Australian English (locally /əˈstɹæɪljən ˈɪŋɡləʃ/; AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and de facto national language. While Australia has no official language, English is the first language of the majority of the population, and has been entrenched as the de facto national language since the onset of British settlement, being the only language spoken in the home for 72% of Australians in 2021. It is also the main language used in compulsory education, as well as federal, state and territorial legislatures and courts.
Australian English began to diverge from British and Hiberno-English after the First Fleet established the Colony of New South Wales in 1788. 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, though its most significant influences were the dialects of Southern England. By the 1820s, the native-born colonists' speech was recognisably distinct from speakers in Britain and Ireland.
Australian English differs from other varieties in its phonology, pronunciation, lexicon, idiom, grammar and spelling. Australian English is relatively consistent across the continent, although it encompasses numerous regional and sociocultural varieties. "General Australian" describes the de facto standard dialect, which is perceived to be free of pronounced regional or sociocultural markers and is often used in the media.
History
Similar to early American English, Australian English passed through a process of extensive dialect levelling and mixing which produced a relatively homogeneous new variety of English which was easily understood by all.
The earliest Australian English was spoken by the first generation of native-born colonists in the Colony of New South Wales from the end of the 18th century. These native-born children were exposed to a wide range of dialects from across the British Isles. The dialects of Southern England, including most notably the traditional Cockney dialect of London, were particularly influential on the development of the new variety and constituted "the major input of the various sounds that went into constructing" Australian English. All the other regions of England were represented among the early colonists. A large proportion of early convicts and colonists were from Ireland (comprising 25% of the total convict population), and many of them spoke Irish as a sole or first language. They were joined by other non-native speakers of English from the Scottish Highlands and Wales. Peter Miller Cunningham's 1827 book Two Years in New South Wales described the distinctive accent and vocabulary that had developed among the native-born colonists.
The first of the Australian gold rushes in the 1850s began a large wave of immigration, during which about two percent of the population of the United Kingdom emigrated to the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria. The Gold Rushes brought immigrants and linguistic influences from many parts of the world. An example was the introduction of vocabulary from American English, including some terms later considered to be typically Australian, such as bushwhacker and squatter. This American influence was continued with the popularity of American films from the early 20th century and the influx of American military personnel that settled in Australia and New Zealand during World War II; seen in the enduring persistence of such universally-accepted terms as okay and guys.
The publication of Edward Ellis Morris's Austral English: A Dictionary Of Australasian Words, Phrases And Usages in 1898, which extensively catalogued Australian English vocabulary, started a wave of academic interest and codification during the 20th century which resulted in Australian English becoming established as an endonormative variety with its own internal norms and standards. This culminated in publications such as the 1981 first edition of the Macquarie Dictionary, a major English language dictionary based on Australian usage, and the 1988 first edition of The Australian National Dictionary, a historical dictionary documenting the history of Australian English vocabulary and idiom.
Phonology and pronunciation
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.
Vowels
The vowels of Australian English can be divided according to length. The long vowels, which include monophthongs and diphthongs, mostly correspond to the tense vowels used in analyses of Received Pronunciation (RP) as well as its centring diphthongs. The short vowels, consisting only of monophthongs, correspond to the RP lax vowels.
There exist pairs of long and short vowels with overlapping vowel quality giving Australian English phonemic length distinction, which is also present in some regional south-eastern dialects of the UK and eastern seaboard dialects in the US. An example of this feature is the distinction between ferry /ˈfeɹiː/ and fairy /ˈfeːɹiː/.
As with New Zealand English and General American English, the weak-vowel merger is complete in Australian English: unstressed /ɪ/ is merged into /ə/ (schwa), unless it is followed by a velar consonant. Examples of this feature are the following pairings, which are pronounced identically in Australian English: Rosa's and roses, as well as Lennon and Lenin. Other examples are the following pairs, which rhyme in Australian English: abbott with rabbit, and dig it with bigot.
Most varieties of Australian English exhibit only a partial trap-bath split. The words bath, grass and can't are always pronounced with the "long" /ɐː/ of father. Throughout the majority of the country, the "flat" /æ/ of man is the dominant pronunciation for the a vowel in the following words: dance, advance, plant, example and answer. The exception is the state of South Australia, where a more advanced trap-bath split is found, and where the dominant pronunciation of all the preceding words incorporates the "long" /ɐː/ of father.
