Early Australian English

The possible origins and developments of Australian English (AusE) are still under debate. Some of the most important questions are:

1. How did AusE come to be a distinct variety of English?

2. What is the linguistic input into AusE?

3. How is it possible that AusE is so remarkably uniform across a whole continent?

Many scholars have tackled these questions and have come up with a number of answers. However, no consensus has been achieved yet. This is because mostly only ‘Reason’ has formed the basis of the answers. There are few empirical studies of early AusE.

There is only one way to investigate early AusE. We have to look at historical instances of it in written sources.

I have built a historical corpus of early English in Australia (1788-1900) consisting of more than two million words coming from four different registers:

o       Speech-based texts

o       Public written texts

o       Private Written texts

o       Government English

(The corpus is now available online at: http://www.ausnc.org.au/) 

Sources include court records, parliamentary debates, newspapers, novels, legal texts, diaries, letters, etc.

The corpus has been used to write a doctoral thesis on the evolution of Australian English.

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Roman Gladiators

The gory blood-sport of ancient Rome has always spread unease among the admirers of the glory that was Rome.

But depictions of gladiatorial combat in modern Hollywood movies are often grossly untrue.

Therefore it is Marcus Junkelmann’s aim to inform the public about the realities of gladiatorial life and death. He founded the Familia Gladiatoria Pulli Cornicinis, funded by the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, to re-enact these fights. These can be watched at Roman archeological sites in Germany, Austria and Switzerland during Roman festivals.

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