PART XIV
Oceania:
Australian English
Australian English is relatively homogeneous and simplified when compared to British and American English. There is some regional variation between the states, particularly in regard to South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. Three
main varieties of Australian English are spoken: Broad, General, and Cultivated, Australian. Australian English is the country’s common language and de facto national language. Although Australia has no official language, English is the first language of the majority of the population. The varieties are part of a continuum, reflecting variations in accent. The General Australian accent emerged during the 19th century. General Australian is the dominant variety across the continent and is particularly so in urban areas. The increasing dominance of General Australian reflects its prominence on radio and television since the latter half of the 20th century. They differing dialects can–but do not always–reflect the social class, education, and urban or rural background, of the speaker.
General and cultivated Australian is the main language used in compulsory education, as well as federal, state, and territorial, legislatures, and courts. Australian English arose from a dialectal melting pot created by the intermingling of early settlers who were from a variety of dialectal regions of Great Britain and Ireland,  although its most significant influences were the dialects of Southeast England. By the 1820s, the native-born colonists’ speech was recognizably distinct from speakers in Britain and Ireland. The most obvious way in which Australian English is distinctive from other varieties of English is through its unique pronunciation. It shares most similarity with New Zealand English. Like most dialects of English, it is distinguished primarily by the phonetic quality of its vowels.
The following pairs, rhyme in Australian English: abbott with rabbit, and dig it with bigot. The words “bath, grass and can’t” are always pronounced with the ah of father. The flat /æ/ of man is the dominant pronunciation for the a vowel in: dance, advance, plant, example in: example, and answer.  Law and order becomes “law-r-and order”, where an intrusive R is voiced. Fertile sounds like fur tile rather than rhyming with turtle. Vitamin, migraine, and privacy, are all pronounced with /ɑɪ/ in the stressed syllable (vaitamin, mɑɪɡrain, prɑɪvisi) almost as if the a were two syllables, rather than “vita-min”.  Harass and harassment are pronounced with the stress on the second, rather than the first syllable; tomato, vase, and data, are pronounced with ah instead of “ay”. Zebra and leisure are pronounced “zehbra” and “lehza” rather than zeebra and leesure, precedence, precedent and derivatives are mainly pronounced with the fleece vowel in the stressed syllable, rather than dress; buoy is pronounced as boi (as in boy) rather than  “beui/bewi”.
Most regional differences are in word usage. Swimming clothes=cossies or  clothes=cossies or swimmers in New South Wales, togs in Queensland, and bathers in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia, and South Australia. A stroller in Queensland is called a pram in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania. Garbage [i.e., garbage bin, garbage truck] dominates over rubbish in New South Wales and Queensland, while rubbish is more popular in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia. The word footy generally refers to the most popular football code in an area; rugby league or rugby union depending on the local area, in most of New South Wales and Queensland, and Australian rules football elsewhere. In some pockets of Melbourne and Western Sydney “football”, and more rarely, “footy”, refer to Association football. Beer glasses are also named differently in different states. Distinctive grammatical patterns exist such as the use of the interrogative eh (also spelled ay or aye), which is particularly associated with Queensland. Secret Santa and Kris Kringle are used in all states, with the former being more common in Queensland.
In Western Australian and Queensland English, the vowels in near and square are typically centering diphthongs [nɪa, skwea], whereas in the other states they may also pronounced as monophthongs: [nɪː, skweː]. A feature common in Victoria State English is called the “salary–celery” merger, so that a Victorian pronunciation of Ellen may sound like Alan and Victoria’s capital city Melbourne/Melbun may sound like Malbourne to speakers from other states. In some parts of Australia–notably Victoria–a fully backed allophone of /ʉː/, transcribed [uu], is common before l. As a result, the pairs full/fool and pull/pool differ phonetically only in vowel length for those speakers.
Regional vocabulary differs, and Australian English has many words and idioms which are unique to the dialect. Internationally well-known examples of Australian terminology include outback=a remote, sparsely populated area; the bush [a native forest or a country area in general; g’day=is a greeting; dinkum, or fair dinkum [true, or is that true?, among other things, depending on context and inflection.]. Genuine and proud Aussies often greet each other with a hearty and loud, “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!”, and receive a response of “Oi, Oi, Oi!”
Australian poetry Australian English has many words and idioms which are unique to the dialect and have been written on extensively. Australian poetry, such as The Man from Snowy River, by Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson (1864-1941) who was an Australian ‘bush poet’, as well as folk songs such as Waltzing Matilda, contain many historical Australian words and phrases that are understood by Australians even though some are not in common usage today. The present author suggests that you as a writer of Australian dialect, seek out and study these works to add welcome flavor and genuine authenticity to your writing. Again, be mindful of overuse.

