Australian English

Introduction

Australian English differs from other Englishes primarily in its accent and vocabulary. The major features of the accent were established by the 1830s. In the period between colonial settlement (1788) and the 1830s, when the foundation accent was being forged, new lexical items to describe the new environment, especially its flora and fauna, were developed either from Aboriginal languages (coolibah, wombat, wallaby, waratah, and so on) or from the ‘transported’ English word stock (native bear, wild cherry, and so on). Many more vocabulary items were later added in response to the nineteenth-century process of settlement and pastoral expansion. All of this seems at once predictable and inevitable—this is the way a colonial society imposes its linguistic footprint on a subjected land. 

Excerpt taken from the OED blog post, ‘Australian English in the twentieth century’ by Dr Bruce Moore, which explores the history and current status and linguistic features of English in Australia 

Australian English words recently recorded in the OED 

• ambo, n./2 
• bub, n./7 
• drover’s dog, n. 
• durex, n./1 
• fair dinkum, adv., n. (and int.), and adj. 
• John Dunn, n. 
• muso, n. 
• onkus, adj. 

The words shown here are free to view. Click on links above to view these words, or explore further using the advanced search (learn how to search the OED here).

Additional resources