English Language

In the 21st century, Australian English embraces change despite concerns from traditionalists. Discuss referring to at least 2 subsystems.

AS CHARLES Darwin wrote in The Descent of Man, it is not only species that evolve, but so, too, do languages.

Languages that can adapt are likely to stay alive. They change for many reasons — to incorporate slang words and to reflect cultural and technological influences and changing social patterns, economic trends and people’s lifestyle choices.  The philosophy of inclusive language has had, and continues to have a big impact on language use in modern-day multicultural Australia. Also technology and the fast pace of social change leads to new words, that in turn become common usage as they gain popularity.

To explain language change, David Crystal refers to the process of “lexical diffusion”. He notes, “At first just a few people use the change sporadically in a few words (commonly occurring words are influenced very quickly); then a large number of words are affected, with the sound gradually being used more consistently; then the majority of the words take up the change.” (How Language Works, “How does language change?”, p. 359).

 Key Idea 1

From a lexical perspective, new trends and ideas affect language, which in turn, reflect our political, cultural and social landscape.

See “new words” (neologisms) of the month (Macquarie Dictionary); many of these words reflect changing social, political and environmental contexts;

  •  Advo-dating is dating based on political and social activism leanings. A conti roll is a crusty bread roll filled with Italian deli meats, cheese and salad. Yum. 
  • Women who use dating apps are often subjected to abuse from the man they reject. This is known as rejection violence. 
  • Vaccine nationalism: this is when a nation prioritises the inoculation of its own citizens over assisting other less-developed nations. 
  • A cheugy is something or someone who follows outdated, sometimes basic trends. To avoid appearing basic, you might want to wrap up in cyber fashion, that is, futuristic or cyberpunk-inspired clothing. Definitely not outdated. 
  • A teenior is a senior citizen who is acting like a stereotypical teenager.

Key Idea 2:

Politeness conventions and social attitudes have an influence on language change. In particular, the prescription to use inclusive language is accelerating the widespread use of non-discriminatory pronouns and words and correspondingly, leading to the demise of others.

In public contexts, it is expected that people refrain from using discriminatory language. Hence the demise in some slang that was deemed exclusive and discriminatory.

See Changing Social Attitudes

The words in the national anthem were officially changed from “ “young and free” to “one and free”. This semantic change exposes cultural biases towards the First Nations people; as one of the oldest living continuous cultures in the world, this phrase was considered to be face-threatening to the needs of Indigenous Peoples.  

From a lexical perspective, the change in pronoun status also reflects our modern inclusive political and social landscape. A new word in the Macquarie Dictionary is a “neopronoun?” which is an invented pronoun for a third or non-binary gender.  (Likewise, to some extent, Kate Burridge believes that in the 16th century, the change in the “thou” series of pronouns was also a product of politeness conventions.  

During the past two decades, there has been a cultural shift towards recognition of the First Nations people. This is reflect in linguistic terminology. Terms of address; speeches; Uluru Statement from the Heart and the Makarrata Commission – the borrowings reflection…

Changing social attitudes: To wokescold is to criticise someone for not having views that are left-leaning or ‘woke’ enough.

See Kate Burridge and politeness conventions

Further, technology is having an impact on language change.   Many believe that our irreverent strine is an “endangered species that needs protection, nurturing, celebration” (Phillip Adams).  ABC commentator, Phillip Adams, laments the increase in “coca-colonisation” which are “cuckoo words, shoving other words out of our vocabulary (10,000 Americanisms) – making our language “less Australian”.  (“Instead of being additional expressions that enrich our conversations and discourse, the new Americanisms kill off words that used to enliven and characterise the way Australians talked”. This is a problem, he believes with pay TV and the internet.

Key Idea 3:  

However, to some extent there is also a trend to preserve SAE from some change. The prescriptivists are keen to ensure that in public formal contexts, correct English is maintained. (English exams)

Quotes by Lynne Truss and others.

  • Peter Fitzsimmons believes that it is important to protect our “Aussie vernacular” which is critical to who we are, and the stories and “yarns” we tell about ourselves to each other.  He states that he treasures a comment from an “old scientist” friend who said:  “Fair dinkum, that bloke, he could give you the square root of a jam jar, and not know how to get the lid off!”  He believes that they are “actually fresh, and brilliant. And ours.”
  • Peter Fitzsimmons notes: “I have been a long-time and constant critic of the rising damp of Coca-Colonisation on what we are pleased to call our “culture”. I treasure our yarns, our expressions, our stories, and it gives me the major “irrits” – look it up – to see so much of what is precious and unique being slowly swamped by, most particularly, American stories, expressions, and even accents.  (“Bring back these Aussie sayings. They’re fresh, brilliant and ours.”  By Peter FitzSimons)