Editing Australian English (section)

==History==
Similar to [[American English#History|early American English]], Australian English passed through a process of extensive [[dialect levelling]] and [[Koiné language|mixing]] which produced a relatively homogeneous new variety of English which was easily understood by all.<ref name="Burridge 2020 178¬-181" />

The earliest Australian English was spoken by the first generation of native-born colonists in the [[Colony of New South Wales]] from the end of the 18th century. These native-born children were exposed to a wide range of dialects from across the [[British Isles]]. The dialects of [[South East England]], including most notably the traditional [[Cockney]] dialect of London, were particularly influential on the development of the new variety and constituted "the major input of the various sounds that went into constructing" Australian English. All the other regions of England were represented among the early colonists. A large proportion of early convicts and colonists were from Ireland (comprising the 25% of the total convict population), and many of them spoke [[Irish language|Irish]] as a sole or [[first language]]. They were joined by other non-native speakers of English from the [[Scottish Highlands]] and [[Wales]]. [[Peter Miller Cunningham]]'s 1827 book ''Two Years in New South Wales'' described the distinctive accent and vocabulary that had developed among the native-born colonists.<ref name="Moore 2008 69" />

The first of the [[Australian gold rushes]] in the 1850s began a large wave of [[Immigration history of Australia|immigration]], during which about two percent of the population of the United Kingdom emigrated to the colonies of [[Colony of New South Wales|New South Wales]] and [[Colony of Victoria|Victoria]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Blainey|first=Geoffrey|title=The Rush that Never Ended: a History of Australian Mining|year=1993|publisher=Melbourne University Press|location=Carlton, Vic.|isbn=0-522-84557-6|edition=4}}</ref> The Gold Rushes brought immigrants and linguistic influences from many parts of the world. An example was the introduction of vocabulary from [[American English]], including some terms later considered to be typically Australian, such as ''bushwhacker'' and ''squatter''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Baker|first=Sidney J.|title=The Australian Language|year=1945|publisher=Angus and Robertson|location=Sydney|edition=1st}}</ref> This American influence was continued with the popularity of American films from the early 20th century and the influx of American military personnel that settled in [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]] during [[World War II]]; seen in the enduring persistence of such universally-accepted terms as ''[[okay]]'' and ''guys''.<ref name="Bell">{{cite book|last1=Bell|first1=Philip|last2=Bell|first2=Roger|title=Americanization and Australia|year=1998|publisher=University of New South Wales Press|location=Sydney|isbn=0-86840-784-4|edition=1. publ.}}</ref>

The publication of [[Edward Ellis Morris]]'s ''Austral English: A Dictionary Of Australasian Words, Phrases And Usages'' in 1898, which extensively catalogued Australian English vocabulary, started a wave of academic interest and codification during the 20th century which resulted in Australian English becoming established as an [[Schneider's dynamic model|endonormative]] variety with its own internal norms and standards. This culminated in publications such as the 1981 first edition of the ''[[Macquarie Dictionary]]'', a major English language dictionary based on Australian usage, and the 1988 first edition of ''[[The Australian National Dictionary]]'', a historical dictionary documenting the history of Australian English vocabulary and idiom.

<gallery>
File:The First Fleet entering Port Jackson, January 26, 1788, drawn 1888 A9333001h.jpg|The [[First Fleet]], which brought the [[English language]] to Australia
File:Doudiet Swearing allegiance to the Southern Cross.jpg|The [[Australian gold rushes]] saw many external influences on the language.
</gallery>