The Australian Commonwealth – the British dominion – was founded in 1901; before that the states were independent colonies, ruled separately by the British Government.
In the 20th century the population of Australia was a special nation differing from the British, and it was united by the common language, territory, economic relations and culture. On the Australian continent, the word Australian does not denote an aborigene, but an offspring of the first English settlers, so by speaking about Australian nation, Australian literature and language, we mean the nation, literature and language of the white population.
Australian English has peculiarities in pronunciation, intonation, spelling and grammar. But the greatest difference is observed in lexis.
In Australia the first settlers (1788) found themselves in quite new natural surrounding. The new objects and concepts required creating new names. In this two ways were used: making up words of English morphemes and exploiting English means of word-formation, and borrowing.
In Australian English some words keep the meanings which in England became obsolete and even disappeared, e.g. the word stock in the meaning «ñêîò» in England is used only in the combination live-stock, but in Australia this meaning is kept in the word itself, in compounds and derivatives: stockman – ïàñòóõ, stock yard – ñêîòîïðèãîííûé äâîð, stock-house – ñêîòíûé äâîð, stock-holder – ñêîòîâîä, stock-run - âûãîí, stock-station – ñêîòîâîä÷åñêàÿ ôåðìà, stock-keeper – âëàäåëåö ôåðìû, to stock-keep – çàíèìàòüñÿ ñêîòîâîäñòâîì, to stock up – ðàçâîäèòü ñêîò, the word paddock in England has the meaning íåáîëüøîé âûãîí, ëóæàéêà, but in Australia – îãîðîæåííûé çåìåëüíûé íàäåë ëþáîãî ðàçìåðà, to paddock – ïîìåñòèòü çà îãðàäó (î ñêîòå), to paddock land – îãîðîäèòü çåìëþ, heifer-paddock – æåíñêàÿ øêîëà.
The word station (ñêîòîâîä÷åñêàÿ ôåðìà) acquires a broader usage in Australia. This word is used in a great number of collocations: heifer-station – ôåðìà, íà êîòîðîé âûðàùèâàåòñÿ ìîëîäíÿê, outside station – ôåðìà, ðàñïîëîæåííàÿ âî âíóòðåííèõ ðàéîíàõ ñòðàíû, station black - òóçåìåö, station mark – êëåéìî, station jack – ìÿñíîé ïóäèíã, etc.
The word pastoralist in great Britain has the meaning ôåðìåð-îâöåâîä, in Australia – ÷åëîâåê, çàíÿòûé ïðîèçâîäñòâîì ëþáûõ ïðîäóêòîâ ñåëüñêîãî õîçÿéñòâà, township in England – öåðêîâíûé ïðèõîä, in Australia – ãîðîä; wattle in England - ïðóò, ïëåòåíü, ñäåëàííûé èç ïðóòüåâ, in Australia – àêàöèÿ (the first settlers built their homes from branches of Australian wattle and clay; so the wattle itself was named by this word, and homes of this kind – wattle-and-dub huts or simply wattles.
The usage of the same word-forming means in England and Australia often leads to appearing of differences in lexis, which can be possibly explained by the long distance between the countries.
The analysis of the following extract proves this fact.
We “embossed”. This hideous word was the invention of some military genius and meant simply that we got aboard trucks. Having “embussed” we travelled the few miles to Liverpool railway station. There we “debussed” and “entrained”. The train then chugged erratically down to Darling Harbour, where we “detrained” and “embarked”. Everyone got aboard and no spies had observed us embussing or debussing, entraining or detraining, nor even embarking. (From: R.Brandon, The Naked Island).
The verbs embus, debus, entrain, and detrain are not registered in dictionaries.
To the same kind of words the following lexemes can be referred: greyness – ñåðûé öâåò, sundowner – áðîäÿãà (÷åëîâåê, êîòîðûé íà çàõîäå ñîëíöà èùåò ïèùè è êðîâà íà íî÷ü); two-up – èãðà äâóìÿ ìîíåòàìè – íàïîäîáèå èãðû â îðëÿíêó, milk-bar – ìîëî÷íîå êàôå, push – òîëïà, peopleless – áåçëþäíûé, to unsit – ëèøàòü ìåñòà, sundown - áðîäÿæíè÷àòü (back-formation from sundowner ), finalize – çàâåðøàòü, çàêàí÷èâàòü, and its derivative finalization.
The noun Australia was the basis for forming such derivatives and word-combinations as: australism – àâñòðàëèçì, australiana - àâñòðàëèàíà, un-Australian – ÷óæäûé Àâñòðàëèè, pan-Australian - ïðîàâñòðàëèéñêèé, Aussie (slang) – àâñòðàëèåö (formed from the stem Australian with the help of the suffix –ie), Westralian – æèòåëü Çàïàäíîé Àâñòðàëèè (blending of the nouns West Australian), australite – àâñòðàëèò (meteorite found in the states of Victoria, South and West Australia), australize – íàòóðàëèçîâàòüñÿ â Àâñòðàëèè, Australian grip – àâñòðàëèéñêîå, ò.å. ñèëüíîå, äðóæåñêîå ðóêîïîæàòèå, Australian policy – ïîëèòèêà çàïðåùåíèÿ èììèãðàöèè èç ñòðàí Àçèè.
