PSNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, DINDIGUL.
NEWSLETTER 14
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
5TH MARCH, 2009.
Hello Reader,
Good morning/afternoon/evening,
In our last newsletter, we came to know something about British English. There are many questions at the end of that letter. As an Indian, it is enough if we speak Indian English, so that wherever we are, we can make our Indian English intelligible to the listeners. Because Indian English( a mixture of English and mother-tongue words / expressions/accent) is popular throughout the world. That is why, the film shot in America , but based on the Indian theme and Indian English-- “ Slumdog Millionaire” --is understood by the Americans and in turn they give Oscar awards for that film and incl A.R.Rahman has received two awards for music. So, it is clear that if an Indian speaks Indian English intelligibly, it is enough. One need not try to speak like a native English speaker, because, one may be laughed at when one doesn’t’ find perfection in one’s way of pronunciation.
So, on any account, my dear reader, please don’t try to speak like a British or an American or even an Australian. Do speak like an Indian and speak Indian English and make others understand the message that you have passed in speaking.
Do you have any ideas about Australian English? Shall we discuss this in this newsletter?
AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH
When a penal colony was founded in New South Wales in 1788, some British convicts were sent there along with Cockneys from London. They were joined by military officers and free settlers. Most of the convicts were from Ireland and others were non-English speaking Welsh and Scots. Somehow the poor English was spoken and that English was Cockney South-East England. During 1850s, when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were in economic hardship, two percent of the population from the two countries emigrated to the colonies of New South Wales and the colony of Victoria.
Meanwhile the changes brought by the gold rushes in Australia brought words and usage from North America. American soldiers from World War II also introduced many words used by them . Since 1950s American influence came through pop culture, mass media, magazine and computer. British words like ‘mobile’ were used along with American equivalents. Also there is an influence of Irish English in the speech since most of the convicts and others were from Ireland.
3 main varieties of Australian English
Unlike British English, Australian English does not reflect the educational or the regional qualities of a speaker. But, there are three types of spoken English in Australia. They are
1. Broad Australian English
2. General Australian English
3. Cultivated Australian English
The first type is recognizable and familiar to English speakers around the world because it is used to identify Australian characters in non-Australian films and television serials.
The majority of Australians speak ‘ General Australian English’. In Australian films and television serials , we can listen to this type of English.
Cultivated Australian English is nearer to British RP. Some actors like Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush use this English.
Rhyming Slang is the common feature of Australian English. For example, “ Captain Cook” rhymes with “look”, so , ‘ to have a captain cook’ or ‘to have a captain’ means ‘ to have a look’.
AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH VOCABULARY
It is interesting to note the origin of some Australian English words. Some words are typically Australian. The word “outback” means an Australian remote and sparsely-populated area. But, some words mean different in British English. For instance, the word ‘creek’ means ‘ a stream or small river’ in Australian English whereas it means ’ a small watercourse falling into the sea’. ‘paddock’ means ‘field’in Australian English but it means ‘ a small enclosure for the livestock’ in England. Some words like ‘dinkum’ (true) and ‘goodday’ are used only in Australia.
Australians use a variety of terms to refer to people . These terms indicate a person’s ethnicity, status , the place where he resides and his behavior. The natives shorten the names of persons, cities etc. For instance, the Americans are nicknamed as ‘yank’ which is an abbreviation of ‘septic tank’. Where foodstuffs are concerned, Australians depend more on British words like ‘biscuits’ rather ‘cookies’. But in some words like ‘ zuccini’ ‘eggplant’ and ‘snowpea’ , American words are retained.
The sports term ‘ barrack’ means ‘hoot or cheer somebody in the games’. The word ‘football’ is shortened as ‘footy’. Some football players are nicknamed as follows:
`Gary Ablett God
Darrel Baldock Doc
Troy Chaplin Chappy
Jeff Farmer The wizard
In Australian English, the term ‘ute’ is used for ‘utility vehicle’. The ‘panel vans’ used by the police are called ‘paddy wagons’ or ‘black marias’ (vans used for carrying prisoners from prison to court) or ‘divvy vans’.
In military, some slang terms are used to refer to the people there. For instance, a soldier is called ‘ nigger’ and ‘ AJ ‘ and ‘grunts’ are used to mention the army personnel.
SOME BRITISH Vs AUSTRALIAN INTERESTING EXPRESSIONS
The following expressions both in British and Australian English can make one guess how a word or an expression gets changed from one to another English.
BRITISH ENGLISH / AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH1.afternoon / arvo
2.American / Yank
3. angry / berko
4. Australian / Aussie, strine
5. banana / nana
6. chocolate / chokkie
7.Christmas / Chrissie
8. go away / Shove off
9.food / Tucker
10. English person / Pom
11.Have you eaten yet? / Did you eat yet?
12. How are you? / How are you going?
13. information / Oil
14.It is fine / She is apples
15. sheep / Jambuck(esp. in songs)
16.teacher / chalkie
17.vegetables / Veggies
18.to give up / To give it away
19.well done / Good on ya
20.worthless person / dongo
Hello, reader, when an Australian nicknames a Birtish and an American as ‘pom’ and ‘yank’ respectively , shall we see how does or does not , an American nickname the other two in our next Newsletter dealing with American English?
Till then, bye.
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