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Until just a few days ago, I was under the impression that the whole country speaks in mostly the same manner, the distinctions are General, Broad, and cultivated, but the other day I read something in another forum and it said that there is a bit of a regional distinction, the most different being Tasmania.
They said that the way people speak in Tasmania is more similar to a Kiwi accent than an Aussie accent, how true is this? Either way, can you give me some examples of how the people there speak? I tried looking for some videos on YouTube, but couldn't find anything. Thanks in advance.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,054,732 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by herpderp6
Until just a few days ago, I was under the impression that the whole country speaks in mostly the same manner, the distinctions are General, Broad, and cultivated, but the other day I read something in another forum and it said that there is a bit of a regional distinction, the most different being Tasmania.
They said that the way people speak in Tasmania is more similar to a Kiwi accent than an Aussie accent, how true is this? Either way, can you give me some examples of how the people there speak? I tried looking for some videos on YouTube, but couldn't find anything. Thanks in advance.
I won't go into a long dissertation about the geographical variability of the Australian accent, but I will say that while there Re slight variations its pretty homogeneous. Tasmania does not sound more like Kiwi than Aussie, it sounds pretty much the same as the mainland. My aunty lives there and I've visited. Famous Tasmanians you can google on YouTube include Alistair Lynch, Dr Harry Cooper the vet, Bob Brown and Mary Donaldson. There was also some chick from Big Brother years ago but I forgot her name lol.
I won't go into a long dissertation about the geographical variability of the Australian accent, but I will say that while there Re slight variations its pretty homogeneous. Tasmania does not sound more like Kiwi than Aussie, it sounds pretty much the same as the mainland. My aunty lives there and I've visited. Famous Tasmanians you can google on YouTube include Alistair Lynch, Dr Harry Cooper the vet, Bob Brown and Mary Donaldson. There was also some chick from Big Brother years ago but I forgot her name lol.
I won't go into a long dissertation about the geographical variability of the Australian accent, but I will say that while there Re slight variations its pretty homogeneous. Tasmania does not sound more like Kiwi than Aussie, it sounds pretty much the same as the mainland. My aunty lives there and I've visited. Famous Tasmanians you can google on YouTube include Alistair Lynch, Dr Harry Cooper the vet, Bob Brown and Mary Donaldson. There was also some chick from Big Brother years ago but I forgot her name lol.
That's Princess Mary to you!
A telltale sign of someone being from NSW or QLD is that they think everyone talks like them. There is a QLD accent, a Sydney accent, a Melbourne accent, Perth and Adelaide. In general broadness increases with ruralness, and with lower social class, but between the cities you can absolutely tell.
I don't know enough atasmamians or NT ers to know their accent well.
Tasmanians sound like other Aussies, to my non critical ears. The loudest person I've ever known was from Tasmania, although I don't regard loudness as a Tasmanian trait.
I found that sometimes that the children of Italian, Greek, etc immigrants had a trace of the old country in their accents.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,054,732 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Colonial Girl
That's Princess Mary to you!
A telltale sign of someone being from NSW or QLD is that they think everyone talks like them. There is a QLD accent, a Sydney accent, a Melbourne accent, Perth and Adelaide. In general broadness increases with ruralness, and with lower social class, but between the cities you can absolutely tell.
I don't know enough atasmamians or NT ers to know their accent well.
I wouldn't call them different enough to be 'accents' in their own right. I think you can get some idea with a handful of words, but with so many people moving from city to city it's nigh impossible to pinpoint where they're actually from.
If you can tell where someone is from by the way they talk, it's an accent. You may not be able to hear them, possibly you have a very strong accent yourself?
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Colonial Girl
If you can tell where someone is from by the way they talk, it's an accent. You may not be able to hear them, possibly you have a very strong accent yourself?
I have an average accent, and I consider myself to have a pretty good ear for accents. Some features do sound NSW/Qld/Victorian, such as the way 'and' is pronounced like 'end', but I can't think of any word that definitively gives away a 'WA accent.' Another is the chance/plant/graph words (Croweaters can sound a bit Pommy at times), but that's a rough guide and is never 100% accurate. In other words there's no word that 100% tells if a person is from Sydney, or Brisbane, or Melbourne, unlike real accents.
You'll find more differences between city/regional people and different socio-economic groups within a particular area rather than any easily identifiable any major regional accents. There are quite a few differences in vocabulary, what we call a verge in WA most other Australians call a nature strip a deli here is a milk bar in Victoria etc.
The website below has an interesting sample of some regional differences as well as historical changes and other information on the Australian accent.
Trimac, a single word is a cheatsheet, but if you're from SA or WA you can quite easily pick that someone is from the other state. People with an east coast accent can't do it because theirs is so strong. Just like we could pick a NZer without asking them how many eggs in half a dozen or a South African with talking about Hawaiian cities, but an American couldn't do it.
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