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.
1788: The Australian accent, at least according to modern experts, began developing right after the arrival of European settlers and convicts.
Since the influx of British settlers began in around 1788, European Australians have dealt with relative isolation and the need to describe a very different world to their original homeland. Australians have also had a variety of language influences including Aboriginal and surrounding Asian contribution.
Today, this means that there are three types of Australian accent. Some people speak with a “general” accent, which is more or less the way it has been for centuries. Other people speak with an accent that is closer to RP English. The third group of people have a “broad” Australian accent.
While indigenous Australians had developed over 250 different languages at the time of European colonisation, non-indigenous Australians simply haven't been around long enough to develop regional accents. And as an English-speaking immigrant population, it was their common language that bound them together.
New Zealand. The New Zealand accent is most similar to Australian accents (particularly those of Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia) but is distinguished from these accents by the presence of three "clipped" vowels, slightly resembling South African English.
If you find the British accent difficult to understand, it's likely you'll find the Aussie accent even harder to grasp as, for the most part, Australia is a melting pot of all the different regional dialects of British English.
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.
Let's face it, most of us are suckers for a sexy accent. 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.
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.
The Mainstream Australian Accent is a distinct accent produced by native English speakers in Australia. It's a tough accent to replicate, even for actors in Hollywood.
If you can, try using the person's clan or tribe name. And if you are talking about both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, it's best to say either 'Indigenous Australians' or 'Indigenous people'. Without a capital “a”, “aboriginal” can refer to an Indigenous person from anywhere in the world.
"The basis of our accent is Southern British. Americans, in particular, often confuse us. They think the cockney accent is the Australian accent."
The Australian National Dictionary explains that the Australian usages of mate derive from the British word 'mate' meaning 'a habitual companion, an associate, fellow, comrade; a fellow-worker or partner', and that in British English it is now only in working-class use.
The research suggests Proto-Australian was spoken prior to the first ice age, and that the current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages spoken throughout the country developed and spread only 12,000 years ago.
What's Beautiful in Australia? Australians uphold “fit, healthy, and natural” as the attributes that make you beautiful. Vibrancy, warmth, and self-confidence also top the list of qualities deemed important. Healthy skin and beautiful eyes are seen as the most desirable physical traits.
Australians are usually humble, quite welcoming, polite and contact seeking when meeting strangers. Do not be surprised that strangers greet you, look you in the eyes and start a conversation with you in situations that you perhaps never had expected someone to do in your home country.
The Aussie accent started with kids
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.
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.
An Australian accent is still quite distinctive and discernible when heard overseas away from Australia. We still shorten our words and use “ie” at the end of some words, e.g. sickie (taking sick leave from work), breakie (breakfast). But the real Australian slang is vanishing.
In reference to the British, first attested in Australia in 1912 as rhyming slang for immigrant with additional reference to the likelihood of sunburn turning their skin pomegranate red.