In colloquial speech and especially slang Australians use many shortenings: abo – aborigine - òóçåìåö, bacca – tobacco, exes – expences, moles – moleskin trousers – áðþêè èç ìîëåñêèíà, Nor-Wester – ñåâåðî-çàïàäíûé âåòåð, this after – this afternoon, my troubs – my troubles, pub – public, man-o’-war – man of war, god-o’mighty – god-almighty, etc.
Very often Australians use suffixes –y and –ie for word-formation, and they do not give diminutiveness to the words as it happens in England, but make the words sound a bit rough and friendly: roughy (rough) - ãðóáèÿí, shrewdy (shrewd) – ïðîíèöàòåëüíûé ÷åëîâåê. The suffix can join the cut stem of the word: possie – position, adjie – adjutant, cryssie – chrysanthemum; to the stem of the first element of of a compound: milky – milkman, footie – football; to the stem of the word which is part of a word-combination: bussy – bus driver, trammy – tram conductor, rocky – rock wallaby – êàìåííûé êåíãóðó.
Differences of Australian English in the sphere of literary layer of vocabulary can be observed in phraseology as well: to do a perish - óìèðàòü, to do a get – áûñòðî óäàëèòüñÿ, to whip the cat – ïîòåðÿííîãî íå âîðîòèøü (cf. with English to cry over spilt milk), to be within cooee, to keep in touch by cooeeing – áûòü, äåðæàòüñÿ â ïðåäåëàõ ñëûøèìîñòè (the word cooee in the meaning îêëèêàòü, àóêàòü was borrowed from the language of the aborigines of the country), to keep out of harm’s way – äåðæàòüñÿ îò ãðåõà ïîäàëüøå, to get bushed - çàáëóäèòüñÿ, bush-telegraph – ëîæíûé ñëóõ, (from the vocabulary of bushrangers, where this word had the meaning ïåðåäà÷à ñâåäåíèé î äâèæåíèè ïîëèöåéñêèõ îòðÿäîâ ÷åðåç ñîîáùíèêîâ), to pay on tick – ïëàòèòü â ðàññðî÷êó.
The number of borrowings from other languages is not large. These are mainly borrowings from aborigine languages. According to the census of 1933 geographical names of Australia include about 4700 words of native population, which makes one third of the whole number of geographical names. The melody and unusual sounding of the words inspired D.D.Lang to create a poem which consists of the geographical names only :
I like the native names as Paratta
And Illawarra, and Woolloomooloo,
Nandowra, Woogarora, Bulkomatta,
Tenah, Toongabbie, Mittagong, Meroo...
(From: S.J.Baker, The Australian Language, Sydney, 1945, p.198).
At present the words of native origin are broadly used for the names of hotels, ships, pet names, etc.
As for the names of large settlements, the Australians did not show much inventiveness: there are two Cardiffs, two Virginias, Liverpool, Toronto and others in Australia.
Other borrowings from the aborigine languages mainly refer to the names of objects and events of everyday life: coolamon – ñîñóä äëÿ õðàíåíèÿ âëäû, boomerang - áóìåðàíã, woomera – ïðèñïîñîáëåíèå äëÿ ìåòàíèÿ êîïüÿ, walpa – ðîä ëîäêè, waddy - äóáèíêà, tabee – ðèòóàëüíàÿ ïåñíü òóçåìöåâ, corroboree – ðåëèãèîçíûå ïðàçäíè÷íûå ïëÿñêè, (in colloquial language this word also means øóì, ïðîèçâîäèìûé ãðóïïîé ëþäåé), humpy, uloo - õèæèíà, miah (mia-mia) - øàëàø, lava-lava – íàáåäðåííàÿ ïîâÿçêà, gina-gina – æåíñêàÿ îäåæäà, gin, lubra – òóçåìíàÿ æåíùèíà èëè äåâóøêà, cooboo - ðåáåíîê, kangaroo - êåíãóðó, dingo – äèíãî (äèêàÿ àâñòðàëèéñêàÿ ñîáàêà), malee – àâñòðàëèéñêàÿ àêàöèÿ, mulga – ðàçíîâèäíîñòü ýâêàëèïòà, etc.
The speech of Australians was enriched by the words which lost the native colour: cooee – îêëèêàòü, àóêàòü, willy-willy - ñìåð÷, jabber - ÿçûê (to jabber - ãîâîðèòü), billy – êîòåëîê äëÿ êèïÿ÷åíèÿ âîäû, bogie - êóïàòüñÿ, dillybag – ìåøîê, ñïëåòåííûé èç òðàâû è îâå÷üåé øåðñòè, gibber - êàìåíü (mainly it is used in collocations: gibber plains, gibber country), myall – äèêèé, íåïðèðó÷åííûé, etc.
The 20th century saw the tendency of broadening the number of borrowings from aborigine languages. The appearing of the genre of historical novel devoted to to the years of gold rushes and to the severe life of first settlers naturally arose interest to the native people of the country, and that was the reason of enriching litatrary language of Australian English by the native words.
Enlarging the number of borrowings was facilitated by the fact that till recently in Australia there was no system of terminology reflecting flora and fauna of the continent which comprises thousands of endemic plants and animals. In 1955 the dictionary Australian Aboriginal Words and Place Names, which included about three thousand of word entries, was published in Melbourne. There is a very interesting idea in the Introduction: “Australian people are now showing an inclination to favour the use of aboriginal names for their homes, the idea could perhaps be extended to other things or places for which an Australian name would be desirable, with advantage to the furthering of the growth of a distinct national feeling.” (From: S.J.Endacott, Australian Aboriginal Words and Place Names, Melbourne, 1955, Foreword).