Australian English as a regional epicentre

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper explores whether an evolving regional standard of English could impact on the development of neighboring varieties while still consolidating its own identity. In the case of Australian English this can be seen in several kinds oflexical innovation, which are uniquely or strongly associated with it and have subsequently entered the New Zealand lexicon, e.g. convict terms adapted for agriculture, Aboriginal loanwords, and morphological developments such as hypocoristics ending in -ie/-y and -o. The historical context for these 19th century Australian inputs to New Zealand English was the participation of Australian emigrants in the New Zealand pastoral industry. It shows that a regional variety can exercise areal influence before becoming a fully fledged epicenter.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationWorld Englishes-- problems, properties and prospects
    Subtitle of host publicationselected papers from the 13th IAWE conference
    EditorsThomas Hoffmann, Lucia Siebers
    Place of PublicationAmsterdam ; Philadelphia
    PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
    Pages107-124
    Number of pages18
    ISBN (Print)9789027249005
    Publication statusPublished - 2009

    Publication series

    NameVarieties of English around the world
    PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing
    ISSN (Print)0172-7362

    Keywords

    • epicenter
    • evolving regional standards
    • areal influence
    • Aboriginal loanwords
    • hypocoristics

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