Young people's perspectives on the mobility of Australian English accents

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper draws on lines of sociolinguistic theory that have arisen in response to globalisation and current thinking about mobilities in the social sciences. Using the constructs of space, scale and centre‐periphery, we set out to analyse 564 Australian high school students’ responses to a questionnaire item which asked: ‘If you moved to another country, how important would it be for you to keep your Australian accent?’ Our exploration of the students’ responses through these lenses reveals the diverse ways in which young people imagine the mobility of their own accents and also how they situate the Australian accent more broadly.