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.
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.
The Aussie accent started with kids
But their children born in Australia formed friendship groups and started to talk in ways that were more like each other and less like their parents. Over the years the children's accent was carried on by each generation and became the main accent of English across Australia.
The distinctive Australian accent is the result of a “drunken slur” caused by the heavy drinking of the early settlers, according to a communication expert from the country. "It's not just about pronunciation; vocal quality or timbre matters, as does intonation – the way the pitch of the voice rises and falls."
A lot of people think Australian English is basically Cockney when in fact the London, or East End of London, accent is just one of the components.
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.
A few historians believe that the slight 'drool' or 'slurring' which with Australians speak can be traced back to the fact that so many of the first Englishmen, colonizers, sailors and prisoners were drunk often, and that the children, upon hearing this garbled, mushy type of speaking, picked it up and passed it along.
Strine, also spelled Stryne /ˈstraɪn/, describes a broad accent of Australian English.
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.
Australian English is most similar to British English in spelling and sentence construction, although its accent and vocabulary are very distinct from the UK.
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).
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”.
Perhaps the most significant influencers on Australian English is that of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island languages
Over 250 Australian Aboriginal languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact.
Elevators. Australians call them both elevators and lifts (just to mix it up) but the rules are simple. It's polite to hold elevator doors for people who are approaching the elevator.
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.
G'day (guh-day) / Hello.
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.
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!
So, What Is Naur And Where Did It Come From? Naur is literally just the phonetic spelling of the word “no” in an Australian accent, which has become a playful way to mock the nasal, drawn-out sounds of an Aussie speaking.
Why Do Aussies Use So Many Abbreviations? Nenagh Kemp, a psychologist at the University of Tasmania, told Australian Geographic her theories behind why Australians use these shortened words so often. Her theory is that Australians use them as a way of coming across as more friendly and less pretentious.