So you’re back from up the country, Mister Lawson, where you went,
And you’re cursing all the business in a bitter discontent;
Well, we grieve to disappoint you, and it makes us sad to hear
That it wasn’t cool and shady – and there wasn’t plenty beer,
And the loony bullock snorted when you first came into view;
Well, you know it’s not so often that he sees a swell like you;
And the roads were hot and dusty, and the plains were burnt and brown,
And no doubt you’re better suited drinking lemon-squash in town.
-Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson, In Defense of the Bush, 1892

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
“You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me”
Banjo Patterson, Waltzing Matilda, 1864

Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been adopted by Australian English—mainly as names for places, flora and fauna and local culture. Many such are localized, and do not form part of general Australian use, while others, such as kangaroo, boomerang, budgerigar, dingo, and wallaby, have become incorporated into international parlance like American “cool” and “okay”. Other—less well-known examples are cooee=a high-pitched call or notional distance, and hard yakka=hard work. Also the word bung, from the Sydney pidgin English–and ultimately from the Sydney Aboriginal language [pidgin]=“dead”/ “broken” or “useless”.
Diminutives and hypocorisms  [ways of shortening a long word to a single syllable by adding –ie- or –y to its ending] are common and are often used to indicate familiarity. Common examples are: arvo=afternoon; barbie=barbecue; smoko=cigarette break; Aussie=Australian; and Straya=Australia. This may also be done with people’s names to create nicknames. E.g., “Gazza”=Gary, or “Smitty”=John Smith.
In informal speech, incomplete comparisons are sometimes used, such as “sweet as”, “full”, “fully” or “heaps” may precede a word to act as an intensifier, as in: “The waves at the beach were heaps good.”). The suffix “-ly” is often omitted in broader Australian English. Eg. “really good= “real good”.
A note to would-be Australian dialect writers: Australia switched to the metric system in the 1970s; so, the country’s vocabulary of measurement changed from imperial to metric measures. If your speaker is talking in the era before 1979, use the old English measurements—foot, inch, pint, gallon, miles. If the people are very old or it is at the beginning of Australian existence you might consider using the archaic stone [14 pounds]; furlong, [220 yard, 660 feet, or ~201.17 meter; fortnight, [2 weeks]; fathom, [6 feet], system. If writing for people after that time, switch to metric.
Australian English, in common with British English, uses the word mate to mean friend, as well as the word bloody as a mild expletive or intensifier. Bloody is taken to be milder in Australia than it is in the UK, where the word is considered profanity by the educated and upper crust.
In other circumstances, Australian English sometimes favors a usage which is different from both British and American English as with: the bush, BrE, AmE=the woods, AbE; bushfire=wildfire; capsicum/green/red pepper)=bell pepper; cooler/ice box=esky; comforter /comforter/duvet=doona; sidewalk= footpath/ pavement; popsicle/ice lolly=iceblock or icypole; candy/sweets=candy/lollies; overseas AmE=BrE; peak hour, AmE=rush hour, BrE; powerpoint, AmE=electrical outlet, BrE: electrical socket; thongs, AmE=flip-flops, BrE; pickup truck, AmE, and BrE=ute; Maccy D’s/Mickey Dee’s=maccers; cantaloupe=rockmelon; egg=bum nut/fart; carriage/goog.
Australian British slang v. BrE: pommy, pommie, pom, jimmy, and jimmigrant, are all used in Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand, to denote a British person; Australians shorten words or even whole sentences. E.g, Australians pronounce “good day” as “g’day” or “sandwich” like “sanga” and use “footie” as the short form of “football”, although are referring to rugby. It was two centuries ago when Lieutenant James Cook and Sir Joseph Banks embarked on their adventures across the unchartered waters of Australia’s East Coast. In his journal, Banks describes seeing an unfamiliar animal “as large as a greyhound, of a mouse color and very swift.”  He asked nearby Aboriginal natives what the animal was. “Kangaroo” they replied, and the rest is history. It is a well-known anecdote amongst linguists and language lovers alike that “kangaroo” actually meant something like “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand.”