Language Attitudes in Australia: Results from a Nationwide Survey

Abstract

Recent research on attitudes to Australian English (AusE) shows that there is a general increase in its acceptance, legitimacy, and endonormativity. However, a certain “cultural cringe” exists, particularly when “broad” AusE is seen as representative of the variety. A significant gap in the literature is how the perceptions and usage of AusE may change as the population becomes more diverse. This paper presents findings of an online survey of language attitudes towards AusE with 661 respondents across Australia, over a third of whom were born overseas. Overall, there is minimal evidence of a standard language ideology, with 80% of respondents reporting having an accent to some degree. Almost half of respondents report occasionally or frequently changing their accents due to context, interlocutor, or making themselves understood. When asked to rate AusE along six traits on a seven-point scale, the traits of educatedness, professionalism, and attractiveness were consistently centered on neutral. For friendliness and likeability, the majority skewed towards neutral and positive. For the trait of clarity, there was a greater range of responses, but overall, 50% of respondents found AusE to be somewhat, moderately, or really clear. These findings further our understanding of attitudes and ideologies in Australia’s increasingly diverse language ecology.