A variable, a style, a stance: Word-final -er and ethnicity in Australian English

One of the most salient features of the migrant ‘ethnolect’ in Australian English is the pronunciation of word-final {-er}. This article presents data from sociolinguistic interviews that support the view that there is a difference between Anglo and non-Anglo speakers, and that this difference is most pronounced in Greek speakers. The variant the Greek speakers tend to use more than the Anglo speakers is backed and lengthened, and commonly used in utterances with final High Rising Tone (HRT). There is some evidence that Greeks are leading a change to a more backed variant, through the solidarity-focused indexicalities of this variant. I show that length, backing, and HRT make up a style of speaking that I call New Australian English, and show that this style is not simply a Greek style, but one which creates a solidary stance with the interlocutor. These finding are significant for understanding the spread of new linguistic features, and how the meanings of some linguistic variables contribute to linguistic change. language variation and change, ethnicity, Australian English, indexicality