Editing Australian English (section)

==Variation==
{| class="wikitable" style="float: right;"
|+ Variation in Australian closing diphthongs<ref>{{citation
|last=Wells
|first=John C.
|author-link=John C. Wells
|year=1982
|page=597
|title=Accents of English
|location=Cambridge
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
}}</ref> updated to match the HCE system <ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Harrington|Cox|Evans|1997}}</ref>
! rowspan="2" | Phoneme !! rowspan="2" | Lexical set !! colspan="3" | Phonetic realization
|-
! Cultivated !! General !! Broad
|-
| {{IPA|/iː/}}
| {{sc2|FLEECE}}
| {{IPA|[ɪi]}}
| {{IPA|[ɪ̈i]}}
| {{IPA|[əːɪ]}}
|-
| {{IPA|/ʉː/}}
| {{sc2|GOOSE}}
| {{IPA|[ʊu]}}
| {{IPA|[ɪ̈ɯ, ʊʉ]}}
| {{IPA|[əːʉ]}}
|-
| {{IPA|/æɪ/}}
| {{sc2|FACE}}
| {{IPA|[ɛɪ]}}
| {{IPA|[æ̠ɪ]}}<!-- Wells's [ʌ], which represents a near-open near-front unrounded vowel, is written [æ̠] here. -->
| {{IPA|[æ̠ːɪ, a̠ːɪ]}}
|-
| {{IPA|/əʉ/}}
| {{sc2|GOAT}}
| {{IPA|[ö̞ʊ]}}
| {{IPA|[æ̠ʉ]}}
| {{IPA|[æ̠ːʉ, a̠ːʉ]}}
|-
| {{IPA|/ɑe/}}<!-- Wells's [ɪ] is written HCE's [e] in this row. -->
| {{sc2|PRICE}}
| {{IPA|[a̠e]}}
| {{IPA|[ɒe]}}
| {{IPA|[ɒːe]}}
|-
| {{IPA|/æɔ/}}
| {{sc2|MOUTH}}
| {{IPA|[a̠ʊ]}}
| {{IPA|[æo]}}
| {{IPA|[ɛːo, ɛ̃ːɤ]}}
|}
{{Main|Variation in Australian English}}

Relative to many other national dialect groupings, Australian English is relatively homogeneous across the country. Some relatively minor regional differences in pronunciation exist. A limited range of [[Word usage|word choice]]s is strongly regional in nature. Consequently, the geographical background of individuals may be inferred if they use words that are peculiar to particular Australian states or territories and, in some cases, even smaller regions. In addition, some Australians speak [[English-based creole languages|creole languages]] derived from Australian English, such as [[Australian Kriol language|Australian Kriol]], [[Torres Strait Creole]] and [[Norfuk language|Norfuk]].

Academic research has also identified notable [[culture|sociocultural]] variation within Australian English, which is mostly evident in phonology.<ref>{{cite web|first=Robert | last=Mannell |url=http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/phonetics/ausenglish/impressionistic.html |title=Robert Mannell, "Impressionistic Studies of Australian English Phonetics" |publisher=Ling.mq.edu.au |date=14 August 2009 |access-date=26 July 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081231163640/http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/phonetics/ausenglish/impressionistic.html| archive-date=31 December 2008| url-status= live}}</ref>

===Regional variation===
Although Australian English is relatively homogeneous, there are some regional variations. The dialects of English spoken in the various [[states and territories of Australia]] differ slightly in vocabulary and phonology.

Most regional differences are in word usage. Swimming clothes are known as ''cossies'', {{IPA|/ˈkɔziːz/}} ''togs'' or ''swimmers'' in New South Wales, ''togs'' in Queensland, and ''bathers'' in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-05/what-do-you-call-battered-deep-fried-potato-snack-linguistic/7069684|title=Divide over potato cake and scallop, bathers and togs mapped in 2015 Linguistics Roadshow|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|first=Kellie|last=Scott|newspaper=ABC News|date=5 January 2016|access-date=5 January 2016}}</ref> What Queensland calls a ''stroller'' is usually called a ''pram'' in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania.<ref name="Pauline Bryant 1985">Pauline Bryant (1985): Regional variation in the Australian English lexicon, Australian Journal of Linguistics, 5:1, 55–66</ref>

