Тула, 2020

Content

I.        Introduction        3

II.        General Characteristics of the English Language in Different Parts of the English-Speaking World        4

III.        New Zealand and Australian English        6

IV.        Phonetic peculiarities of Australian English        8

V.        Phonetic peculiarities of New Zealand English        10

References        12

1. Introduction

Wide spreading of the English language in the world communication has been stimulated by rapid development of international, economic, scientific, and cultural relations which is called by the necessity to study language. For a long time English has been studied in its well-known form – BBC / RP which received the status of national standard in the UK. Under the modern circumstances when contacts have become more personal it appears to be not enough to know the refined version of the standardized English language. People become more interested in local, regional, and social variations of language which they hear every day in different parts of the world. The varieties of English attract attentions not only for practical purposes but scientific cognitive too (Naumenko & Strelnikova, 2012).

This topic explored such scholars as J. Wright, L. Herman, C. Upton, A. Mitchell, P. Trudgill and others.

Subject of inquiry in my paper is the peculiarities of such variants of English as New Zealand and Australian English.

Analysis of scientific literature is one of the main methods used in the research.

2. General Characteristics of the English Language in Different Parts of the English-Speaking World

According to Collins English Dictionary a dialect is “a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially” (HarperCollins Publishers, n.d.).

English language is the official state language of several countries, such as the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand. It is also one of the official languages of Canada and the Republic of South Africa.

British accents include Received Pronunciation, Cockney, Estuary, Midlands English, West Country, Northern England, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, and many others.

It is over half a century already that the nature of the two main variants of the English language, British and American (Br and AE) has been discussed. Some American linguists, H. L. Mencken for one, spoke of two separate languages with a steady flood of linguistic influence first (up to about 1914) from Britain to America, and since then from America to the British Isles. They even proclaim that the American influence on British English is so powerful that there will come a time when the American standard will be established in Britain. Other linguists regard the language of the USA as a dialect of English (Naumenko & Strelnikova, 2012).

Still more questionable is the position of Australian English (AuE) and Canadian English (CnE).

The differences between the English language as spoken in Britain, the USA, Australia and Canada are immediately noticeable in the field of phonetics. However these distinctions are confined to the articulatory-acoustics characteristics of some phonemes, to some differences in the use of others and to the differences in the rhythm and intonation of speech. The few phonemes characteristic of American pronunciation and alien to British literary norms can as a rule be observed in British dialects.

The variations in vocabulary, to be considered below, are not very numerous. Most of them are divergences in the semantic structure of words and in their usage.

Since BE, AE and AuE have essentially the same grammar system, phonetic system and vocabulary, they cannot be regarded as different languages. Nor can they be referred to local dialects; because they serve all spheres of verbal communication in society, within their territorial area they have dialectal differences of their own; besides they differ far less than local dialects.

3. New Zealand and Australian English

Australian English began to diverge from British English soon after the foundation of the colony of New South Wales (NSW) in 1788. The settlement was intended mainly as a penal colony. The British convicts sent to Australia were mostly people from large English cities, such as Cockneys from London. In addition to these many of the original immigrants were free settlers, military personnel and administrators and their families. In 1827, Peter Cunningham, in his book Two Years in New South Wales, reported that native-born white Australians spoke with a distinctive accent and vocabulary with a strong Cockney influence (Burridge & Mulder, 1999).