Consonants
There is little variation in the sets of consonants used in different English dialects but there are variations in how these consonants are used. Australian English is no exception.
Australian English is uniformly non-rhotic; that is, the /ɹ/ sound does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant. As with many non-rhotic dialects, linking /ɹ/ can occur when a word that has a final ⟨r⟩ in the spelling comes before another word that starts with a vowel. An intrusive /ɹ/ may similarly be inserted before a vowel in words that do not have ⟨r⟩ in the spelling in certain environments, namely after the long vowel /oː/ and after word final /ə/. This can be heard in "law-r-and order", where an intrusive R is voiced between the AW and the A.
As with North American English, intervocalic alveolar flapping is a feature of Australian English: prevocalic /t/ and /d/ surface as the alveolar tap [ɾ] after sonorants other than /m, ŋ/ as well as at the end of a word or morpheme before any vowel in the same breath group. Examples of this feature are that the following pairs are pronounced similarly or identically: latter and ladder, as well as rated and raided.
Yod-dropping generally occurs after /s/, /l/, /z/, /θ/ but not after /t/, /d/ and /n/. Accordingly, suit is pronounced as /sʉːt/, lute as /lʉːt/, Zeus as /zʉːs/ and enthusiasm as /enˈθʉːziːæzəm/. Other cases of /sj/ and /zj/, as well as /tj/ and /dj/, have coalesced to /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ respectively for many speakers. /j/ is generally retained in other consonant clusters.
In common with most varieties of Scottish English and American English, the phoneme /l/ is pronounced by Australians as a "dark" (velarised) l ([ɫ]) in almost all positions, unlike other dialects such as Received Pronunciation, Hiberno (Irish) English, etc.
Pronunciation
Differences in stress, weak forms and standard pronunciation of isolated words occur between Australian English and other forms of English, which while noticeable do not impair intelligibility.
The affixes -ary, -ery, -ory, -bury, -berry and -mony (seen in words such as necessary, mulberry and matrimony) can be pronounced either with a full vowel (/ˈnesəseɹiː, ˈmalbeɹiː, ˈmætɹəməʉniː/) or a schwa (/ˈnesəsəɹiː, ˈmalbəɹiː, ˈmætɹəməniː/). Although some words like necessary are almost universally pronounced with the full vowel, older generations of Australians are relatively likely to pronounce these affixes with a schwa as is typical in British English. Meanwhile, younger generations are relatively likely to use a full vowel.
Words ending in unstressed -ile derived from Latin adjectives ending in -ilis are pronounced with a full vowel, so that fertile /ˈfɜːtɑel/ sounds like fur tile rather than rhyming with turtle /ˈtɜːtəl/.
In addition, miscellaneous pronunciation differences exist when compared with other varieties of English in relation to various isolated words, with some of those pronunciations being unique to Australian English. For example:
As with American English, the vowel in yoghurt /ˈjəʉɡət/ and the prefix homo- /ˈhəʉməʉ/ (as in homosexual or homophobic) are pronounced with GOAT rather than LOT;
Vitamin, migraine and privacy are all pronounced with /ɑe/ in the stressed syllable (/ˈvɑetəmən, ˈmɑeɡɹæɪn, ˈpɹɑevəsiː/) rather than /ˈvɪtəmən, ˈmiːɡɹæɪn, ˈpɹɪvəsiː/;
Dynasty and patronise, by contrast, are usually subject to trisyllabic laxing (/ˈdɪnəstiː, ˈpætɹɔnɑez/) like in Britain, alongside US-derived /ˈdɑenəstiː, ˈpæɪtɹɔnɑez/;
The prefix paedo- (as in paedophile) is pronounced /ˈpedəʉ/ rather than /ˈpiːdəʉ/;
In loanwords, the vowel spelled with ⟨a⟩ is often nativized as the PALM vowel (/ɐː/), similar to American English (/ɑː/), rather than the TRAP vowel (/æ/), as in British English. For example, pasta is pronounced /ˈpɐːstə/, analogous to American English /ˈpɑstə/, rather than /ˈpæstə/, as in British English.
