Does The English Speak In Australia Give Us All A Shared Identity?

Australia is celebrated for its multiculturalism and acceptance of ethnic minorities, however, according to linguist Ben crustal ‘Australia…recaptured by a pervasive monolingual mindset which sees monolingualism as the norm and multilingualism as the exception even as a problem or deficit.’ Although ethnolects are viewed negatively by the mainstream society, its usage is both beneficial to ethnic minorities and has been adopted as the Lingua Franca in some situations. As a result of the majority’s consensus on the dislike of ethnolects, minorities are pressured to adopt Standard Australian English (SAE) in formal and public domains; limiting the usage of ethnolects. These observations are reflected in a recent interview with X; a forty-year-old

The forceful removal of children from families, relocation of tribes from their native homelands, and the attempted assimilation by the Europeans resulted in the disruption of the hundreds of years of knowledge and heritage being passed down through generations. These issues have resulted in the destruction of most of their thousand year old languages and background. To the Indigenous people of Australia, language is the key to their cultural and spiritual identity, and their heritage. From over 250 languages being spoken all over Australia, there are now only 145. Only 20 of which are considered still going strong; this is a cause of great distress to the Indigenous people. “The loss of indigenous languages signifies not only the loss of traditional knowledge but also the loss of cultural diversity and spirituality as well as laws and customs” (Gugu Badhun Limited, 2012). Language is their identity, their connection to the community, it retains their cultural and spiritual identity throughout their daily lives now (Gugu Badhun Limited,

Making an accurate representation of Australian identity will forever be a difficult task with the vast range of lifestyles its people live. However, this concept is challenged and has developed into an obsession. (ConvictCreations, 2000) This is because of the many age groups, class divisions, differences in location and cultural diversity. Since the introduction of television, producers have made humorous and witty shows, interpreting and critiquing the Australian Identity. This critique is referred to as ‘satire’ and is made apparent mostly in television shows such as Chris Lilley’s 2005, hit mockumentary series, We Can be Heroes. The internationally acclaimed show satirises the ‘faults’ in Australian identity while also providing humorous entertainment. In the short, six episode series, a variety of satirised elements are unmistakable. Characters have been developed to represent the many levels of class division in our society. Enhancing the definition of such classes is the differences in use of language and knowledge between the characters – an effective tool to categorise the differences in our society.

When it comes to false representations and stereotypical conversations, Australia is one of the biggest nations on the talking list. From choosing a barbeque with mates over work to kids riding kangaroos to school, it leave many australians with one question. Are we being represented as the raw product, or are texts twisting the facts to make us seem far from the normality?

What does Australian English look and sound like today, and how does it reflect our identity as a nation?

Present day Australia is met with the issue of outlining a sense of a nationwide community, after the breakdown of the British race patriot idea in the mid-1960s with the introduction of multiculturalism. The Euro-centric perception of Australia was annulled and it was incapable in playing a significant part in Australian policies and priorities. It triggered a calamity of national identity and meaning. The credence that Australian’s were apart of Britain, united by history, tradition and blood needed to be revised. A people who had recognized themselves so strongly with the British race now had to accede their race awareness and apprehend the notion of being a now multicultural society. The dawn of multiculturalism also provoked a quandary for balancing a respect of the British heritage with the abating relevance of the British connection and to construct a new language of community from the residues of the old British ways.

There are many diverse interpretations of the words “Australian Identity”. The national anthem, as evidenced in Stand Up, is a primarily white interpretation of Australia and the Australian identity, with many of the lines ignoring the Indigenous people of Australia (Perkins et al, 2012). Another form of the “Australian Identity” was one presented by Prime Minister Paul Keating in his Redfern Address in 1992. He proclaimed that “Australia is a first-rate social democracy…truly the land of the fair go and the better chance”. This idea presented represents an egalitarian society, where every single human has an equal opportunity at life. Yet another, shown in the songs Paul Kelly sang, but especially in “this land is mine” is the difference between the identity of Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians (Kelly et al, 2001). Each of these texts addressed a major issue. Stand Up compared the relative value of tradition and the right to freedom of expression. Keating’s speech expressed the need for justice and recognition of both the stolen generation and the injustices done to the Indigenous people as a whole. Kelly’s songs represent the importance of the land to Indigenous people and why the “returning of the land” is so important. Although they each mentioned a major issue, the texts all gave solutions to these issues, from reiterating the importance of the basic human right of freedom of speech in Stand Up, to explaining the role and qualities of the Aboriginal

How does ‘I’m Australian Too’ support language and literacy for children from diverse cultural backgrounds and home languages?

This is mainly the language which is being used by the refugee groups. These people are not very fluent with the local standard language (Wardhaugh, 1993). In Australia, the ethnolect could be found among the Anglo and non-Anglo speakers. The most significant feature of the “ethnolect” in Australian language is the pronunciation of word “er”. The Anglo speakers have got their background from Greek speakers and hence their pronunciations vary from non-Anglo speakers. Hence in Australia there are different groups of people with various backgrounds speaking in different English language.

The nature of Australian’s national identity has been an ongoing debate for many years. It involves how Australians see themselves, and how other countries view Australia as a whole. Throughout the country’s history, the national identity has not remained constant, and currently it is a debate to what Australian’s true national identity is.

Build competency in English language without detriment to skills in other languages and without suppressing cultural identity.

Jaky Troy (2012) mentions, “without knowledge of our language we feel culturally and spiritually diminished.” There are over 250 original languages and majority of indigenous people in Australia belong to one or more of them. Nonetheless majority of them cannot remember or hardly speak it (Troy, 2012). Consequently, many Aboriginals do not speak their languages but rather speak one or more forms of Aboriginal English. This results in Aboriginal students feeling uncomfortable regardless of the amount of good teachers that were there to help them (Troy, 2012). According to (Hanlen, 2002) Aboriginal kids are given next to nothing in terms of learning Western literacy or the English language, resulting in separation from the Mainstream society inevitably leading to marginalisation. When Aboriginal students use Aboriginal English they feel inadequate and inferior. In relation to intelligence, students are said to be or even been given the impression, that they lack and must seek intelligence (Shipp, 2012). Throughout

Although English is the official language of Australia, Australia's multicultural society has created many subcategories of Australian English. It can be broke down to different groups based on the ethno-cultural groups such as Lebanese English or Greek English as well as Indigenous English. However, Australian accents comprehensively were separated into broad, general, and cultivated varieties (ABC, 2016). General accent represent the most common accents and it is natural and less strong. Conversely, Broad accents are correlated with working-class speech and are quite strong, but cultivated accents are partly close to British English.

There are many indicators of identity by which we are made known individually, socially and culturally; the best of these would be language and how it has shown great flexibility in accommodating the needs of people. Through language people have been able to establish their identities and cultivate friendships with others who share the same common ground. By looking at accents such as Broad Australian English, slang and phonological features as they apply to Australian varieties, we can see how it has forged solidarity and assisted in creating an identity on an individual and national scale.

     “In the world were over seven thousand languages have exisisted, one language had become dominate. This dominant language is English.” “In the majority of countries throughout the world speak English as their second or first language, no longer just America or England.” English has taken many forms, American English, the Queen’s English, Australian, Canadian English, and several others. Even American English has taken several types of English, Jersey English, East Coast English, West Coast English, Southern English, slang English, and Ebonics. All of these languages have major variants between them, but are all of them are still understood aboard. Without English the world couldn’t operate,