1978). Non-standard AusE usage is also very much like that of other countries in which
English is a widely spoken native language. If there are any differences in non-standard
AusE, they are in relative frequencies. For many AusE speakers, however, the use of the
plural verb in existential there constructions, even with singular subjects, is virtually cate-
gorical (Eisikovits 1991: 243f.). Sex differentiation seems, for example, to be stronger in
Australia than in the United States or Great Britain (especially in pronunciation, see Guy
1991: 222). A study of Inner Sydney usage reveals greater use of third person singular
don’t by males, probably ‘as a marker of group identity, “maleness” and working-class
values’ (Eisikovits 1991: 238f.).
In morphology AusE reveals a preference for several processes of word formation
which are less frequent in English at large. One of these is the relatively greater use of
reduplication, especially in designations for Australian flora and fauna borrowed from
Aboriginal languages (bandy-bandy, a kind of snake, gang-gang, a kind of cockatoo)
proper names (Banka Banka, Ki Ki, Kurri Kurri) and terms from Aboriginal life including
pidgin/creole terms (mia-mia ‘hut’, kai kai ‘food’). In addition the endings {-ee/-y/-ie}
/i
/ (broomy, Aussie, Tassie, Brizzie, surfy) and {-o} [υ] (bottlo, smoko) occur more often
in AusE than in other varieties.
13.1.3 AusE vocabulary
AusE shares all but a small portion of its vocabulary with StE; however this small,
Australian element is important for giving AusE its own distinctive flavour. Indeed, next
to pronunciation it is the distinctively Australian words which give this variety its special
character. Rhyming slang, though hardly of frequent use, is often regarded as especially
typical of AusE, e.g. sceptic tanks ‘Yanks’. In addition, there are a number of Australian
words which originate in English dialects and therefore are not a part of StE everywhere,
e.g. bonzer ‘terrific’, chook(ie) ‘chicken’, cobber ‘mate’, crook ‘ill’, dinkum ‘genuine’,
larrikin ‘rowdy’, swag ‘bundle’, tucker ‘food’ (for much of the material in the following,
see Turner 1994).
The specific features of AusE vocabulary have been affected most strongly, however,
by borrowing (kangaroo) and compounding (kangaroo rat; black swan; native dog,
lyrebird (bird), ironbark (tree), outback ‘remote bush’, or throwing stick ‘woomera,
boomerang’). Place names, of course, are often specifically Australian (Wallaroo,
Kwinana, Wollongong, Wagga Wagga), including fantasy names such as Bullamakanka
(fictitious place); Woop Woop (fictitious remote outback locality), both with Aboriginal-
sounding names. Sometimes there is uncertainty even among Australians about how to
pronounce them. So the anecdote about the train approaching Eurelia, where one porter
goes through the cars announcing /ju
rəlaə/ (‘You’re a liar’) and is followed by a second
yelling /ju
rilia/ (‘You really are’) (Turner 1972: 198). Regionally differing vocabulary
is rare, but includes words for a bathing suit: togs, cossie, swimmers (East Coast, NZ:
togs), bathers (South + Western Australia). Language Varieties Network at http://www.
une.edu.au/langnet/ concentrates more on minority and stigmatized varieties, including
pidgins and creoles from a sociolinguistic viewpoint.
There are, of course, words Australian by origin but accepted throughout the English
speaking world because what they designate is some aspect of reality which is distinc-
tively Australian. Chief among these are words for the flora, fauna and topography of
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