The Drover’s Wife

by Henry Lawson

The Drover’s Wife: Dialect 1 key example

Dialect
Explanation and Analysis—Australian Vernacular :

The characters in "The Drover's Wife" speak Australian English, which differs from other regional dialects of English in content, idiom, colloquialism, and structure. The story represents Australian vernacular speech in a way that provides color and context for the reader, as when the bushwoman's son Tommy warns his brother, Jacky, about the snake that has just entered their house:

"If yer bit", said Tommy with a pause, "you'll swell up, an' smell, an' turn red an' green an' blue all over till you bust."