Australian English is relatively homogenous when compared to British English. There is, however, some regional variation between the states, particularly in regards to South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia. One of the first publications on Australian English was issued in 1892 under the title The Slang-English of Australia and Some Mixed Languages. The first dictionary on historical principles was E.E. Morris’ Austral English: A Dictionary of Australian Words, Phrases and Usages (1898). Widely regarded and authoritative Macquarie Dictionary of Australian English was published in 1981, after ten years of research and planning. Australian English incorporates many English-based words that are considered unique to this country, e.g.: outback – “a remote, sparsely-populated area”, jackaroo – “a type of agricultural worker”, dinkum – “true, the truth, authentic”, brumby – “wild horse”, drover – “cattle or sheep herder”, Sheila – “woman”, gin – “older aboriginal lady”, perjor., bludger – “lazy person”, bluey – “person with red hair”, singlet – “sleeveless T-shirt”, sunnies – “sunglasses”, thongs – “kind of footwear”, bikkies – “biscuits”, capsicum – “red or green bell peppers”, goon – “cheap cask wine”, also goon bag, goon sack or goony – “plastic cask”, Sultanas – “small raisins”, fl at white – “espresso with milk”, short black – “espresso”, long black – “Americano”, Gibbo for Gibson, Macka’s or Maccas – for McDonald’s (Macka being a nickname for any person with a “Mac” or “Mc” surname), esky – “portable cooler” (from the trademark Esky), g’day – a stereotypical Australian greeting. Some words which were transported by British and Irish convicts to Australia in 1788-1868 have certain variations in their meaning, e.g.: creek – “a stream or small river” (in BrE – “small watercourse fl owing into the sea”), paddock – “field” (in BrE – “small enclosure for live stock”), bush and scrub – “wooded area” and “country areas” (in BrE are used only as a part of proper names such as Shepherd’s Bush and Wormwood Scrub), mate – “friend” (in BrE – “spouse). Some words were incorporated into Australian English from aboriginal languages as names of flora and fauna, e.g.: dingo, kangaroo, kaola, ostrich, some other notions, e.g.: boomerang, cooee – “high-pitched call”, yakka – “hard work”, wallaby.

The New Zealand variation of English is called New Zild which is firmly based on BrE. One of the main things which separates New Zild from other types of English are the words borrowed from the language of the Maori, the Polynesian inhabitants of New Zealand. The evidence of them are Maori place names such as Ngaruawahia, Paraparaumu, Rotorua, Takapuna, Timaru, Whangarei, Whanganui (from Maori whanga – “harbor” and nui – “large”); names of local birds: kākāpō, kea, kiwi, kōkako, moa, pūkeko, takahē, tūī, weka; fi sh: Tarakihi, Hapuku; plants: kahikatea, kānuka, kauri, kūmara, mānuka, mataī, matakoura, rimu, toetoe, tōtara, tutu; some everyday words used in the New Zealand community: Aotearoa – “New Zealand”, “land of the long white cloud”, aroha – “love”, haka – “dance”, hangi – “food cooked in the earth oven”, hui – “meeting”, iwi – “tribe”, kai – “food”, kiwifruit, kumara – “sweet potato”, marae – “community gathering place with several buildings”, mana – “pride, ability”, nui – “big, great”, pa – “fortress”, tangi – “funeral”, taniwha – “water-dwelling monster”, tapu – “sacred”, utu – “revenge”, waka – “canoe”, whanau – “family”, whare – “house”, wai – “water” (Naumenko & Strelnikova, 2012).

4. Phonetic peculiarities of Australian English

While studying the British and Australian variants of the English language one can notice that the differences in grammar are not as numerous as the ones in the sphere of phonetics. These peculiarities are necessary to be analyzed not to make phonetic mistakes leading to intercultural phonetic interference. Intercultural phonetic interference can be defined as incorrect pronunciation of sounds of the foreign language and their substitution by the sounds of the native one.

There are three variants of pronunciation: General, Cultivated and Broad. Their differences do not lead to the complexity of the communicative process but they serve to define the social status of the speaker. For example, one of the peculiarities of the Broad dialect is the substitution of the vowel sound [i] at the end of the word into the neutral sound [ǝ].

The vowel system of the Australian variant of English differs a lot and it has the feature of the system shift. The general tendency of the shift can be defined as the shift to more closed sounds of the front row. The diphthongs are apt to turn into the monophthongs. The glide becomes weaker but the nucleus is longer.

The rhythm of the Australian speech is clearer and smoother than in the British variant. It occurs due to the fact that the contrast between the stressed and unstressed syllables is lower in the Australian variant of the English language.

The intonation of the Australian variant of English is characterized by not so sharp rises and falls of the intonation in one and the same statement. Thus the intonation of the British variant of the language seems to be more emotional and bright.

A specific feature of the articulation system of the Australian variant of English is its weaker labialization of the Australian sounds which is determined by rather weak work of the lips (Markelova & Vorobets, 2014).

 Despite the differences that exist between the three variations of Australian pronunciation, they form a single system that is different from English pronunciation. Broad has the largest number of differences, Cultivated is the closest to it. Based on this, some researchers put forward the hypothesis that the primary form of Australian pronunciation is a colloquial form that is a result of mergers and the evolution of parlance, dialects and jargons spoken by the first settlers in Australia. Broad and especially Cultivated arose as more "prestigious" forms by smoothing out the features of the vernacular (Орлов, 1999).