Preference for some synonymous words also differ between states. ''Garbage'' (i.e., garbage bin, garbage truck) dominates over ''rubbish'' in New South Wales and Queensland, while ''rubbish'' is more popular in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia.<ref name="Pauline Bryant 1985"/>

Additionally, the word ''footy'' generally refers to the most popular [[Football in Australia|football code]] in an area; that is, [[rugby league]] or [[rugby union]] depending on the local area, in most of New South Wales and Queensland. More commonly "rugby" is used to distinguish rugby union from "footy" which refers to the more popular rugby league. Footy commonly is used for [[Australian rules football]] elsewhere however the term refers to the both  prominent codes, rugby league and Australian rules football, interchangeably, depending on context of usage outside of regional perrameters. In some pockets of Melbourne & Western Sydney "football" and more rarely "footy" will refer to Association football although unlike more common international terminology, Australian English uses the term soccer and not football or footy. Beer glasses are also [[Australian English vocabulary#Alcohol|named differently]] in different states. Distinctive grammatical patterns exist such as the use of the interrogative ''eh'' (also spelled ''ay'' or ''aye''), which is particularly associated with Queensland. ''[[Secret Santa]]'' ({{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}) and ''Kris Kringle'' are used in all states, with the former being more common in Queensland.

;South Australia
The most pronounced variation in phonology is between [[South Australia]] and the other states and territories. The [[trap–bath split]] is more complete in South Australia, in contrast to the other states. Accordingly, words such as ''dance'', ''advance'', ''plant'', ''example'' and ''answer'' are pronounced with {{IPA|/ɐː/}} (as in ''father'') far more frequently in South Australia while the older {{IPA|/æ/}} (as in ''mad'') is dominant elsewhere in Australia.<ref name="Pauline Bryant 1985"/> [[L-vocalization|''L''-vocalisation]] is also more common in South Australia than other states.

;Centring diphthongs
In Western Australian and Queensland English, the vowels in ''near'' and ''square'' are typically realised as centring diphthongs ({{IPA|[nɪə, skweə]}}), whereas in the other states they may also be realised as monophthongs: {{IPA|[nɪː, skweː]}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://clas.mq.edu.au/australian-voices/regional-accents |title=regional accents &#124; Australian Voices |publisher=Clas.mq.edu.au |access-date=26 July 2011}}</ref>

;Salary–celery merger
A feature common in Victorian English is [[English-language vowel changes before historic l#Salary–celery merger|salary–celery merger]], whereby a Victorian pronunciation of ''Ellen'' may sound like ''Alan'' and Victoria's capital city ''[[Melbourne]]'' may sound like ''Malbourne'' to speakers from other states. There is also regional variation in {{IPA|/ʉː/}} before {{IPA|/l/}} (as in ''school'' and ''pool'').

;Full-fool allophones
In some parts of Australia, notably Victoria, a fully backed allophone of {{IPA|/ʉː/}}, transcribed {{IPA|[ʊː]}}, is common before {{IPA|/l/}}. As a result, the pairs full/fool and pull/pool differ phonetically only in vowel length for those speakers. The usual allophone for {{IPA|/ʉː/}} is further forward in Queensland and New South Wales than Victoria.

;Final particle but
A ''final particle but'', where "but" is the concluding word in a sentence, has also evolved as a distinctive feature in Australian English, particularly in Western Australia and Queensland. In conversational Australian English it is thought to be a turn-yielding particle that marks contrastive content in the utterance it closes. It is a linguistic trait sometimes employed in Australian literature to indicate that the character is quintessentially Australian.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275354830_The_final_particle-hood_of_but_in_Australian_English_conversation|title= Final but in Australian English conversation.}}  Mulder, Jean & Thompson, Sandra & Penry Williams, Cara. (2009) in Peters, Pam, Collins, Peter and Smith, Adam. Comparative Studies in Australian and New Zealand English: Grammar and beyond, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g39  </ref>

===Sociocultural variation===<!-- [[General Australian]] redirects here-->
The General Australian accent serves as the [[standard language|standard variety]] of English across the country. According to linguists, it emerged during the 19th century.<ref>Bruce Moore (Australian Oxford Dictionary) and Felicity Cox (Macquarie University) [interviewed in]: ''Sounds of Aus'' (television documentary) 2007; director: David Swann; Writer: Lawrie Zion, Princess Pictures (broadcaster: ABC Television).</ref> General Australian is the dominant variety across the continent, and is particularly so in urban areas.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.international.mq.edu.au/globe/default.aspx?id=244&EditionID=162| title = Australia's unique and evolving sound| access-date = 22 January 2009| archive-date = 27 September 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090927000652/http://www.international.mq.edu.au/globe/default.aspx?id=244&EditionID=162| url-status = dead}} Edition 34, 2007 (23 August 2007) – ''The Macquarie Globe''</ref> The increasing dominance of General Australian reflects its prominence on radio and television since the latter half of the 20th century.

