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Abstand, Ausbau, creativity and ludicity in Australian English
Sussex, Roland (2004) Abstand, Ausbau, creativity and ludicity in Australian English. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 24 1: 3-19.
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| Name |
Description |
MIMEType |
Size |
Downloads |
| Author(s) |
Sussex, Roland
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| Title |
Abstand, Ausbau, creativity and ludicity in Australian English
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| Journal name |
Australian Journal of Linguistics
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| Publication date |
2004
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| Volume number |
24
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| Issue number |
1
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| ISSN |
1469-2996; 0726-8602
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| Start page |
3
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| End page |
19
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| Total pages |
17
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| Editor(s) |
T. Borowsky
M. Harvey
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| Place of publication |
Australia
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| Publisher |
Carfax
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| Collection year |
2004
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| Language |
eng
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| Subject |
C1
420101 English
380205 Language in Culture and Society (Sociolinguistics)
751099 Communication not elsewhere classified
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| Abstract |
The social history of a language or variety, and its emergence, consolidation and stabiliza tion, allow us to combine the formal data of the language (principally its sound structure, grammar and lexis) with the external conditions in which they have evolved. The advance of Australian English in terms of its differentiation (Kloss's abstand) and elaboration of roles (Kloss's ausbau) pose problems of chronology, periodization, description and expla nation. This paper extends the conventional scope of abstand and ausbau to the analysis of the social history of Australian English. It argues that two factors are central to the emerging identification of Australian English: creativity, in the sense of morphological innovation, especially here in diminutives like reffo ('refugee') and pollie ('politician'); and in ludicity, defined as a deep-rooted playfulness with language. While these character istics are only part of the overall dynamics of the social history of Australian English, the evidence is sufficiently extensive to warrant further investigation. An earlier version of this paper was given at the Mitchell Symposium at Macquarie University on 26 April 2002 under the title ‘E pluribus plures? Diversity and integrity in Australian English’. I am grateful to members of the Symposium, and to two anonymous reviewers, for valuable comments and criticism
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| Additional Notes |
The language of the law remains an area which has been more Anglo-Saxon in content, style and authority. But speakers from some cultures find their natural cultural norms are diametrically opposed to the norms of English-language courts. This cross-disciplinary paper summarizes key problem areas for the equitable use of language in English-language courtrooms in multilingual Australia.
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