Social Science Australian dialects

[Billy ray]

I travelled with my cousin who is michael. He gave his name and they all replied marco? Marco?
On one occasion i said polo for a laugh.

After the third time i just said michael. Like the basketballer jordan.

 

[radiojake]

Been living in Melbourne for 10 years, but I still pronounce the suburb near St Kilda as P-rahn, and everyone looks at my like I'm from another planet and in the broadest accent ever responds 'you mean P-ran?

What is the 'h' doing in the word if you're going to ignore it?

 

[Scotland]

Yeah 'Muricans struggle with a few names.

Carl is Corr-al
Craig is Kreg

 

[The Speaker]

Yeah 'Muricans struggle with a few names.

Carl is Corr-al
Craig is Kreg

Kreg Furgersern

 

[Scotland]

Some people pronounce 'our' as 'are'. Shits me.

 

[Billy ray]

Some people pronounce 'our' as 'are'. Shits me.

Example?

 

[Rotayjay]

Generally if you're going to talk about Australian dialects, someone who vaguely knows what they're talking about will come in and say that there are three of them: broad (Paul Hogan), standard (Hugh Jackman) and cultivated (Geoffrey Rush). In addition, they'll say that broad and cultivated accents are dwindling in number, as both are associated with social groups that most people look down on, for different reasons. Therefore, the vast (and growing) number of Australian have a 'standard' accent.

But I'm not so interested in that stuff, precisely because most Australians have a standard accent. I'm interested in what differences exist from region to region, state to state. Because even though they haven't really been widely researched, sometimes you can just tell what state someone is from after listening to them talk.

A lot of this has to do with the words we use (I'm just going down to the deli but I might have to park on the verge), but though that is interesting it's also fairly well attested to. What's more interesting and less known is the difference in pronunciation for the same words - a common phenomenon in Britain and the United States, but not well studied here.

Some of these signals have been spotted by researchers, for example:

Salary/celery merger

This is more commonly argued to be a feature among our friends over the ditch, but Victorians are commonly said to merge salary and celery as well. Interestingly, it has been suggested that the direction of the merger has changed over the generations. An older gentleman might say that they're going up to the Elps for the winter, but a teenager might say she saw a halicopter. We have plenty of Victorians here, so is it true? Does it depend on whether they're in the city or the regions?

L-vocalisation

Most common among South Australians, and also a fair chunk of Western Australians, this sound is basically about turning words like 'milk' into 'miwk'. It also affects word like 'pool', which can sound for similar to 'pull'.

Trap/bath split

Probably the most well known of the lot, South Australians are the most likely to go the opposite way for 'chance, dance and advance,' though it seems like different states fall on different lines depending on the word. I definitely go the South Australian way on 'graph', but not really on anything else.

Oo

Queenslanders (and New South Welshmen to some extent) are known for this one: pool, fool, school? Make that pewl, fewl and skewl.

Diphthongs

Never fear, the beer is near. A Western Australian would have three more syllables in this sentence than most t'othersiders would, because words like 'fear' are pronounced with jaw movement (fee-ah), whereas over east they keep their jaw in place.

Though these have all been argued to exist, there isn't much research to back it up. So, even though we aren't researchers per se, we are a large cross-section of Australian societies across different states. Can you attest to these, or any other notable differences? Tasmanians are said to 'just know' a Tasmanian accent when they hear it, but no-one has been able to pinpoint what it is. Others have claimed that, when on the phone, someone will be able to spot that they're from another state just from one or two words. Can this be the case?

South Australian here (lived my whole life in the Adelaide metro area). Like some people in the UK I actually find myself automatically speaking in a slightly different accent depending on the company I'm in. With my mates and family I speak Standard, but among some other people I'll drift more towards Broad or Cultivated.

I pronounce salary quite differently to celery.

I pronounce 'milk' as 'miwk'. Never even knew this was an SA thing until I read about it - I thought it was just part of the 'laziness' of the Australian accent.

Big trap/bath split in my speech - I use the 'British style' long A for all words like chance, plant, graph, advance and even transport. The only exception is dance.

My double-Os are simple - I say 'pool' as 'pull' rather than pewl.

For me, 'Never fear, the beer is near' has seven syllables rather than ten.

 

[Eaglespur]

When I lived in Vancouver people really struggled with being asked if they fancied going down ta maccas that arvo

 

[RelaxMax]

When I lived in Vancouver people really struggled with being asked if they fancied going down ta maccas that arvo

You can't blame them though

McDonald's is awful

 

[Eaglespur]

You can't blame them though

McDonald's is awful

Agreed haha

 

[drd23]

How do you say Derby and Albany

I'm not from WA, but I pronounce it differently depending on which town/city you are talking about.

The town in southern WA? Al-ban-ee
The capital of New York? Awl-bun-ee

 

[Admiral Byng]

Recently I've noticed a lot of people pronouncing the word "quite" as "quiet". The thunder was qui-et loud.

Is this a WA thing or have other people noticed this too? i guess it's in the same bracket as "bee-ah"

I have not noticed it.

 

[Brad Goodman]

Been living in Melbourne for 10 years, but I still pronounce the suburb near St Kilda as P-rahn, and everyone looks at my like I'm from another planet and in the broadest accent ever responds 'you mean P-ran?

What is the 'h' doing in the word if you're going to ignore it?

It's in the first syllable, no?

 

[craigos]

Aussie 1: Mornen'
Aussie 2: 's it gowen?
Aussie 1: Yeah, na, alright ay
Aussie 2: Ya catch the footy?

 

[Catfish Alley]

I never got the ‘yeah, nah’ thing. My sister does that.

 

[Billy ray]

Aussie 1: Mornen'
Aussie 2: 's it gowen?
Aussie 1: Yeah, na, alright ay
Aussie 2: Ya catch the footy?

Airgaarn

 

[Cuzz09]

I never got the ‘yeah, nah’ thing. My sister does that.

It just rolls of the tongue better than straight up "no!"

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[kickazz]

Not regional, but a clear generational trend I am hearing is the move to pronouncing "ay" as "ee" like Americans do.

Mainly heard from under 25s.

Pay becomes pee.
Agency becomes Eegency.
Wait sounds like wheat.

Those are extreme examples but the sound is definitely drifting that way. (Or that wee)

 

[Catfish Alley]

Weird. I don't think I've ever noticed that even with Americans.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

Yeah, I can't say I've noticed that in the slightest.

 

[kickazz]

Weird. I don't think I've ever noticed that even with Americans.

Hmm i mustn't be explaining it well, as I'm basically talking about the default way Americans say the long A vowel.

 

[iluvparis]

Hmm i mustn't be explaining it well, as I'm basically talking about the default way Americans say the long A vowel.

Like wait becomes wayyyyyyyt?

 

[Engimal v3]

Not regional, but a clear generational trend I am hearing is the move to pronouncing "ay" as "ee" like Americans do.

Mainly heard from under 25s.

Pay becomes pee.
Agency becomes Eegency.
Wait sounds like wheat.

Those are extreme examples but the sound is definitely drifting that way. (Or that wee)

Yeah, agreed. Really prominent after I moved to Melbourne.

 

[kickazz]

Like wait becomes wayyyyyyyt?

It's more how Aussies sounds more nasal with ay.

Like the word place.
Aussie: playce
US: pleece (if interpreted in Aussie accent)

Aussies starting to drift slightly to the us style.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

South Australians think they sound posh. The rest of Australia doesn't think this if they think of SA at all.