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Australia has a very noticeable "Boston" pronunciation of words like "car", "park", etc. If you just here an Aussie say "Cah Pahk" they sound a lot more New England than England. Also, turning t's into d's, like waw-dah for water. Brits would say waw-tah. Third key difference is short i's into long e's. Sydney becomes Seed-ney, in the UK it would be Sid-ney. South Africa and some Kiwis would go the other way and say "Siid-ney".
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Originally Posted by BCC_1
I've never heard anyone call it seed-ney.
Oh yes, this is certainly true, especially from many Australian females where it's more pronounced rather than from males for some reason. The heavy emphasis on the short 'i' does come across as 'ee'. Many years ago I recall the wife and I talking to an Australian woman in the U.S. and the couple of words she used that stuck in our minds were 'terrific' and 'think' that she regularly used. To our ears these words came across as 'terr-ee-fic' or 'th-ee-nk'. Another Australian (predominantly female) pronunciation is the word 'no' or 'know' or similar which end in an ever so slightly 'r' sound ...such as "Yes, I knahrrr". An Australian would probably not notice these things in the Australian dialect unless seriously listening for it but to a non-Australian ear certain words really do come across in that way.
Don't recall ever hearing the Australian accent being considered similar to a Boston/New England one, (perhaps chewed nails over rough sand paper, but Bostonian never) obviously certain Aussie women, come the dog's dinner, speaking all posh, using terms like 'terrific' at every opportunity, while attempting to cover up the strains of Strine, but too often fail miserably, sounding fake with even a few air kisses to complete the act with a few 'dahlings' thrown in for good measure, in case of any questioning of sophistication.
That’s what I recall once you get north of Brisbane/Sunshine Coast. I knew people from the Top End and I had to sometimes focus on what they were saying as everything kind of came together as a slow drawl.
Back in the 1950's Australian movie actors were few and far between. And so, actors from England were used to portray 'Australians'. If an 'outback sounding' Australian was required the movie directors would hire an English person with a Cockney accent or an English actor who had the ability to sound Cockney. One such example is found in A Town Like Alice where Sam Kydd (Belfast born but with a naturally developed Cockney accent due to his having lived most of his life in in London) plays an Australian 'outback' driver.
With some exceptions, Australians these days seem to have moved away from 'Strine', a term that was attributed to their accent back in the 1960's. For those who don't know, The term 'Strine' is a syncope, derived from a shortened phonetic rendition of the pronunciation of the word "Australian" in an exaggerated broad Australian accent, drawing upon the tendency of this accent to run words together in a form of liaison.
Back in the 1950's and into the sixties, Australian newsreaders tended to speak with a more 'refined' intonation. As did many in roles of responsibility. One assumes such speech was accepted by the mass of appearing to sound more sincere than the common Aussie garden variety.
Note also the tones of the landed gentry, not too far removed from Home Counties speech at a pinch. Probably unthinkable that a bloke with the truckie sounding voice of Bob Hawke, would become PM in the then distant eighties.
Don't recall ever hearing the Australian accent being considered similar to a Boston/New England one, (perhaps chewed nails over rough sand paper, but Bostonian never) obviously certain Aussie women, come the dog's dinner, speaking all posh, using terms like 'terrific' at every opportunity, while attempting to cover up the strains of Strine, but too often fail miserably, sounding fake with even a few air kisses to complete the act with a few 'dahlings' thrown in for good measure, in case of any questioning of sophistication.
Any comparison to the Boston accent would be the letter R. When a word ends in R, it is not pronounced in both accents. That's about where any similarity with these particular accents ends.
I've actually lived and worked in every State and Territory in Australia and I can't really tell a person's birth place or region by accent alone
Modern linguists in Australia generally recognize 3 distinct Aussie speech accents, 'Broad', 'General' and 'Çultivated'.
My childhood home of Northern Victoria means I have the 'General' accent, by far the most common in the populated Eastern and Southern regions, but as a young bloke I picked up some 'Broad' speech patterns ( words and phrases and inflections from Outback rural regions ( much less densely populated ) in Northern Australia
A classic example of 'Broad' accent would be Australia's first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Her accent derives from a hard scrabble post war housing development / satellite town called Elizabeth ( north of Adelaide ) Her accent is also described by general and cultivated speakers as 'Bogan', which can be derogatory or a badge of honor....Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin are also examples of 'Broad'
Another former Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, spoke with the accent described as 'Çultivated', or educated. as does Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush And many 'General' speakers still regard 'Cultivated' accents with a tiny bit of of suspicion....as if the people using the accent think they are a bit 'better' than the rest of us....haha. My sister has a 'cultivated' accent which tends to slip a bit if she is angered by something....then reverts to 'General'....lol
'General' Aussie accents is pretty much what you'll hear on TV shows etc Hugh Jackman and Eric Bana
I have noticed the 'General' accent evolving with teenagers and 20 somethings speaking differently to a Boomer like myself.
My own kids have a particular inflection to their speech which indicates their being born and schooled in Darwin, and using Aboriginal Kriol words and slang.
The Northern Territory and North Queensland many sentences are finished off with questioning 'eh ?' As in 'Jeez mate, she's a hot one today, 'eh ?'
The only other way I can tell where a person might be from is the use of certain words and pronuciations that are used in different regions ie: a power pole is called a 'Stobie Pole' in South Australia as in, "did ya hear about Johnno last night ? Ran smack bang into a Stobie Pole on the way home from the pub. Wrote off the Commodore ! ". Well seems like Johnno mighta had too may West Ends ( a notoriously bad South Australian beer and is gunna get done for pissy driving.)
People in the southern states pronounce the words 'castle' and the towns of 'Castlemaine' and 'Newcastle' the same as you would say 'hassle', whereas up in NSW and Queensland they would say it the same way as 'parcel'. The "Ä" is pronounced differently
Anyway, hope this explanation sorta helps.
People in the southern states pronounce the words 'castle' and the towns of 'Castlemaine' and 'Newcastle' the same as you would say 'hassle', whereas up in NSW and Queensland they would say it the same way as 'parcel'. The "Ä" is pronounced differently
Anyway, hope this explanation sorta helps.
Good post, thanks for taking the time.
This last section intrigued me. It is the opposite of my experience as a Qlder who has lived for a long period in Melbourne and spent considerable time in Sydney. I am universally derided for pronouncing "castle" in the manner of 'hassle".
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