1 00:00:10,636 --> 00:00:23,190 G'day, guys! Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today, I have a lecturer in linguistics from an ANU University, College of the arts and Social Sciences and I hope I can say your name correctly. I haven't asked ahead of time, but we'll see if I can do it. 2 00:00:25,501 --> 00:00:26,501 Ksenia Gnevsheva. 3 00:00:26,940 --> 00:00:32,700 Oh my God, this is so good! You're like the first person ever to say it so well, the first, the first time. This is really good! 4 00:00:32,701 --> 00:00:37,490 So, how would you actually say that with the Russian accent properly. 5 00:00:38,150 --> 00:00:39,150 It would be Ksenia Gnevsheva. 6 00:00:40,805 --> 00:00:45,630 Far out! It's those consonant clusters that we just don't really have in English, right? That we have trouble with. 7 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:51,097 That's right, that's right. So, I usually tell people that I have a silent K and a silent G at the beginning of my names, so that makes it easier. 8 00:00:52,820 --> 00:00:53,933 So they just skip it, they don't even worry about it. 9 00:00:56,010 --> 00:01:34,080 So, I thought I harassed you to come on the podcasts because I was seeing this, I had all these friends sending me this article or a few different articles recently about your study and I'm sure you sort of received quite a bit of attention now. But can you tell me about this study where it was that you found out migrants are learning or picking up Australian slang, non English speaking migrants or at least as their first language, they're picking up slang faster than English speaking migrants, so I guess my first question is how on earth did you come up with this question? What made you decide to ask it and then study it? 10 00:01:34,770 --> 00:02:17,470 Yeah, I think a lot of my research or research in general is quite personal, so I think this is what happened to me. So, I would consider myself a second language speaker of English and I first moved to the US from Russia. So, I lived in the US for about three years and I acquired an American accent. So, actually when I first moved to the Southern Hemisphere people asked me "oh, where are you from the U.S?" so, they could definitely tell that I had lived in the US. But then I've lived here in the southern hemisphere, first in New Zealand and then in Australia, for, oh my God, about seven years now. And you can hear that my American accent is absolutely gone. 11 00:02:17,830 --> 00:02:20,640 Yeah, I can't hear it all, I was going to say, I haven't noticed any of it. 12 00:02:21,509 --> 00:02:25,904 Yeah, yeah. So, I used to say car and park and things like that and now I say car and park. 13 00:02:28,140 --> 00:02:40,047 Did you have to actively try and lose that R pronunciation when you came down to the Southern Hemisphere? Was that a trial? Did you actually have to spend quite a bit of time in the mirror practising not saying the Rs? 14 00:02:41,580 --> 00:02:51,427 You know what is funny? It happened sort of, you know, below my level of consciousness. Actually, that isn't true, I was consciously trying to retain it. 15 00:02:51,428 --> 00:02:51,638 Oh really? 16 00:02:51,968 --> 00:03:25,370 I was constantly trying to retain my R because because I had lived in the U.S. for a longer time at that point, I felt like I was I had a stronger connection with the U.S. English, so I wanted to continue speaking with an American accent, but then my own words started changing and my pronunciation started changing and I tried to resist it, but no, within the first two years of my Rs were gone and my vowels started changing and I started using new Zealand and then Australian words and. 17 00:03:25,843 --> 00:03:57,180 No kidding! We'll get to the study later on, I guess, because I've got a few questions here. Is that something that most of the people that I've ever met who lose their accents they tend to be very young, so that's something that adults can do easily or is your case a pretty rare case where you had one accent in a language that you spoke fluently and then it switched later on without you even trying actively? Because I've only ever heard of, for instance, I had some friends go to America when I was in high school and they came back after a year with a really thick American accent and it took them a good six months to lose it. 18 00:03:59,220 --> 00:04:37,290 Yeah. So, as the research shows that there are a number of different factors that affect how well people can pick up a new accent or how adaptable they are in terms of accent or all language in general, and age is definitely one of the strongest predictors so, the younger you are when you move to a new dialect area or new a new language area, a new country the more likely you will be to acquire the varieties spoken there, but there are other things as well. Even if you take people of the same age and move them from one country to another there will be different outcomes. 19 00:04:37,291 --> 00:04:37,501 Oh really? 