Australia - the driest and smallest continenton the planet. Despite this, most of the plants and animals on it are unique. In addition, it is on the Australian coast is the largest coral reef.
Not only is its nature interesting in this continent.Representatives of many nationalities live here, and the question arises what language is official in Australia? The answer to this question you will find in our article.

The cultural and ethnic diversity of Australia
The state is officially called the AustralianUnion, since it includes, in addition to the mainland of Australia, also several islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans (including the large island of Tasmania). After the visit to Australia of the famous seafarer James Cook, she became a British colony. After that, it began to be used as a place where all criminal and undesirable elements of Great Britain and Ireland were sent to the link.

However, after the discovery of gold on the continent,voluntarily began to migrate as the British, and residents of other countries. The arrival of foreigners significantly changed the lives of indigenous Australians, which led to a significant reduction in their numbers. At the moment, the number of Europeans in Australia is 90%, the Asians about 10%, but the Aborigines - only 1%.
Australia: the official language of the country
Because of the diversity of nationalities, the numberIndividual languages in Australia are approximately 400. What languages are spoken in Australia? The largest number of immigrant languages are Arabic, Vietnamese, Spanish, and Hindi. Of course, except for English, which speaks most of the country's population.
When there is a question about which officiallanguage in Australia, the most obvious and supposed answer is English. In fact, there is no official language in Australia. And although 80% of the population uses English in their communication, the status of the official language in the Constitution of Australia is not fixed for it.

Features of Australian English
So, behind the scenes English is the official languageAustralia. True, this language is not at all British, it has a number of its features and is called Australian English. "Strane" is another name for it, which is in tune with the word "Australia" in English pronunciation.
Interestingly, in writing the Australian versionEnglish is absolutely no different from the British version. As for vocabulary, its composition, in addition to British words, includes American words, as well as lexemes from the indigenous languages of the continent.
Unlike the British, Australians often shorten words, skip some sounds, instead of clearly pronouncing them in phrases, as the British do.
In Australian English there are slangexpressions and words other than the British version. For example, instead of the British word countryside ("countryside"), an Australian will be more likely to hear bush, and instead of a friend ("buddy") - mate or cobber.

Based on these facts, we can safely say that the official language of Australia is not British English, but its Australian version.
Genesis of Australian English
Since initially the southern continent was consideredEnglish colony, then the main and official language of Australia - it was British English. However, Australia was inhabited by immigrants from different regions of England and the British Isles, and later by representatives of other countries.
British English was influencedother languages, as well as many dialects of English, not to mention jargon and slang. As a result, the children of the first European settlers, experiencing the influence of such linguistic diversity, created an entirely new dialect, which is now called Australian English.
Of course, the fact that the mainland was sentconvicts, could not help but affect the formation of a new dialect. The exiles were for the most part not educated, so their pronunciation was characterized by a reduction in pronunciation, and the use of various jargon and vernacular.
What languages do the aborigines speak in Australia?
Indigenous languages of Australia are referred to as generalthe name is Australian, although the question of their genetic relationship remains open. By the end of the twentieth century, the number of Australian aborigines was almost halved. By that time, only half of them owned Australian languages.

Originally, there were Australian languagesmore than 250. Now most of them are subject to the threat of extinction. The indigenous population speaks a lot of Australian dialects, which can be so different that often the carriers of different dialects do not understand each other.
Australian languages are divided into 16 language familiesand 12 separate languages. Almost all adverbs of Australian aborigines are agglutinative (that is, words do not change by endings; different prefixes and suffixes are simply "glued" to them, which carry only one meaning).
Conclusion
Now you know a little more about the amazingThe mainland, where representatives of different nationalities and cultures live together. Many residents of the southern country believe that it is Australian English that is the official language of Australia, even though it does not have such a legal status.