Language and National Identity in Australia

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (Institut für Anglistik), language: English, abstract: The purpose of this paper is to outline the manifestation of Australia's national pride focusing specifically on the linguistic distinctiveness of Australian English (AusE) which is mainly based on its history and still represented in today's demographic situation of Australia. Thus, I shall be concerned with different topics: firstly I will point out the connection between identity and language. Having this theoretical framework in mind, I will briefly sketch the historical background of AusE and afterward provide a rough overview concerning the most common ancestries and origins of today's population in 'down under'.These premises will lead to the main issue of this paper, namely the manifestation of Australia's national identity and pride in the form of unique and distinctive linguistic features of AusE.