Eugenia Netto - English, II-LM - a.a. 2008-2009

TASK 1 b.

General Australian English is the majority variety of English spoken in Australia. This is spoken by the upper-middle class and in films and television programs.

Part A: phonemic level

General Australian English pronunciation is like the standardized Received Pronunciation. Le vocali si possono dividere in due categorie: corte o lunghe. Le prime sono solo monottonghi, usate per lo più nel Received Pronunciation come lax vowels. Le altre sono sia monottonghi sia dittonghi, a questa categoria appartengono le tense vowels e i dittonghi di centratura. Le consonanti dell'inglese australiano sono non rotiche così come molte varietà dell'inglese. Differences from the RP are few. For example, the usage of /aː/ (the "long a") as opposed to /æ/ ("short a") in words like ‘graph’, ‘chance’, ‘France’, ‘dance’, ‘demand’, ‘castle’, ‘grasp’, ‘bath’, ‘palm’, ‘start’, ‘bard’, ‘hard’ and ‘contrast’ is usually but not always attested. It is far more common in South Australia than in other regions.

Pronunciation that areis different from RP (maybe because of the General American influence of General American areis, for example:

• Australia pronounced [əˈstɹæɪljə] instead of [aus.'tra.lja];

• G-day where day is pronounced [‘dai] instead of [‘dei]; No, /dai/ is the old Cockney influence, not American influence and, historically, is a genuine characteristic of Australian English.

• I pronounced [a] instead of [‘ai];

• Good pronounced [‘gəd] instead of [‘gʊd].

Perfectly RP pronunciation is that of no pronounced [‘nəʊ].

Part B: morphemic level

Australian spelling is usually the same as British spelling. From the morphemic point of view Australians tend to cuttruncate nouns and end them with –ie or -o. First of all Australian(s) became Aussie(s). They also use: cossie for ‘costume’, barbie for ‘barbeque’, arvo for ‘afternoon’, journo for ‘journalist’, muso for ‘musician’, servo for ‘service station’ and so on. But isn't /i/ a more productive suffix?

Incomplete