(1) Language variation in Australian society
“Students focus on the role of language in establishing and challenging different identities. .. Area Study 1 enables “students to examine the range of language varieties that exist in contemporary Australian society. “
Students explore “how Standard Australian English, as the variety of Australian English afforded prestige by public institutions, has played a pivotal role in establishing the legitimacy of Australian English.”
Standard Australian English (SAE)
- Standard (Australian) English: SAE, rules, regulations : prestige and status
- Attitudes to varieties of Australian English, including prescriptivism and descriptivism.
Students “consider variation between regions, a range of migrant ethnolects and Aboriginal Englishes”. (VCAA) They consider “how Australian English varies according to culture, including Aboriginal English and ethnolects”.
National and regional variation
- National identity: our national identity is a “journey”: see linguistic characteristics of our national identity: 2023 Examples: “A nation is a song — a story. We write ourselves into being.” (Stan Grant)
“Strine” and non-standard Australian English and informal discourse
- Examples of sportspeople 2023 ; “Aussie English“; (“strine”; linguistic profile of a dinky-di Aussie )
- Informal discourse: spoken non-fluency features and tenor and register: See Q&A transcript 2024
- Informal Discourse: tenor and taboo and exclusive language; swearing
Aboriginal English
- Cultural varieties: Aboriginal English: 2023 ; First Nations people: overt and covert prestige
Migrant ethnolects
- Cultural varieties Ethnolects ; non-standard varieties and identities (overt and covert prestige)
See (2) Individual and group identities
Unit 4: Language variation and identity : You will cover SAE as a prestigious variety of discourse; but you will not need to cover its “role in establishing national identity”. You will still study SAE, non-Standard English varieties (a range of migrant ethnolects, and Aboriginal Englishes)
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