Prologue

The characteristic phonological and lexical features of Australian English (AusE) and New Zealand English (NZE) have attracted a good deal of scholarly interest for about half a century, e.g., Mitchell and Delbridge 1965; Ramson 1966; Delbridge et al. 1981; Horvath 1985; Gordon and Deverson 1985; Orsman 1997. This is not surprising, given that it is in these areas that AusE and NZE are generally perceived to differ most significantly from other national varieties.

• Affiliations: 1: University of New South Wales