In addition to the differences in pronunciation of sounds Australians prone to reductions and omissions of sounds. Sometimes it can lead to mistakes in understanding the meaning of the statements. Differences in pronunciation can be illustrated by the following examples:

There are differences of intonation in certain types of questions in some traditional formulas, but these phenomena began studied seriously. Researchers see the result of the influence of Australian English intonation in standard phrases like “Good–bye now. Is that so?” and similar phrases intonational contour of which coincides with Australian English. There are differences in the placement of accents in the sentence, too. Australians avoid large number of unstressed syllables between two percussive sounds. The secondary stress appears or unstressed word in RP (Received Pronunciation) becomes stressed in the GAus (Great Australian). As a result, the number of stressed syllables in the sentence in GAus is typically greater than in RP. All peculiar features of Australian English are most consistently manifested in the form of colloquial pronunciation, combined with numerous cuts (Prytulchyk & Melyanets, 2016).

5. Phonetic peculiarities of New Zealand English

Immigration to New Zealand from Australia and different parts of Britain has had a significant bearing on the way New Zealand English developed. Thus, the variant of English of New Zealand was formed under the influence of Scottish English, dialects of the south of England, Australian English and the language of Māori (native people of New Zealand). Māori English differs in production of some vowels and diphthongs and is most noticeably different in its stress and rhythm. British pronunciation is highly appreciated in New Zealand because it is associated with being educated. Nevertheless, local dialects have much more influence. The English language of New Zealand is considered to be a variant of Australian, but it has much in common with the British English. It has its own phonetic peculiarities compared to Australian English. These differences are characterized by a range of changes in the vowel system. They include: • centralization of [i] into [a] (thick, thin); • rise of [e] into [i] (concession); • reduction of [æ] into [e] (cat); • merger of [еə] and [iə] (air – ear). These changes were first noticed in the speech of young women of the middle class. Nowadays they can be noticed among all classes of people in New Zealand (Боднар, 2016). New Zealand also tend to have a flattened short [i] which Austrailians hear as the short [u]. So, for example, “fish and chips” in New Zealand English is heard as “fush and chups”.

The consonant system of New Zealand English is unremarkable for a variety of English; New Zealand English has the wine-whine merger; thus the distinction between [w] as in “witch” and [wʰ] as in “which” has disappeared. There is a tendency to substitute [f] and [v] for the “th” combination. New Zealand English is mostly non-rhotic (Burridge & Mulder, 1999).

1. Conclusion

The research material leads us to the conclusion that origin of the English language variation is deeply motivated by historical processes and events which took place in English speaking countries. Regional varieties are much dependant on national realities of countries-receivers of colonists from England and Ireland. The above mentioned reasons brought the objective changes in diversification of English talk on all language levels: phonological, morphological, lexical, and grammatical.

Though there are a number of changes in the consonant and vowel systems, phonetic peculiarities of the Australian English mostly lie in the rhythm and intonation that differentiate Australian English from other variants.

English of New Zealand has much in common with Australian English, but still linguists and lexicographers consider it a separate variant of English.

Differentiating variants of English and pointing out their peculiar features helps to understand the process of functioning of the English language.

References

1. Burridge, K. & Mulder, J., English in Australia and New Zealand: an introduction to its history, structure and use. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
2. Cox, F. & Palethorpe, S., Australian English. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 2007. pp. 341-350.
3. HarperCollins Publishers, б.д. Collins English Dictionary. [В Интернете]
   Available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/
   [Дата обращения: 07 05 2020].
4. Markelova, A. A. & Vorobets, L. V., Phonetic peculiarities of the Australian variant of English. Международный журнал экспериментального образования, 2 6, 2014. pp. 78-79.
5. Naumenko, L. P. & Strelnikova, L. G., Regional variants and dialects of english. Ученые записки Таврического национального университета им. В.И. Вернадского, 2012. pp. 128-134.
6. Prytulchyk, M. I. & Melyanets, M. V., Phonetic differences between British and Australian English. Polessky state university journal, 05 03, 2016. pp. 441-442.
7. Боднар, С. С., Фонетические особенности американского, канадского, австралийского, новозеландского вариантов английского языка. Филологические науки. Вопросы теории и практики, 3, 2016. стp. 82-85.
8. Орлов, Г. А., Современный английский язык в Австралии. Москва: Высшая школа, 1999.