Is that true that in Australia a very different english is spoken? What is the reason for that?

Question

We hear a lot that Australia was a big british detention center and just the worst of the colonies was shipped there creating a place where grammar rules were not taught or followed. I would lot to hear ideas about it.

Answer 1

- As an American living in Oz right now, I can tell you that whatever you've heard about this country is as ridiculous as the ideas they have about us. Do you know how you and your friends use slang? Well then why would you be surprised that other countries (and cultures) wouldn't have their own too.
- To answer the detention center, yeah it's true, but not nearly as much as people want it to be. Sure, there were criminals that were transported here, but not the entire population of Australia. For the ones who did, I'm sure that they were doing summersaults on the beach when they saw how nice it was in comparison to dumpy old England.
- Finally, for Christ's sake, don't fall into the 'ignorant American' stereotype. A small amount of common sense, and you would have found what you've been told is as silly as thinking that Eskimos really live in igloos or all Ethiopians are starving beanpoles.

Answer 2

It's the same reason that Americans don't sound like the English, Germans, Irish etc. that settled in the US. Regional isolation and cultural differences have created different accents. Clearly, grammar rules are not going to be be taught or followed by prisoners, but if they had stayed in England they wouldn't have been grammar champions either. It was a socioeconomic status reason.

The broad Australian (Steve Irwin style) accent is said to have derived from the Cockney accent, but as an Australian I can tell you that I can't even understand the Cockneys. The standard Australian accent is a more polished version (I have this) and many people abroad ask me if I'm British.

Answer 3

I have been traveling around in Australia, and they speak about the same all over the country, the biggest difference is between towns and the outback, but while a few words are different and a few letters pronounced a little different between towns, overall Australian is fairly easy to understand once you get the basic accent.

As just a very small percentage of the nowadays Australians have ancestors who came as convicts it is rather unlikely that it has any influence on the language as it is now.
A much bigger influence is where the immigrants came from, the different parts of the UK for first, the different countries more recently.
But as the mix of the Australians is not that much different of that of the mix in Canada and big parts of the USA, the current accents are not more different than the accents within the USA.

Answer 4

Sorry mate, but you've been completely and utterly fooled. Jesus, I can't believe you've brought up our colonial past and used it for your reasoning. Yes, there were convicts, but no, it wasn't the worst of the colonies, it was because England was so full that they had to ship some off to the furthest corner of the globe. People were arrested for the simplest crimes (eg. stealing a loaf of bread because they were starving). There were also farmers, shoe makers, engineers, teachers that also came along. Most of the convicts worked hard and held jobs, they later redeemed themselves and were released and given land to work on.

They spoke English, pure English... maybe not the English of the royals, but English nonetheless. Grammar was taught to the children in schools by their respected English teachers who were from the United Kingdom. I can assure you, our English is very much up to standard with the world! lol

Remember this though, there is no longer a set English 'dialect' (so to speak). Each English speaking nation you go to will have their own accent, their own spelling and grammar variations and lastly, their own slang. You can't compare Australian English to American English and say that one is wrong.

OK, let me ask you this... can you understand what I am typing? I bet you can. This is the English that we use in Australia. Is it grammatically incorrect? OK, I rest my case.

By the way, where did you hear this absurd piece of information? I'm agitated that people even think that!!

Answer 5

I don't know anything about the history to it but Australia has a lot of slang and words are not spoken how they are written.
Examples of slang:
Yes - Yep, Yeah
No- Nah
Toilet - Loo, dunny
Dad - Old Man, Pop
Sister - Sis
Money - Bucks

Also words are not spoken as written like things ending in "er" are pronounced "ah" like water sounds like watah.

I don't use slang. I don't know why, it just doesn't sound right. But I do say Watah instead of Water and things like that.

Australia is a multicultural country so it is really only the Australian's that have only Australian backgrounds speak that way typically. I was born in Australia but my parents are Italian. I learnt english at school at the age of 5 and english wasn't spoken much at my house so I didn't pick up on any slang.

Answer 6

I probably shouldn't comment, I'm not an expert in Australian history. I understand that there're convicts but there're also English people voluntarily came here. Over the years there're migrants from around the world.

I myself try to follow the strict grammar rules, maybe because English is my second language.

My husband was born and educated here, he was never taught proper grammar. He doesn't believe it's because of the history of Australia (convicts dumping ground etc) - but more because he went to a not-very-good-school.

Answer 7

Languages evolve over a relatively short period of time. Another example would be the difference between American English and the Queen's English.

Answer 8

The first English settlers came over two centuries ago. Since then the British changed the way they speak and the settlers continued to change too.

Answer 9

in australia they speak a mixture of cockney and irish, because most english immigrants spoke those dialects.