Recent generations have seen a comparatively smaller proportion of the population speaking with the ''Broad'' sociocultural variant, which differs from General Australian in its phonology. The Broad variant is found across the continent and is relatively more prominent in rural and outer-suburban areas.<ref>{{cite news|last=Das|first=Sushi|title=Struth! Someone's nicked me Strine|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Struth-Someones-nicked-me-Strine/2005/01/28/1106850102203.html|newspaper=The Age|date=29 January 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Corderoy|first=Amy|title=It's all English, but vowels ain't voils|url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/its-all-english-but-vowels-aint-voils-20100125-mukf.html|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=26 January 2010}}</ref>

A largely historical ''Cultivated'' sociocultural variant, which adopted features of British [[Received Pronunciation]] and which was commonplace in official media during the early 20th century, had become largely extinct by the onset of the 21st century.<ref>{{cite news|last=Jamieson|first=Maya|title=Australia's accent only now starting to adopt small changes|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-s-accent-only-now-starting-to-adopt-small-changes|newspaper=SBS News|date=12 September 2017}}</ref>

[[Australian Aboriginal English]] is made up of a range of forms which developed differently in different parts of Australia, and are said to vary along a continuum, from forms close to Standard Australian English to more non-standard forms. There are distinctive features of accent, grammar, words and meanings, as well as language use.

Academics have noted the emergence of numerous ethnocultural dialects of Australian English that are spoken by people from some [[Minority group|minority]] non-English speaking backgrounds.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://clas.mq.edu.au/australian-voices/australian-english |title=australian english &#124; Australian Voices |publisher=Clas.mq.edu.au |date=30 July 2010 |access-date=26 July 2011}}</ref> These ethnocultural varieties contain features of General Australian English as adopted by the children of immigrants blended with some non-English language features, such as [[Afro-Asiatic]] languages and [[Asian languages|languages of Asia]]. [[Samoa#Language|Samoan English]] is also influencing Australian English.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.abc.net.au/article/13079360| title = Reference at www.abc.net.au| website = [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]}} {{dead link|date=March 2023}}</ref> Other [[ethnolects]] include those of Lebanese and Vietnamese Australians.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.net.au/education/learn-english/learn-english-six-facts-about-the-aussie-accent/8963136 |title=Six facts about the Australian accent |date=18 Dec 2017 |website=ABC Education |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date= 9 April 2023}}</ref>

A [[high rising terminal]] in Australian English was noted and studied earlier than in other varieties of English.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Speech of Australian Adolescents: A Study in Phonetics and Intonation. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. |publisher=Mitchell, A. G., & Delbridge, A. (1965). |access-date=9 May 2025}}</ref> The feature is sometimes called ''Australian questioning intonation''. Research published in 1986, regarding vernacular speech in [[Sydney]], suggested that high rising terminal was initially spread by young people in the 1960s. It found that the high rising terminal was used more than twice as often by young people than older people, and is more common among women than men.<ref name="guy">{{cite journal |last1=Guy |first1=G. |last2=Horvath |first2=B. |last3=Vonwiller |first3=J. |last4=Daisley |first4=E. |last5=Rogers |first5=I. |title=An intonational change in progress in Australian English |journal=Language in Society |volume=15 |year=1986 |pages=23&ndash;52 |issn=0047-4045 | doi = 10.1017/s0047404500011635 |s2cid=146425401 }}</ref> In the [[United Kingdom]], it has occasionally been considered one of the variety's stereotypical features, and its spread there is attributed to the popularity of [[Soap opera#Australia|Australian soap operas]].<ref name="aqi">{{cite news |first=Chris |last=Stokel-Walker |title=The unstoppable march of the upward inflection? |work=[[BBC News]] |date=11 August 2014 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28708526 |access-date=17 February 2022 }}</ref>