ABSTRACT
Australia has a population of approximately 15 million, and as the majority of its mothertongue speakers of English are of British origin, the varieties of English in Australia share many features with Britain. Many of the Aboriginal Australians live in Northern and Western Australia and speak both an Aboriginal mother tongue and an Englishderived pidgin. Some have adopted a creole English as a mother tongue. Since the end of World War II, settlers have come to Australia from several Western European countries, India and the Pacific. These groups have acquired Australian English and their children’s linguistic behaviour differs little from that of other Australian-born children.
