The Australian English language contains many unique and unmistakable qualities that set it apart from other forms of the English language. The Australian language recognized today developed from British English in the early 1800s. Over time, as the country grew and developed, so did its language. The country has formed its own distinct form of English which is distinguished by its unique accent and different pronunciations of words and expressions. Many factors contributed to the development of the language. The first major factor that led to the development of the language was the impact of a British colony that settled in the country in 1788. There is also the influence of indigenous people and culture that were the first to inhabit the country. Finally, the development of Australian cultural attitudes has also had an impact on language. The combination of all these factors gave rise to the language the country uses today: Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get the original essay When the British colony led by Captain Arthur Phillip landed on Australian shores in 1788, it never achieved the impact they would eventually have on the future of the country. They were the first English speakers to inhabit the country and their arrival would have a major impact on its future and development. The settlers came from all over the British Isles, bringing with them not only many new cultures and customs to the newly created country, but also many dialects and varieties of English (Moore). The majority of the convicts were from Ireland and many of them spoke little, if any, English. Others are also from Great Britain, the Scottish Highlands and Wales (Moore). Living in a new, isolated and remote country with all these different dialects would over time cause the dialects to come together and merge into a single identifiable language that we now associate as the Australian (Moore) accent. As the country and its diverse population groups have come together to contribute to the development, expansion and growth of the country, so has their language. Back when Australia was first discovered in 1770, Britain was facing a huge problem with its prison system. As prisons began to become overcrowded with the continued increasing influx of convicted criminals, a solution was created to address this overcrowding problem. It was decided that a deal would be made with some prisoners whereby they would be sent to a newly discovered island and help the British colonize it (Moore). Prisoners selected were preferably skilled in areas that would benefit and contribute to the development of the colony. The majority of prisoners were therefore skilled traders and farmers. To entice the convicts to travel to this new, unknown land, the prisoners were offered that if they agreed that if they spent their time contributing to the development of the new colony, they would be rewarded with a new life in the city that they had helped to build. Many prisoners saw this as a huge benefit and accepted this offer and left for the new country. Therefore, a large majority of the members of this group who first settled in the country were prisoners (Moore). This also meant that many of them came from the lower class system and had poor educationor non-existent, which had a major impact on the formation of the Australian language, particularly in the way that future generations of Australians would articulate words (Moore). The distribution of the different dialects combined with the fact that the majority of the inhabitants of the colony belonged to the lower class did not necessarily have an immediate impact on the development of the language. Rather, it had an impact on future generations as the colony began to expand with the first children born in the country. The children of the settlers were exposed to many different dialects and ways of pronouncing words which, as they learned to speak themselves, in turn created a whole new language. Even as more and more people began arriving in the country, this new dialect created by children born in the colony was strong enough to survive through the influence of other modes of speech (Cunningham). Peter Miller Cunningham was a man who visited the country in its early days. He observed and detailed the Australian language in his 1827 book, Two Years in New South Wales. He described noticing a distinct difference in accent and vocabulary between the colony's early settlers and their native-born children (Cunningham). Over the years, as the country grew and developed, so did the diversity of its population. The 1850s saw the first major wave of immigration since British colonization in 1788. This was due to the first of many Australian gold rushes, as many people traveled to the country in search of gold (Blainey). It was recorded that two percent of the population of the United Kingdom emigrated to the colonies of not only the original state of New South Wales, but also to the new southern state of Victoria. The majority of these immigrants came from the southeastern regions of England and, according to linguist Bruce Moore, this had an impact on the structure of the Australian accent (Moore). When the First Fleet landed on Australian shores, they were not the country's first inhabitants. In fact, Australian Aborigines were the first to occupy the country and, although the time of their arrival is a matter of debate among researchers, it is estimated that they first arrived 125 years ago. 000 years (Moore). At first, the relations between the settlers and the natives were not particularly good, as the settlers almost destroyed and demolished the lives of the natives. Diseases such as the diseases that the settlers brought with them nearly eradicated the Native community, with smallpox being the leading cause of death of Native people in the 19th century (Moore). Another consequence of British colonization was the appropriation of land and water resources, which continued throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, as rural lands occupied by natives were converted for grazing of sheep and cattle by settlers for their colony. Due to these events, the traditions and language of indigenous communities began to decline under the ever-increasing population of white settlers. Over time, native people began to integrate into mainstream society and certain words from their culture began to take their place. path in Australian society and its English language. These words were mainly place names, flora, fauna and local culture. Some of the most popular words include words like Kangaroo and Koala. However, an overwhelming majority of Australian animals have Aboriginal names, because because the settlers had never seen these animals before, they called them by the name the Aboriginals called them. Besides the kangaroo and the koala that I havementioned earlier, there are also animals such as the dingo, kookaburra, wallaby and wombat which also have Aboriginal names (Grandpa Pencil's). Some places also have Aboriginal places, such as the capital of Australia. “Canberra.” Canberra is Australia's equivalent of Washington DC, as it's where our Parliament is located. Since it is the central location where all political meetings in the country take place, the word "Canberra" in the Aboriginal language means "meeting place", which fits perfectly (Grandpa Pencil's). Another example of places with indigenous names is the school street where I grew up. The name of the street that ran alongside my school has an Aboriginal name of "Curragundi", which means "place of many spiders" (Grandpa Pencil's). Besides the names of particular animals and places, there are also many other words derived from the indigenous language. Some expressions from Aboriginal culture have also made their way into the Australian English language, including terms such as "hard yakka" and "bung". “Hard yakka” simply refers to someone who has or will do hard work (Grandpa Pencil's). Personally, I don't use this expression, as it is more commonly used by tradespeople and workers. For example, if it was a tough day at work, someone would say, “My goodness, it was a tough yakka today.” Another word from indigenous culture is the word “bonde”. “Bung” in Aboriginal translates to the word death, but its meaning actually translates to something “broken” or “useless” (Grandpa Pencil's). It's a term I hear and use all the time, especially as an athlete. An example of using "bung" in a sentence would be me saying "I have a bung foot", because when I hurt my foot or have a problem with my eye, I would say "I have a bung crowded eye.” With the federation of all the colonies in 1901, the country had made great progress since its first settlement in 1788. As the 20th century approached, Australia was becoming increasingly well known throughout the world, which further once had an effect on the Australian English language. The language began to receive some influence from the most powerful country in the world, America (Bell). With the creation of films in the late 19th century, America dominated the global film industry. Films created in America have become popular around the world. played an influence on the Australian language (Bell). Another event that had an impact on the language was the arrival of the American military in the country during the events of World War II. Due to certain events during the war, the American military established bases all over Australia. As American soldiers explored their new towns and interacted with the Australian population, their different varieties of English had an impact on Australian English (Bell). With the combination of American films and the arrival of the American militia, some American expressions became integrated into the Australian English language. Terms such as “ok” and “you guys” were new expressions that Australians had never heard or used before the arrival of American influence (Bell). In today's Australian society, there are now many variations of the Australian English language. These variations of Australian English occur mainly between different socio-cultural groups. According to linguists, there are three main socio-cultural variants of Australian English and are classified into broad, general and cultivated accents (Wells). The “broad” accent is what you imagine when you think of it..