Australian English can be described as a new dialect that developed as a result of contact between people who spoke different, mutually intelligible, varieties of English. The very early form of Australian English would have been first spoken by the children of the colonists born into the early colony in Sydney.
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.
But the Australian accents are different from the accents of America, or Canada, or New Zealand because those accents were created from kids growing up in those places with different communities and histories. Accents are all about the people we spend time with when we are young.
The Australian accent emerged after the arrival of the European Settlers in 1788, who came from different parts of Britain. Unlike British English which is made up of nearly 40 different dialects, Australian English isn't as varied despite the east and west coast being approximately 4000 kilometers apart.
According to Richards, the beginning of our Australian accent emerged following the arrival of European settlers in 1788. "It emerged from a process called levelling down because you had all these people who came here on 11 ships from different dialect areas, regional dialect areas across England," he said.
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.
Australian English is most similar to British English in spelling and sentence construction, although its accent and vocabulary are very distinct from the UK.
The Aussie accent, as we know it today, started more than 200 years ago with the children of the convicts, soldiers and other European arrivals. The parents spoke with all different kinds of English accents because they came from many places in England.
When it comes to American, British, and Australian accents, there are a few differences that are easy to spot. For instance, most American English accents pronounce 'r' sounds more clearly while most Australian and British accents drop the 'r' sound.
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:/.
Generally speaking though, it can be said that the Welsh accent is probably closest to an Australian one. This is due to their similarities in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary choices – both Welsh and Australians tend to end words on a 'v' sound rather than an 'r' sound like other English speakers do.
According to a recent survey conducted by the popular dating website MissTravel.com, over 2000 American men and women regard Australian accents as one of the sexiest in the world.
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?”.
They found that while Australian English is a more relaxed style of the English language, it can also make it hard for babies to learn new words. The Australian English sound system has 20 vowel sounds, many of which are very similar. The research showed that these vowel differences are not easy to learn.
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”.
As you probably already noticed, the pronunciation in the Australian accent seems to be a mix of British and American English, while Australian English is more similar to British English.
Furthermore, Australia remains the first preference of destination for British emigration. Many UK citizens see Australia's employment opportunities, lifestyle and climate more favourably. Due to the colonial history between the two countries, many also find the culture to be very compatible with their own.
In Australian English both /t/ and /d/ variants are commonplace, so both pronunciations are given.
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).
Strine, also spelled Stryne /ˈstraɪn/, describes a broad accent of Australian English.