20 00:04:38,211 --> 00:05:04,050 So, motivation is one of them so, the more motivated you are to speak with a native like accent, for for lack of a better word, the more exposure you have to the language or dialect, your social networks, the more friends you have, in the new dialect or language the more, the more likely you are to acquire it. 21 00:05:04,770 --> 00:05:27,305 Is that tied in with contact with your L-1, your first language too? So, that if you do kinda of come to a country and then completely severe all ties with your L-1, you're much more likely to pick up the L-2 to a higher level with a much more diminished accent than if you were living with Australians in Russia and only hang out with Australians and only watching Australian TV. 22 00:05:27,359 --> 00:06:19,490 These can be related, but it's not a one to one correlation so, you can't say that "if you severe all ties then...". One thing that we recommend as researchers to children, for example, quite often parents who don't speak English as their first language will want well tried to speak English to their children in the hope that the children will acquire a better English, but actually we have found that it's not so good for the children's development, linguistic development, it is actually... we find that it is actually better for them to develop good proficiency in one language and then build on that proficiency in English. It sounds counterintuitive, but actually it's interesting research shows that quite often development in both languages goes hand in hand. 23 00:06:19,590 --> 00:07:01,044 And so, once they're sort of picking up one and they get exposed to another one later on that they are more likely to pick it up. Because, I'm at that point now, we have a few friends where say...one set of friends stands out in particular because the fathers Hungarian, she is Brazilian and the kids are obviously half of half, but they've grown up in Switzerland and then come to Australia and so, it's very weird because he speaks Hungarian to them, the mum speaks Brazilian Portuguese to them and they speak English to each other and if I speak to them, I speak Portuguese because my wife's Brazilian, if I speak to them in Portuguese quite often it takes a while for them to switch over from English because know that I'm Australian. So, they will just hit me with that. So, is it we're about to have a child as well and for selfish reasons. 24 00:07:05,710 --> 00:07:06,399 Congratulations! 25 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:17,250 Thank you! Thank you, would you suggest sticking with just one language, whether it's English or Portuguese for the beginning, when you're raising that baby and not trying to bombard them with two at once or they won't have a problem with either? 26 00:07:19,630 --> 00:07:47,541 Well, I think most people suggest doing both languages at the same time because it doesn't only tie in with simply linguistic development, but also motivation because quite often when children realise that they can get away with speaking only one language English, the majority language in those cases, they will sort of resist speaking speaking the other home language, Portuguese, right? 27 00:07:48,054 --> 00:08:04,700 That's what we're thinking, let's just teach them Portuguese at home and my family and the rest of Australia can teach the kid English, but we'll just make sure that the home is Portuguese only, for my sort of selfish reasons as well because I want to get proficient or more and more proficient in it, right? So... 28 00:08:07,150 --> 00:08:35,162 I can't I can tell you what to do here, right? There are many things to consider and you'll have to make the choice yourself, but there are many things to consider. There are also emotional things, emotional connections, right? Will you be happy connecting with your child emotionally in a language that is foreign to you? I think you could you could try both ways and see how it goes. Every family is different and every child is different from another child so, you can see how it goes and play it by ear. 29 00:08:35,455 --> 00:08:56,445 What was it like that for you? Did you grow up speaking English because you would have to be one of the Russians that I've met with a very, very near native almost perfect accent and most Russians they have that stereotype, right? Of having a very thick accent because they're the sounds in Russian are so different. Did you grow up speaking it from a very young age or did you learn it at a later age or through school? 30 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:21,270 So, I speak to my parents in Russian and Russian was the only language that I grew up speaking and I learned it... I first learned it as a foreign language in school, but then I moved to the U.S at the youngest age, the age of 15. So, I think this is, I was sort of at that age where you can still...where the age is on your side. 31 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:25,465 Yeah. So, that brain plasticity is still there and is going to help you. 32 00:09:27,270 --> 00:09:44,240 Yeah. Yeah. I think I was...it's not just that, I think I'm also quite motivated and this is my accent changes quite a bit when I move from country to country. I think...maybe I want to fit in and make new friends. 