1st Edition

Australian English Reimagined Structure, Features and Developments

Edited By Louisa Willoughby, Howard Manns Copyright 2020
    276 Pages 9 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    274 Pages 9 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Australian English is perhaps best known for its colourful slang, but the variety is much richer than slang alone. This collection provides a detailed account of Australian English by bringing together leading scholars of this English variety. These scholars provide a comprehensive overview of Australian English’s distinctive features and outline cutting-edge research into the variation and change of English in Australia. Organised thematically, this volume explores the ways in which Australian English differs from other varieties of English, as well as examining regional, social and stylistic variation within the variety.



    The volume first explores particular structural features where Australian English differentiates itself from other English varieties. There are chapters on phonetics and phonology, socio-phonetics, lexicon and discourse-pragmatics as these elements are core to understanding any variety of English, especially within the World Englishes paradigm. It then considers what are arguably the most salient aspects of variation within Australian English and finally focuses on historical, attitudinal and planning aspects of Australian English.



    This volume provides a thorough account of Australian English and its users as complex, diverse and worthy of study. Perhaps more importantly, this volume’s scholars provide a reimagining of Australian English and the paradigm through which future scholars may proceed.

    1. Introducing Australian English

    Louisa Willoughby and Howard Manns

    Part 1: Features of Australian English

    2. Phonetics and Phonology of Australian English

    Felicity Cox

    3. Tense, Aspect and Modality in Australian English

    Peter Collins and Xinyue Yao

    4. Negation in Australian English: from bugger all to no worries

    Isabelle Burke

    5. Reimagining Discourse-pragmatic Features of Australian Englishes

    Celeste Rodríguez Louro

    6. The Lexicon of Australian English

    Howard Manns

    Part 2: Internal Variation in Australian English

    7. Sociophonetics of Australian English

    Debbie Loakes

    8. Lexical and Morphosyntactic Variation in Australian English

    Lee Murray and Howard Manns

    9. Aboriginal English(es)

    Greg Dickson

    10. Ethnolectal Variability in Australian English

    Joshua Clothier

    Part 3: Historical Development of Australian English

    11. History of Australian English

    Kate Burridge

    12. American Influences on Australian English

    Minna Korhonen

    13. Codification of Australian English

    Pam Peters

    14. Attitudes to Australian English

    Louisa Willoughby

    15. The Australian National Corpus

    Simon Musgrave and Michael Haugh

    Biography

    Louisa Willoughby is a senior lecturer in linguistics in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University.



    Howard Manns is a lecturer in linguistics in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University.

    "Australian English is a dynamic epi-centre of global English, the third one next to British and American English. This book edited by Willoughby and Manns assesses the rich current state of research and suggests future avenues to increase knowledge of Australia’s mainstream, ethnic and regional Englishes, the theories that develop under its influence in sociolinguistics and educational politics, and shows how Australian identitites are being recast." - Gerhard Leitner, Institute of English Language and Literature, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

    "Australian English Reimagined is a comprehensive account of Englishes in Australia. It synthesizes a rich body of historic and contemporary research to interrogate our commonly-held beliefs about our language and how it is changing. This volume explores the intersection of language and social factors such as gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, age and attitudes. It considers the origins of Australian English, the colloquialisation of its syntax, the influence of other regional varieties and the uniqueness of Aboriginal and migrant varieties. Peppered with delightfully illustrative details, this makes for a wonderfully absorbing read." - Rebecca Swain, Project Coordinator at Digital Learning Design & Teacher of English, Carey Baptist Grammar School, Australia

    "As an update on the state of knowledge on Australian English, this edited volume would be hard to beat. It surveys the major research in a digestible fashion, providing extensive bibliographies to the chapters. It charts the movement across time from English in Australia to Australian English, its origins and development, and national acceptance as its own standard. The book ranges across distinctive structures and features, discourse stand-outs like yeah no and final but, and the gamut of vowel and consonant forms. It covers regional and ethnic variation, including Aboriginal Englishes, the influence of americanization, and the greater impetus towards informality that marks AusEng off from other Englishes. The authors are a who’s-who of the research community, skilfully brought together by the editors, Willoughby and Manns. This is a book to relish." – Allan Bell, Emeritus Professor of Language & Communication, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand