Differences between Australian and American English

Hi everyone!!! Today I am going to leave you a video which, in my opinion, is very interesting and helpful to try to understand a little better Australian accent.  In the video, we can also learn some differences between American and Australian vocabulary, an example for that could be “gas station” in America and “service station” in Australia, like the blond guy (who looks exactly like an Australian guy) explain to us in the video. I hope you enjoy it!!!

Australian English Phonology

Mainly, Australian English is distinctive from other varieties of English by his unique pronunciation. Like most dialects of English, is distinguished by its vowel phonology.

The vowel´s sounds of Australian English are divided in:

                     ·Long vowels (include monophthongs and diphthongs;mostly correspond to the tense vowels used in analyses of Received Pronunciation as well as its centring diphthongs ).

                           · Short vowels (which include to others monophthongs)

Australian English Monophthongs

Australian English Dipthongs

 

Moreover, Australian english contain differences in the duration fonematic. Some vowels are differents in their duration.

Consonants sounds are similar to other varieties non- rhotic´s english. In other words, the /r/sound does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant. However, a linking /r/ can occur when a Word that has a final<r> in the spelling comes before another word that starts with a vowel.An intrusive /r/ may similary be inserted before a vowel inwords that do not have <r> in the spelling in certain environments, namely after the long vowel /o:/ and after word final /ə/.

Sub-accents of AusE

As we must know, Australian accent is one of the hardest in the world. There is a tripartite division of Australian English accents:broad, general, and cultivated, occasionally tied to notions of social class, education and urban or rural backgrounds.The 'prestige' accent of England(RP) also exerts a considerable influence.

 -'General' Australian English is a neutral accent. It is the most spoken variety of Australians. This is what you will hear on the radio or on television.

 -Cultivated Australian accent (used by about 10% of the population) is similar to British English (the Near-RP),associated with high status.

 -Broad Australian English is a more extreme accent often identified as 'Australian'.It is associated with the values of the traditional Australian working-class and lower middle-class male.'This form moved the Australian vowels and diphthongs even further away from what was now the British standard of pronunciation, and emphasized nasality, flatness of intonation, and the elision of syllables'

                                       
This is an excerpt from the ABC Documentary, The Sounds of Au, about the three Australian accents.

You should also visit these interesting web sites, they have many useful information and so you'll learn to love AusE :

-Macquarie University-Australian Voices

-Language and Identity in Australia.Australians accents

And if you wanna' feel like an authentic australian speaker just click down here:

How to speak with an Australian accent with a voice coach (Garrett Jamison).

Sources:

-Moore,Bruce.Australian English in the twentieth century.Oxford English online Dictionary.Retrieved from Australian-english-in-the-twentieth-century

-Macquarie University online(Sydney).Faculty of Human Sciences.Retrieved from Macquarie-University/australian-voices/australian-accent