33 00:09:45,200 --> 00:10:25,970 Yeah, I was always wondering that because I find that my accent even varies in Australia depending on who I am talking to. If I if I'm talking to, you know, the quote unquote bogan in Australia I'm not going to talk as politely and as articulately as normal because I don't want to stick out. I kind of want to be like I am one of you. And then when I talk with foreigners I try not to use (sounds) and a lot of slang because I want them to understand me. So, doesn't come from place when people do that not wanting to stand out or is it more that they want to be part of that group and they're kind of like I just want to be able to speak and not have to, you know, have to answer as many questions about what I've said or ''could you say that again?'' you know, everything like that. Is that part of the reason we do that? 34 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:56,640 I think there are several reasons to that and communication, simply more efficient communication is one of them, but of course there is a social aspect of it that's very important as well. So, we want...we, when we're talking to somebody, we want to be... we want to create a community, we want to be more similar to them. So, at the end, this is showing... in gestures as well so, you will see that when people are talking to each other they will often inadvertently copy each other's gestures and that applies to language as well. 35 00:10:56,910 --> 00:11:01,490 So, that's that kind of like if one of you starts doing this in a conversation or any other person do this. 36 00:11:01,491 --> 00:11:01,722 Absolutely. 37 00:11:04,037 --> 00:11:14,100 So, what got you so interested in linguistics to begin with? Was it learning English when you came to America or was it in you from a much younger age that you had an interest in languages and linguistics? 38 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:41,681 I think I've always liked languages and then when I moved to the U.S. I became very much interested in how people learn languages so, the pedagogy of it, but also how people change their accent and this is where my research now is on accents, and I mostly work with bilingual participants, bilingual from from a young age or second language speakers of usually English or other languages as well. 39 00:11:42,310 --> 00:11:49,500 Brilliant. So tell us about this study then. How did you get the idea for this study? First sort of doing a whole detour there. 40 00:11:49,582 --> 00:12:24,990 Yeah, yeah, so like I said, I first began by thinking about my own experience and how my my accent, my language changed from moving from Russia to the U.S. and then from the U.S. to New Zealand and then to Australia and then I looked at some of my native English speaking friends and there I thought that their accent was not changing as much if they were moving from the U.S. to Australia. You will meet top Americans here who, you know, they've lived here for 30 years and they still speak very American. 41 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:31,755 Some of them have been here longer than I've been alive and I've met them and you've had plenty of time to learn the Aussie accent and slang and you're still asking me what an esky is, c'mon! 42 00:12:33,740 --> 00:13:16,090 That's right! I wondered what is it. What happens? How are second language speakers different from first language speakers of the language? And could go both ways, right? You could say, perhaps second language speakers are more adaptable because it is their second language, or it could go the other way. Possibly they are less adaptable because it is their second language so, they sort of stuck on a one gear and that's it. And when I looked at that I tried to find any previous research on this better , I couldn't find anything, there were a couple of studies looking at it, but it was nice it was not exactly what I was looking for and there have been none in Australia before so, I decided why not do it? 43 00:13:16,730 --> 00:13:18,300 And so how did you test this question? 44 00:13:19,250 --> 00:13:25,597 Yeah. So, what we did is we you recruited for, I should acknowledge my co-authors. 45 00:13:25,860 --> 00:13:26,860 Do it, of course! 46 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:37,860 This research was conducted together with my colleagues at Macquarie University, Anita Szakay and Sandra Jansen in Germany. 