Some key features of the Australian accent are the schwa, /ə/, the non-rhotic /r/ sound (listen to an Australian say a word with the /r/ sound, and then listen to an American say the same word and you can here the distinct difference in the way that the /r/ phoneme is pronounced and stressed), heavily nasalised vowel ...
The Australian accent is for the most part 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:/.
If you grew up in Australia, your accent is shaped by the history of Australia's European settlement; if you grew up in New Zealand, your accent is shaped by a different history, so it sounds different. It's automatic for us to talk in a similar way to the people around us and this feature is really strong in kids.
In Australian English, words have greater nasal resonance (as opposed to oral resonance). For example, the word “right” sounds different in American English and Australian English. This is due to the fact that the sound vibrations mostly occur in the nasal passages.
The results revealed that women and men find different accents attractive, and the only common accents on both lists were Australian and Southern. While men desired Israeli and Colombian accents the most, this was not mirrored amongst the women who were surveyed, who ultimately preferred British and Spanish accents.
The English accent is the one that is victorious, with the latest survey showing that 17 per cent of people have it at the top of their list. French came in next at 13 per cent, which is unsurprising considering that this is the language spoken in the city of love.
The most widely accepted theory to why Australians have the accent they do is that the first Australian born children (of the colonizers, not the natives obviously) simply created the first trace of the recognizable accent amongst themselves naturally.
1. G'day. One of the first things you'll hear when in Australia, is the classic “G'day, mate”, which is basically the same as saying, “good day”, or “hello”.
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.
According to linguists, there are three main kinds of Aussie accent: broad (think former Prime Minister Bob Hawke), general (closer to Kevin Rudd) and cultivated (like Malcolm Fraser).
Pronunciation. In Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, the word is pronounced /ˈɒzi/, hence the alternative form Ozzie; however, in the United States, it is most often pronounced /ˈɔːsi/ AW-see.
The Australian accent is famous for its vowel sounds, absence of a strong “r” pronunciation and the use of an inflection – or intonation – at the end of sentences, which can make statements sound like questions. According to Felicity, the way vowels are pronounced is the most peculiar feature of Australian English.
Three main varieties of Australian English are spoken according to linguists: broad, general and cultivated. They are part of a continuum, reflecting variations in accent. They can, but do not always, reflect the social class, education and urban or rural background of the speaker.
Article Talk. Strine, also spelled Stryne /ˈstraɪn/, describes a broad accent of Australian English.
The English language arrived in Australia a little more than 200 years ago and since that time it has been levelled, sculpted and adapted to give Australians a specific dialect.
Even in formal situations, Australians tend to prefer first names. Calling someone (even your boss) 'Mister' or 'Miss', 'Sir' or 'Ma'am' can sound a bit stiff.
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!
What is the hardest accent to master? The Great British accent proved to be the most difficult of all the accents to imitate – along with the regional Yorkshire and Cockney pronunciations, in particular.
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 vast majority said long-term attraction is less about physical appearance and more about character - specifically pointing to the values a woman holds and how she treats others. 'You don't need to doll yourself up or have money in my eyes. A lady just has to have a heart and a mind that care,' one man said.
“The younger generation are getting rid of the 'yuh' and making it more 'noo',” Ms Hume revealed. “That's a shift that's happening in real time in our accent, which is an influence of US media and their pronunciation of that word.”