Is Australian slang carking it? Dying, that is.
One lexicographer is seeing fewer Aussie terms than ever in contemporary slang. Words are always going in and out of fashion, but if the Aussie lingo is changing, can we see what it’s changing into?
Linguist Daniel Midgley gives it a burl on this episode of Talk the Talk.
Listen to this episode
You can listen to all the episodes of Talk the Talk by pasting this URL into your podlistener.
http://danielmidgley.com/talkthetalk/talk_classic.xmlPromo
Show notes
How arbitrary is language? English words structured to help kids learn
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140813103503.htm
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/articles/2014/how-arbitrary-is-language/
The paper itself
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1651/20130299
Linguists Tony Thorne and John Hajek say Australian slang is not what it used to be
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/linguists-tony-thorne-and-john-hajek-say-australian-slang-is-not-what-it-used-to-be/story-fneszs56-1226955247201
The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang
http://www.bloomsbury.com/au/dictionary-of-contemporary-slang-9781408181799/
“nose to the grindstone”
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/miller.htm
Here is a list of Australian slang. If you’re Australian, here is a list comprised partly of normal words, and partly of quaint parochialisms.
http://www.goingrank.com.au/glossary.html
The rise and fall of Australian slang
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27805070
Or are Australians taking themselves more seriously?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/26/is-aussie-slang-dying-out
Reasons some Australians give for not using slang.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=1RORfbdKk-8C&lpg=PP1&dq=mccrindle%20word%20up&pg=PA68#v=onepage&q=unsophisticated&f=false
Ben was curious about the proportion of workers in various sectors. The stats show that people in the production sector have diminished a lot since 1966, and service industries way up.
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/828adb6574d4875bca2570ec001b1f52!OpenDocument
Rob Pensalfini thinks we should be looking to marginalised communities for our new slang.
http://theconversation.com/aussie-slang-is-as-diverse-as-australia-itself-27973
Many Australian slang words are actually British or Irish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English_vocabulary#Words_of_British_and_Irish_origin
Like ‘bludger’
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bludger
Vale comes from Latin ‘valeo’
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vale#Etymology_2
It’s related to value, valor, and valiant.
http://verbosum.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/verbum-hodiernum-valde.html
RIP for ‘Rest in Peace’ (or requiēscat in pāce) seems more informal, and used for people known to the speaker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rest_in_peace