47 00:13:38,602 --> 00:13:39,602 Oh, wow! 48 00:13:40,340 --> 00:15:14,951 We're quite an international...international speaking...So, we recruited four groups participants, we had native speakers of Australian English, so people born and bred in Australia. We also had native speakers of American English who moved from the U.S. to Australia and have lived in Australia between one and 10 years. And then we have two groups of Russian speakers, native Russians speakers, second language speakers of English. One group moved from Russian to Australia, so Australian English was the first English variety that they acquired even in real life. And then we had a second group of Russians who moved from Russia to the U.S. and then to Australia. So, American English was their first English variety and then Australian English was their second English variety. And you were wondering how these four groups would compare to each other. So, one of the experiments that we had them do was to look at pictures of everyday objects. And all they had to do is say what it is and the objects that we chose were things that have different meanings or different words in American English and Australian English, so esky is one example, right? So, esky is the word for icebox or cooler, cooler is the word we would use in American English and there are many words like that. 49 00:15:16,250 --> 00:15:17,250 Like G-string, did you show them that? 50 00:15:18,730 --> 00:15:30,890 We showed them flip flops and they could call them flip flops or thongs, but capsicum vs. bell pepper, jug vs. pitcher. 51 00:15:33,490 --> 00:15:46,892 It's so funny too because so many of those are like....like esky is one of those things where it's almost like ok... I know that's a slang term, but I don't know how else I would call it. So, there's quite a few of those words but then there are some where you don't even realize like thongs, you don't even think oh that's a slang term you just think they're just thongs. 52 00:15:49,290 --> 00:16:09,300 Yeah. I think I wouldn't call them... I would just words, I wouldn't call them slang exactly because they are in in Australian English and I think they have the... I think in Australian English I would consider that as normal words, like capsicum, capsicum is... 53 00:16:09,620 --> 00:16:11,833 Exactly, right? And there's a few there's like, is it aubergine and eggplant as well? 54 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:48,408 That's right. So, we had about 50, 50 pictures of these items, these words and we have people name them. And then all we have to do is calculate what proportion of these words they would use an Australian word for and what proportion of this was they would use an American word for and the American English speaking or the Australian English speakers were sort of baseline, these are the people that grew up there. These people grew up here, they should be using Australian words all the time. 55 00:16:50,250 --> 00:16:51,700 You'd be worried if that wasn't the case. 56 00:16:54,490 --> 00:17:09,141 Well, everything is relative, right? So, we found they used Australian, what would you call it... traditionally Australian words 80 percent of the time. So, every once in a while Australians would use... they would say elevator for lift, or they would say pepper for capsicum, every once in a while. 57 00:17:09,447 --> 00:17:10,447 Damn it, American TV! 58 00:17:14,980 --> 00:17:39,400 And then the Americans used Australian words at about 20 percent of the time. So, there's a clear difference here and 80 percent and 20 percent. Now the native Russian speakers who moved from Russia to Australia without going to the U.S. first were not different from the Australians. 59 00:17:39,790 --> 00:17:40,790 That's so cool! That's so cool! 60 00:17:42,090 --> 00:18:39,792 So, they used Australian words as often as native speakers of Australian English and then of course it's interesting to see what happens to the second language speakers who go from one country to another because they have had exposure to American English. So, you would expect them to to use American English words as often as Americans and no, they use Australian words at about 50 percent of the time, so they were right in between the Americans and Australians so, that tells us that they were adaptable. So, both the second language group that moved from Russia to Australia used Australian words more than the American group, in fact, as often as the Australian group and the second group that moved from Australia to, from Russia to the West, to Australia, they were not quite there yet, but maybe if we were to test them again in ten years time maybe they would be there. 61 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:41,620 Is that the plan for a future study? 62 00:18:44,816 --> 00:18:48,617 That would be really cool if we yeah.... if we could re-recruit these participants, if we could find these participants again and they would agree to participate, that'd be awesome. 63 00:18:52,060 --> 00:19:09,100 What are the limitations with extrapolating out from that? Because obviously you've used just Russians and Americans and English speakers, but do you think that this is going to be a pattern you see more broadly across all different languages, you know, and people in these equivalent situations whether or not it's English and Russian? 