Unit 4: Language variation and identity

10 dot points, in syllabus order. Each dot point has a focused answer, with exam-style questions and worked answers where available.

How does Australian English reflect and construct a national identity, and what features make it distinctive?

how Australian English reflects and shapes national identity through its distinctive lexicon, accent and cultural values

How the distinctive lexicon, accent and discourse of Australian English reflect and construct a national identity, covering colloquialism, hypocoristics, egalitarian values and stereotypes.

6 min read →

How do individuals and groups construct identity through the language choices they make?

how language is used to construct individual and group identities, including identities of region, age, gender, occupation and culture

How speakers construct individual and group identity through language, covering idiolect, sociolect, code-switching and identities of region, age, gender, occupation and culture.

8 min read →

How does language build social cohesion and signal who belongs to a group?

how language is used to build and maintain social cohesion and to mark group membership through in-group features

How shared language builds social cohesion and marks in-group membership, covering jargon, slang, solidarity, face needs and the politics of inclusion and exclusion.

8 min read →

What varieties of English are spoken in Australia, and how do they reflect the country's social and cultural diversity?

the varieties of English used in contemporary Australian society, including Aboriginal English, ethnolects and migrant varieties

An overview of the varieties of English in contemporary Australia, including the broad, general and cultivated accents, Aboriginal English, ethnolects and migrant Englishes.

7 min read →

What attitudes do people hold toward different varieties of English, and how do those attitudes affect speakers?

public attitudes towards language variation, including prescriptivism, linguistic prejudice and the social consequences for speakers

How the public reacts to language variation, covering prescriptivism, descriptivism, linguistic prejudice, standard language ideology and the social consequences for speakers.

7 min read →

What is political correctness, and how do inclusive language, euphemism and taboo reflect changing social values?

the role of political correctness, inclusive language, taboo and euphemism in reflecting and shaping social attitudes and identity

How political correctness, inclusive language, taboo and euphemism reflect and shape social values, covering reclamation, dysphemism, the debate over PC and links to identity.

6 min read →

What distinguishes Standard from non-standard Australian English, and what status and identity does each carry?

the distinction between Standard and non-standard Australian English, including overt and covert prestige and the social meanings of each

How Standard Australian English differs from non-standard varieties, covering codification, overt and covert prestige, the social meanings of each, and a descriptivist view of correctness.

6 min read →

What is Aboriginal English, and how does this systematic variety construct and sustain Indigenous identity?

the features and functions of Aboriginal English as a systematic variety that constructs and maintains Indigenous identity

A focused look at Aboriginal English as a rule-governed family of varieties, covering its features across the subsystems, its identity and solidarity functions, and a descriptivist stance.

6 min read →

What is an ethnolect, and how do ethnolects construct cultural identity across the subsystems?

the features and functions of ethnolects in Australian English, including transfer, borrowing and the construction of cultural identity

A deeper look at ethnolects in Australia, covering phonological transfer, lexical borrowing, discourse features, generational persistence and the construction of cultural identity.

6 min read →

What characterises teen speak, and what social and identity functions does adolescent language serve?

the features and functions of teen speak, including slang, innovation and the construction of youth identity and solidarity

The features and functions of teen speak, covering slang, rapid innovation, in-group solidarity, identity construction, covert prestige and the perennial moral panic about youth language.

6 min read →