onya’ which means thank you and also another influence is the use of the word ‘me’ to replace ‘my’, for example ‘Where’s me shirt?’.

Pronunciation

Australian English is distinguished by its vowel pronunciation, the most obvious are the ‘I’ sound for ‘A’ and the ‘Ah’ sound for ‘R’. They stretch their vowels while consonants are shortened, making their language difficult to distinguish. For example, you may hear ‘Waddayareckon?’ which actually is ‘What do you reckon?’, ‘Emmachisit?’ (How much is it?), and ‘Didjavagoodweegend?’ (Did you have a good weekend?).

Those living in remote parts of the country and Outback areas are more likely to use strine. The middle-class city dwellers, many of whom are of British ancestry, have a less pronounced accent and city speech tends to be faster than country speech.

Strine

Australian English is not only known for its pronunciation but also by its colourful slang- usually called ‘strine’. Many people associate Strine with Ockers. Ockers are working-class male Australians, who are rough and ill-mannered and are usually found in pubs in the Outback, who speak in a mangled Australian accent with a lot of slang. Australian English also includes around 500 words adopted from the Aboriginal languages. In Australia, many words have a different meaning than in other English-speaking countries, such as crook (ill), game (brave), shout (round of drinks) and tube (can of beer).

Any word that has more than two syllables is shortened by adding a vowel ‘o’ to the end, for example ‘garbo’ for dustman, ‘reffo’ for refugee and ‘rego’ for car registration. Australians also add the suffix ‘ie’ or ‘y’ to shorten words, for example, ‘Aussie’ for Australian, ‘barbie’ for barbecue, and ‘footy’ for football.

Aboriginal Language

In the past, the Aboriginal people had no written language and they recorded their languages in songs and stories. Nowadays, people have begun to write books in the Aboriginal languages thanks to the missionaries and anthropologists who wrote down the traditional languages using their own alphabets. How to speak, read and write the Aboriginal languages are also taught in special schools.

To the Aboriginals, English is a second language and in the Northern Territory, the children are taught in both their own language and in English. In most Aboriginal languages, the word ‘you’ varies depending on the speaker’s relationship to the listener.

For example:

Alyawarr- language of central Australia


I hope that this post gave you insights to the Australian language, be it English, Strine, or the Aboriginal language.