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Australian English is the form of the English language used in Australia.
Australian English is similar in many respects to British English but it also borrows from American English. (For example, it uses truck instead of lorry, and freeway is the most common word for a high-speed road, though motorway and highway are acceptable.) It is most similar to New Zealand English, although the difference is immediately obvious to a speaker from either country.
There are also influences from Hiberno-English, as many Australians are of Irish descent. Most noticeable is the non-standard pronunciation of the letter 'h' as /heItS/ - although this is by no means universal - rather than the unaspirated /eItS/ found in New Zealand, as well as most of Britain and North America. This is attributed to Irish Catholic brothers and nuns teaching in schools. Others include the non-standard plural of 'you' as 'youse', /ju:z/ (common in some social circles, but generally uncommon elsewhere), and the expression 'good on you', although these are also encountered in New Zealand English.
Many Americans struggle to distinguish an Australian English speaker from a New Zealand English speaker, or even a British speaker (just as Canadian and other North American English speakers are often indistinguishable to Australasian ears and are only identified as American).
Due to the predominance of foreign mass media products in the country, Australians are familiar with at least some of the variants of modern British English and American English, and many have adopted some of the distinctive vocabulary and idioms of those languages. The exposure to the different spellings of British and American English leads to a certain amount of spelling confusion, for instance "organize" as opposed to "organise", or "behavior" as opposed to "behaviour". Generally, either variant is accepted (though British spelling is more prevalent).
In 1981 the Macquarie Dictionary of Australian English was published after 10 years of research and planning. Editions have been published ever since. There is also an Oxford dictionary of Australian English.
Australian English also incorporates several uniquely Australian terms, such as outback to refer to remote regional areas, walkabout to refer to a long journey of uncertain length and bush to refer to native forested areas, but also to regional areas as well. Fair dinkum can mean are you telling me the truth?, or this is the truth!, or even this is ridiculous! depending on context. The disputed origin (see [1] ) dates back to the gold rush in the 1850s, "din-kum" being derived from the Cantonese for "real gold": "fair dinkum" is the genuine article. G'day is well known as a stereotypical Australian greeting.("G'day" is not quite synonymous with "good day", and is never used as an expression for "farewell".) Many of these terms have been adopted into British English via popular culture and family links.
Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been incorporated into Australian English, mainly as names for places, flora and fauna (e.g. Dingo, kangaroo). Beyond that, very few terms have been adopted into the wider language. A notable exception is Cooee (a musical call which travels long distances in the bush and is used to say 'is there anyone there?'), which can also be used as a term for an audible range of distance ("If he's within cooee of here we'll spot him"). Though often thought of as an Aboriginal word, Didgeridoo/Didjeridu (a well known wooden musical instrument) is actually derived from the Irish term "Dudaire Dubh", which literally means "black trumpeter".
Australian English has a unique set of diminutiveA Diminutive is a prefix or suffix (usually a suffix) added to a word in order to convey the sense of a smaller size. See also Apocopation. English Usage Diminutives are common in most national forms of English. Terms such as "undies" for underwear, and "s formed by adding -o or -ie to the ends of (often abbreviated words). There does not appear to be any particular pattern to which of these suffixes is used. Examples with the -o ending include abo (aborigine - now considered very offensive), arvo (afternoon), servo (service station), rego (annual motor vehicle registration) and ambo (ambulance officer). The Salvation ArmyThe Salvation Army is a Christian denomination, a charity and a social services organization. History The Salvation Army was founded as the Christian Mission in London, England on July 5, 1865 by William Booth, who at that time was a Methodist minister. is often referred to as "The Salvos". Examples of the -ie ending include barbie (barbecue), bikkie (biscuit) and blowie (blowfly). Occasionally, a -za diminutive is used, usually for personal names where the first of multiple syllables ends in an "r". Barry becomes Bazza, Karen becomes Kazza and Sharon becomes Shazza.
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