64 00:19:10,740 --> 00:20:09,953 I think in general this could be.... I think this could be generalized to other second language groups. Something to keep in mind is the prior exposure to the English language before moving to Australia or the U.S. So, all the Russians have had studied English before moving to an English Speaking country. Actually in most of the countries on the world it is very difficult to find somebody who would not have any exposure to the English language, right? So, it just plays a role as well. Most of the Russians would have had exposure to both British English and American English, but the relative exposure to the two varieties may affect the results of that. If you go to South Korea where American English is much more dominant may we would expect that people would prefer use American English words more. 65 00:20:10,910 --> 00:20:50,427 Yeah. Because I was one of those peculiar sort of situations is where every time I talk with people from, I think it's either Singapore and/or the Philippines, they always have such a strong American accent and I think they're obviously taught American English to a like really strong, strong, strong degree it's really emphasized there. But even after a few years here they still have a very strong American accent. So, the other question I was going to ask is what is it with the Americans that have moved here, obviously, what do you think it is that's making them hold on to those old... old, these American words instead of using the Australian ones? Is it just habit and having developed and, you know, spent all that time doing it or...? 66 00:20:53,070 --> 00:21:17,913 So, there could be some explanations for that, right? One is what we call a cognitive explanation and this is exactly what you just said. It's just habit, right? So, if you think about the native American English speakers they used English, they used American English words for 30 years of their lives and then they moved to Australia and then to live here for one or two years, you wouldn't really expect them to switch to Australian English words overnight, right? Just the relative exposure is different. 67 00:21:22,553 --> 00:21:24,252 And Americans are pretty stubborn. 68 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:50,632 And in comparison to second language because of English maybe they lived in the U.S. for five years and then they move to Australia and they lived here for five years so, this is much more comparable, they would be much more willing to switch to two new words, right? And the second explanation that we offer is a social explanation, for a native speaker of American English using Australian words make almost the, you know, you feel like a trader. 69 00:21:55,487 --> 00:22:09,900 And you wonder too, are there Australians keeping them in check where if you heard Americans say 'g'day, mate!' you'll be like "dude... are you taking the piss?'' like ''are you just making fun of me or something?'' 70 00:22:11,780 --> 00:22:33,019 That's right! And people may take it differently, right? And quite often, native speakers do not expect other native speakers from other countries to change as drastically in terms of their accent or the words they choose as they would with second language speakers of English for some reason we expect second language speakers of English to acquire this native-like accent straight away. 71 00:22:33,020 --> 00:22:33,650 Yeah, it's peculiar, isn't it? 72 00:22:34,014 --> 00:22:47,820 Yeah, and of course for second language speakers of English there is no such emotional connection to these words or that accent. So, they may be more adaptable because of that. 73 00:22:48,240 --> 00:23:23,001 Do you think too that if you were to test...I don't know how you would do it, the qualitative accents of the Americans and if they are closer that accent had gotten or the more reduced did it become closer to English or Australian English, do you think that that would track with how much slang they're using in Australia too? ,So like the more slang these expats from other English speaking countries are using in Australia, the weaker their foreign accent would be so, that it does almost show that they would be, you know, much more engaged in trying to I guess lose that part of their life and become Australian? 74 00:23:24,380 --> 00:23:29,437 So, you mean the different levels of language, right? So, vocabulary and accent at the same time? 75 00:23:29,950 --> 00:23:31,800 Yeah, do you think they would go together? 76 00:23:36,950 --> 00:24:09,923 I suspect, I suspect that they would, again it could go either way. You could say yes, perhaps both of them would progress at the same time or perhaps we could find that maybe onelevel is more adaptable than than another. I think I would expect vocabulary to be more adaptable than accent, but it is an empirical question and we are planning to test that because we did collect some audio recordings from our participants, we have not analyzed them yet, so I'm not ready to share those results. Yeah, watch this space! 77 00:24:13,050 --> 00:24:14,050 It's in the works. 