Western Australian English is the English spoken in the

Australian state The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

(WA). Although generally the same as most other

Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...

, it has some state-specific wordsincluding

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

and Aboriginal words and variations in pronunciation.

Vocabulary

Some of the vocabulary used in Western Australia is unique, within both

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and the wider world. Several terms of British origin have survived which are rarely used in other parts of Australia. One example is ''verge'', meaning the area between a road and a paved footpath, which is known by the term ''nature strip'' in the rest of Australia. Another is ''brook'', for a small stream. Some words have been shortened, for example, the term ''bathers'' is commonly used in place of ''bathing suit''. Some original terms have also been invented in WA, and have since found their way into common usage. An example of this is the term ''home open'', describing a house on the market which is open for public inspection ("open house" in other English vernaculars). Altogether, about 750 words are estimated to be used differently in WA than they are in the eastern states. There are also many unique, invented slang words, such as ''ding'', referring either to an Australian immigrant of Italian descent (this word is often considered derogatory and/or offensive), or a dent in a car panel. Cursive may also often be called ''running writing'' in Western Australian primary schools.. A glass of beer is referred to as a ''middy'' only in WA and New South Wales. Many words from

Indigenous Australian languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

have found their way into Western Australian English. Examples include (or ), a

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

word for spear, as used in modern spear fishing; and (or ), the Noongar name for a small freshwater crayfish of the South West. Crayfish often found in the Perth Hills area may be called ''yabbies''. Another word of likely Aboriginal origin is ''boondy'' (pronounced with ʊ, like the vowel in ''bush''), which means a rock, boulder, or small stone. Among Western Australians, the term ''sand-boondy'' or more commonly ''boondy'' is well-recognised as referring to a small lump of sand (with the granules stuck together), often thrown at one another by children in playgrounds or building sites. Other Aboriginal words that have been included more widely into relatively common regional Western Australian parlance include "wongi" (talk) and "milli-milli" (paper).

Phonology

Most Western Australians speak with either a general Australian accent or a broad Australian accent. Those who grew up in suburban

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

typically speak with a general Australian accent, and those from regional areas ("from the country") speak with a broad accent.

Centring diphthongs

Centring

diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

s are the vowels that occur in words like ''ear'', ''beard'' and ''sheer''. In Western Australia, there is a tendency for centring diphthongs to be pronounced as full diphthongs. Those in the eastern states will tend to pronounce "fear" and "beer" without any jaw movement, while Western Australians tend pronounce them more like "fe-ah" and "be-ah", respectively.

L-vocalisation

As also found in South Australian English, the tendency for some sounds to become vowels ( /l/ vocalisation) is more common than other states. "Hurled", for example, in Western Australia has a vocalised , leading to the pronunciation , whereas in other states the is pronounced as a consonant . The is vocalised; for example, "milk" sounds like "miuwk" and "hill" sounds like "hiw" , which can also be similar in dialect with

South African English South African English (SAfE, SAfEn, SAE, en-ZA) is the List of dialects of English, set of English language dialects native to South Africans. History British Empire, British settlers first arrived in the South African region in 1795, ...

but in a different vocabulary compared to

New Zealand English New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant of the English language spoken and written by most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-NZ. It is the first language of the majority of the populati ...

Pronunciation of individual words

Some pronunciations also differ from those used in the rest of Australia. For example: * Loquat: people from WA tend to pronounce loquat with a "k" sound instead of the "kw" () used elsewhere. * Derby: both the name of the city in northern Western Australia and the cross-town rivalry or

horse race Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

. It is pronounced .

References