To what extent is the Australian accent unique?

[AppleThief]

Ok, fair enough.

I'd be careful with how you phrase it.

Something like "the Australian accent shows little regional variation relative to other countries such as England" sounds better

I think it's generally accepted in linguistics circles that Australian English is homogenous, and you wouldn't need to compare it to e.g. England or America. Phonologically, you can often tell someone is from the country by their broad accent, but it would be really hard to decide which city/state they are from. As Macmillan says, the homogeneity of AE grew out of a melting pot effect -- all the accents merged when Australia was settled, and it settled fairly quickly.

In the essay, you could also talk about how AE is losing some unique characteristics to American English. e.g. lexical items such as "bling" and "eye candy" have been introduced, and some American slang terms replace the once widely used "bonza/bonzer" etc. Also, many newspapers use American morphemes such as -or instead of -our (however, this is also for economy of characters).

The varieties of AE are also unique; Broad, Cultivated, and General each have unique features, as well as Aboriginal English, etc.

[/0]

I heard that transport was very easy and efficient in the early days of colonisation, and that's how the one dialect was transported around Australia, thus accounting for its homogeneity.

[Eriny]

In the essay, you could also talk about how AE is losing some unique characteristics to American English. e.g. lexical items such as "bling" and "eye candy" have been introduced, and some American slang terms replace the once widely used "bonza/bonzer" etc. Also, many newspapers use American morphemes such as -or instead of -our (however, this is also for economy of characters).

Those are actually quite interesting. The 'or', 'our' spelling actually has a bit of a history: http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/elac/2008/01/webster_in_australia.html

Also, the word 'bonzer' (just like all Australian words) was imported. It probably came from the American 'bonanza'. The word 'mate' is used in different parts of England as well, which is probably where we got it from. I've never heard a use of the word 'crikey' in any context but an ironic one either, so it's almost already obsolete. I find it strange that people say that our 'language' as it were, is under threat, when it was never really 'ours' as such to begin with.

[sick muzza]

my accounting teacher always comes up with a  "CRIKEY BYJINGOES! YOU HAVENT DONE IT!!!"

[jackinthepatch]

my accounting teacher always comes up with a  "CRIKEY BYJINGOES! YOU HAVENT DONE IT!!!"

He does it in business too lol, so funny.

[wombifat]

In the essay, you could also talk about how AE is losing some unique characteristics to American English. e.g. lexical items such as "bling" and "eye candy" have been introduced, and some American slang terms replace the once widely used "bonza/bonzer" etc. Also, many newspapers use American morphemes such as -or instead of -our (however, this is also for economy of characters).

Those are actually quite interesting. The 'or', 'our' spelling actually has a bit of a history: http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/elac/2008/01/webster_in_australia.html

Also, the word 'bonzer' (just like all Australian words) was imported. It probably came from the American 'bonanza'. The word 'mate' is used in different parts of England as well, which is probably where we got it from. I've never heard a use of the word 'crikey' in any context but an ironic one either, so it's almost already obsolete. I find it strange that people say that our 'language' as it were, is under threat, when it was never really 'ours' as such to begin with.

a LOT of our slang is taken from england, like even stuff we think is unique

words like "grog" and "dodgy" are British

[UprightMan]

In the essay, you could also talk about how AE is losing some unique characteristics to American English. e.g. lexical items such as "bling" and "eye candy" have been introduced, and some American slang terms replace the once widely used "bonza/bonzer" etc. Also, many newspapers use American morphemes such as -or instead of -our (however, this is also for economy of characters).

Those are actually quite interesting. The 'or', 'our' spelling actually has a bit of a history: http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/elac/2008/01/webster_in_australia.html

Also, the word 'bonzer' (just like all Australian words) was imported. It probably came from the American 'bonanza'. The word 'mate' is used in different parts of England as well, which is probably where we got it from. I've never heard a use of the word 'crikey' in any context but an ironic one either, so it's almost already obsolete. I find it strange that people say that our 'language' as it were, is under threat, when it was never really 'ours' as such to begin with.

I would hazard a guess to say that words that can only be called 'Australian words' are words from Aboriginal languages.

Anyway, at the main topic.  All this discussion about lexicological and morphological variations in Australia...I think it's hitting slightly off the mark.  By my interpretation, the topic, relates to phonetics and phonology because it is asking for discussion in relation to accent, which is relevant to those two subsystems.  That doesn't leave much room in terms of a subsytematic approach...but it can be done.  Phonetics can be one paragraph, phonology the second and comparison to other accents of English being the third would probably be the most logical way to tackle it.

[jackinthepatch]

Lol mate you are absolutely right. Some people are bringing in things across different subsystems, rather than phonetics and phonology (not that I don't appreciate all suggestions though lol). But yeah, uprightman you're spot on. That's why this essay is hard to write lol...cos there is only the one subsystem you can really talk about.

[UprightMan]

Well, splitting phonetics and phonology is a possibility; there is a fine line between the two.  That being said, however, there is a bit of material for each of them, though there will be a lot of 'fleshing out' if you want a comprehensive analysis and comparison.

[jackinthepatch]

Yeah...ah it's only a practice essay lol, I just wanted some ideas. But yeah thanks for that.