78 00:24:14,380 --> 00:24:36,510 So, what would you say to the people listening to the podcast obviously who are learning Australian English or what sort of advice would you give them with regards to learning the accent as well as the slang? Is it something that you would encourage or even suggest, at least accent wise, that it is an obtainable goal that they should aim for or is it something where it's like it's just not that important don't worry about it? 79 00:24:38,370 --> 00:25:23,072 I think in today's globalized world when you have exposure to all of these different accents... I think being comprehensible, comprehensibility and intelligibility I'd say are more important and people move from country to country all the time and people communicate with people from different countries as well. So, perhaps one specific accent may not be as important, striving for this, you know, native-like ideal may not be as important especially because it is quite difficult to attain for any adult second language learners. So, I'd say aiming or being comprehensible and intelligible is the most important thing. 80 00:25:23,960 --> 00:26:00,300 Is it the same thing then with slang? Because I get quite a few students asking me ''should I learn Australian slang?'' and I guess that's always one of those things where I have to say ''well, what what do you mean when you say Australian slang?'' you know, because there are plenty of expressions that are sort of stereotypes and that they put, I have a book somewhere like 900 Australian slang terms and you read some of them and like no one has ever said this. No one, no one, but then there are those other ones like esky and barbie and snag that well, people call slang and think it very useful. So, what would you say if someone came to you and said ''I'm moving to this country and I want to learn the slang'', would you recommend that they sort of dive in and try and do that or it's just going to happen passively? 81 00:26:01,970 --> 00:26:38,325 I think when people move to another country it really happens very organically when they find new friends and they will learn all of these useful words, like you were saying raised instead of learning all these words from a book and then you find out that actually nobody uses those words, but of course I can not say don't, don't learn new words. It's good to expand your vocabulary, but I would say don't stress out about it too much because some things will happen naturally when you move to that country. 82 00:26:40,050 --> 00:27:22,680 Last question before we finish up, have you noticed at all that... I don't know how to put it, but I find myself using American words quite often and I feel like it's because of our exposure to Hollywood and American TV shows it's just all pervasive these days throughout the globe. But you don't hear Americans saying "g'day!" and you know using English terms even if even with Game of Thrones so what do you think is going on there with English as it's evolving in the future do you think that it's going to become one sort of cohesive language eventually because of our interconnectedness and our obsession with American TV shows and movies or do you think it will always remain really distinct despite that that connectedness now? 83 00:27:24,500 --> 00:28:03,150 Well, it could go either way, right. You would say that on the one hand we it's a globalized world, right? We have exposure to the American variety more and more, at the same time, people will always want to stand out and be different and show that they belong somewhere else. So, I don't think that all the different varieties will disappear all of a sudden, I think people will always want you to be to be different and to express their belonging to some group in some way. 84 00:28:03,330 --> 00:28:22,290 Is that why in say the UK those differences are so distinct, despite being over such small distances, right? Between these different dialects, whereas you come to somewhere like Australia and you don't really see that as much, is that because those groups over there are much older and they're much more trying to show ok we belong to this group they belong to that group... 85 00:28:23,430 --> 00:28:45,640 That's right in the UK it's the historical depth really, the time depth, because these people lived in those areas for a long time so they developed a different way of speaking, whereas Australia and the U.S. as well and New Zealand are new Englishes. So, they are much more homogeneous, but of course there are differences here as well. 86 00:28:46,130 --> 00:28:49,620 Brilliant, well, Dr. Ksenia and let's see if I can get the surname right....(?) 87 00:28:52,890 --> 00:28:53,269 Yes. 88 00:28:53,270 --> 00:28:54,270 Yes, I nailed it! 89 00:28:54,810 --> 00:28:57,090 Where can people find out more about you and your work? 90 00:28:58,551 --> 00:29:24,110 You can you can tell I have a wesite it's Gnevsheva, G N E V S H E V A .com, I post there my research, you will find all my papers there and some of the links to media releases and things like that and of course you can just Google me and find me on my university web page at ANU. 91 00:29:24,121 --> 00:29:29,640 Which is what I did. Anyway, thank you so much for your time today, I really appreciate it. 92 00:29:30,420 --> 00:29:31,780 Yes, thank you, Pete, Thank you for having me.