Urinal is stressed on the first syllable and with the schwa for I: /ˈjʉːɹənəl/;
Harass and harassment are pronounced with the stress on the second, rather than the first syllable;
The suffix -sia (as in Malaysia, Indonesia and Polynesia, but not Tunisia) is pronounced /-ʒə/ rather than /-ziːə/;
The word foyer is pronounced /ˈfoɪə/, rather than /ˈfoɪæɪ/;
Tomato, vase and data are pronounced with /ɐː/ instead of /æɪ/: /təˈmɐːtəʉ, vɐːz, ˈdɐːtə/, with /ˈdæɪtə/ being uncommon but acceptable;
Zebra and leisure are pronounced /ˈzebɹə/ and /ˈleʒə/ rather than /ˈziːbɹə/ and /ˈliːʒə/, both having disyllabic laxing;
Status varies between British-derived /ˈstæɪtəs/ with the FACE vowel and American-derived /ˈstætəs/ with the TRAP vowel;
Conversely, precedence, precedent and derivatives are mainly pronounced with the FLEECE vowel in the stressed syllable, rather than DRESS: /ˈpɹiːsədəns ~ pɹiːˈsiːdəns, ˈpɹiːsədənt/;
Basil is pronounced /ˈbæzəl/, rather than /ˈbæɪzəl/;
Conversely, cache is usually pronounced /kæɪʃ/, rather than the more conventional /kæʃ/;
Buoy is pronounced as /boɪ/ (as in boy) rather than /ˈbʉːiː/;
The E in congress and progress is not reduced: /ˈkɔnɡɹes, ˈpɹəʉɡɹes/;
Conversely, the unstressed O in silicon, phenomenon and python stands for a schwa: /ˈsɪlɪkən, fəˈnɔmənən, ˈpɑeθən/;
In Amazon, Lebanon, marathon and pantheon, however, the unstressed O stands for the LOT vowel, somewhat as with American English: /ˈæməzɔn, ˈlebənɔn, ˈmæɹəθɔn, ˈpænθæɪɔn/;
The colour name maroon is pronounced with the GOAT vowel: /məˈɹəʉn/.
Variation
Relative to many other national dialect groupings, Australian English is relatively homogeneous across the country. Some relatively minor regional differences in pronunciation exist. A limited range of word choices is strongly regional in nature. Consequently, the geographical background of individuals may be inferred if they use words that are peculiar to particular Australian states or territories and, in some cases, even smaller regions. In addition, some Australians speak creole languages derived from Australian English, such as Australian Kriol, Torres Strait Creole and Norfuk.
Academic research has also identified notable sociocultural variation within Australian English, which is mostly evident in phonology.
Regional variation
Although Australian English is relatively homogeneous, there are some regional variations. The dialects of English spoken in the various states and territories of Australia differ slightly in vocabulary and phonology.
Most regional differences are in word usage. Swimming clothes are known as cossies, /ˈkɔziːz/ togs or swimmers in New South Wales, togs in Queensland, and bathers in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia. What Queensland calls a stroller is usually called a pram in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania.
Preference for some synonymous words also differ between states. 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.
Additionally, the word footy generally refers to the most popular football code in an area; that is, rugby league or rugby union depending on the local area, in most of New South Wales and Queensland. More commonly rugby is used to distinguish rugby union from footy which refers to the more popular rugby league. Footy commonly is used for Australian rules football elsewhere however the term refers to the both prominent codes, rugby league and Australian rules football, interchangeably, depending on context of usage outside of regional perrameters. In some pockets of Melbourne & Western Sydney football and more rarely footy will refer to association football although unlike more common international terminology, Australian English uses the term soccer and not football or footy. 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.
South Australia
The most pronounced variation in phonology is between South Australia and the other states and territories. The trap–bath split is more complete in South Australia, in contrast to the other states. Accordingly, words such as dance, advance, plant, example and answer are pronounced with /ɐː/ (as in father) far more frequently in South Australia while the older /æ/ (as in mad) is dominant elsewhere in Australia. L-vocalisation is also more common in South Australia than other states.
Centring diphthongs
In Western Australian and Queensland English, the vowels in near and square are typically realised as centring diphthongs ([nɪə, skweə]), whereas in the other states they may also be realised as monophthongs: [nɪː, skweː].
Salary–celery merger
A feature common in Victorian English is salary–celery merger, whereby a Victorian pronunciation of Ellen may sound like Alan and Victoria's capital city Melbourne may sound like Malbourne to speakers from other states. There is also regional variation in /ʉː/ before /l/ (as in school and pool).