But Australian accents are non rhotic, so that means that we only pronounce an r. when the word is followed by a vowel. So if I say over the river, you can hear it's just over the river, but as soon as the next word has a vowel at the front, then an R sound is pronounced.
#1 The Australian accent is non-rhotic
This means that the pronunciation of the /r/ sound will never occur at the end of words. Where an American will say three separate sounds for the word car /kar/, an Australian native speaker will only say 2 /ka:/.
The Australian accent is non-rhotic, meaning we only pronounce the letter R when it's followed by a vowel, whereas in rhotic accents like Irish or American, it is pronounced whenever it appears.
That's because the Australian accent is non-rhotic, so an "r" isn't pronounced unless it comes before a vowel. The American accent is rhotic, so when a word is spelt with an "r," a "hard r" sound is used.
It is because we drop the o and the r. We pronounce it Melbune. Names tend to be misprenounced because the locals contract the words in a name.
This split between rhotic and non-rhotic pronunciation has its origins in London in the 1850s. Working-class speakers began dropping the /r/ sound at the ends of words. Back then, this was considered lazy, vulgar and an undesirable way of speaking. Over time though, the change spread.
Non-rhotic countries are England, especially the south-west; Wales; New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Black Africa, the Caribbean, except for Barbados; the American southern states, the Boston area of New England, and New York City vernacular speech; and Black English Vernacular in the US.
While some Australian speakers would pronounce “no” as a diphthong, starting on “oh” as in dog and ending on “oo” as in put, others begin with an unstressed “a” (the sound at the end of the word “sofa”), then move to the “oh” and then “oo”.
Zed is widely known to be used in British English. But it's also used in almost every English-speaking country. In England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, India, Canada (usually), and New Zealand, Z is pronounced as zed. It's derived from the Greek letter zeta.
“Bugger” is common in both Aussie and British slang, and vaguely refers to someone or something that is annoying. Calling someone a bugger can be used affectionately or derogatorily. The general expletive can be used in any situation, and roughly means,“F*** off/me” or “Well, I'll be damned!”
Australian English arose from a dialectal melting pot created by the intermingling of early settlers who were from a variety of dialectal regions of Great Britain and Ireland, though its most significant influences were the dialects of Southeast England.
There's two types of english speaking accents, rhotic and non-rhotic. One reason the Australian accent is so hard to imitate is because it's a combination of these. An example are the words “can” and “can't”. We say can the rhotic way “caan” and can't the non-rhotic way “cahnt”.
The most common verbal greeting is a simple “Hey”, “Hello”, or “Hi”. Some people may use Australian slang and say “G'day” or “G'day mate”. However, this is less common in cities. Many Australians greet by saying “Hey, how are you?”.
The harsh environment in which convicts and new settlers found themselves meant that men and women closely relied on each other for all sorts of help. In Australia, a 'mate' is more than just a friend and is a term that implies a sense of shared experience, mutual respect and unconditional assistance.
One of the first things you'll notice about Australia will no doubt be the very unique speaking habits of its people. Australians speak fast, 'chew' words and skip pronunciation of letters – combine this with their penchant for slang and abbreviations, and you have a language that's quite difficult to comprehend!
The Billy Lids (Australian slang for "kids")
In most English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom, the letter's name is zed /zɛd/, reflecting its derivation from the Greek letter zeta (this dates to Latin, which borrowed Y and Z from Greek), but in American English its name is zee /ziː/, ...
Much of our modern alphabet comes directly from the Greek alphabet, including a letter, that looked just like our “Z,” that the Greeks called “zeta.” “Zeta” evolved into the French “zede,” which in turn gave us “zed” as English was shaped by Romance languages like French.
Cheeky: Used widely in Aboriginal Australia, the word cheeky isn't only used to refer to insolence but also behaviour that is dangerous. A dog prone to biting people, for example, would be described as “cheeky”.
Nuffy (nuff-ee) / Idiot
Also known as a nuff nuff, mick mock, spud, mug, boof head, drongo, dipstick or galah.
Yeah nah is a commonly used Australian phrase and colloquialism. The phrase yeah nah means 'no', but it allows the speaker or writer to ease into their response so as to not come across as too outspoken, or brash.
In American English we maintain a real R sound. In British English, they don't when it's at the end of a word. Water, -er, -er. It's a very closed sound.
In British English (Uk, Australia, Caribbean, etc.) the letter R is only pronounced when followed by a vowel. In American English (the USA and Canada), people pronounce this letter always.