Developments in Australian, British, and American English Grammar from 1931 to 2006: An Aggregate, Comparative Approach to Dialectal Variation and Change

Abstract

This study investigates overall grammatical developments of written Australian English (AusE) across the twentieth century. Adopting an aggregate approach to language variation and change, it examines the distribution of a range of grammatical features which have previously been shown to be sensitive to variation over time. Multi-generic data were drawn from “AusBrown,” a set of balanced diachronic corpora following the design of the Brown family of corpora. Multivariate techniques such as hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling were employed to outline the developmental path of AusE in relation to those of British and American English in order to shed light on the possible emergence of regional patterns. The results suggest that the period from the 1960s to the 1990s was one critical for the evolution of written AusE, preceded by a period of relative stagnation and followed by one characterized by a coalescence of the three varieties. Such a developmental path is largely compatible with significant sociohistorical trends that have shaped the language attitudes of Australians, including strong connections with its British legacy in the first few decades, political independence and rapid social progress in the mid-twentieth century, and accelerated globalization as a result of major technological advances towards the end of the century. Additionally, the findings reveal the dominance of features contributing to colloquialization and densification in the texts examined.