What is Australian English?
'''Australian English''' is the [[English language|English]] that is used in [[Australia]]. ==History== People from [[Great Britain]] and [[Ireland]] first came to live in the Colony of [[New South Wales]] in what is now Australia in 1788. They brought different [[dialect]]s of English along with them. The different kinds of English began to mix and to change. The newcomers soon began to speak with their own distinctive [[accent]] and [[vocabulary]]. More and more people came to Australia in the [[19th century|19th]] and the [[20th century|20th]] centuries. Many of them came looking for [[gold]]. Some came from the [[British Isles]]. Others came from non-English speaking countries. Australian English continued to grow and to change. Australian English has also been influenced by [[American English]]. During [[World War II]], many [[soldier]]s from the [[United States]] stayed in Australia. American [[television]] shows and [[music]] have been popular in Australia since the 1950s. ==Accent== Australian and [[New Zealand English]] have similar accents. In Australian English, the /r/ sound is dropped before a vowel. Many words sound different in other accents but the same in Australian English: *''caught'' and ''court'' *''raw'' and ''roar'' *''aunt'' and ''aren't'' *''formally'' and ''formerly'' Some Australian English vowels sound different to vowels of other kinds of English. For example, the [[vowel]] in ''day'' starts with a very open mouth, which makes the Australian ''day'' sound close to the ''die'' of most British or American people. Days of the week, however, are sometimes different, and the ''day'' can then sound like ''dee'' (usually short and sharp like the letter ''d''). *''Sunday'' becomes ''Sun-dee'' *''Monday'' - ''Mun-dee'' *''Tuesday'' - ''Choose-de''e (see further explanation below) *''Wednesday'' - ''Wens-dee'' (The first ''d'' and and the second ''e'' are rarely pronounced, and if so, it sounds more like ''Weddinsday'' but never ''Weddinsdee'') *''Thursday'' - ''Thurs-dee'' *''Friday'