Aussie Accent Presentation

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Zobair, (n.d.). English Language/ Zobair's notes. 1st ed. [ebook] atarnotes, pp.16,17,18. Available at: http://www.atarnotes.com/?p=downloader&download=1399 [Accessed 17 Apr. 2015].
• Grandpapencil.net, (2015). Some Australian Aboriginal names of Towns and Suburbs. [online] Available at: http://www.grandpapencil.net/austral/abword/abplace.htm [Accessed 17 Apr. 2015].

• CLAS.MQ.EDU.AU Why is there so little regional variation in the Australian English accent? | Australian Voices In-text: (Clas.mq.edu.au) Bibliography: Clas.mq.edu.au,. 'Why Is There So Little Regional Variation In The Australian English Accent? | Australian Voices'. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
• WIKIPEDIA Variation in Australian English In-text: (Wikipedia) Bibliography: Wikipedia,. 'Variation In Australian English'. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

• Gamble, Beau. 'Aussie Slang: Why We Shorten Words'. Australian Geographic 2012: n. pag. Print.

THE AUSTRALIAN IMAGE AND HOW IT REFLECTS IN OUR LANGUAGE

• The Australian image is very relaxed and laid back, this is reflected in our vocabulary

• Many of the words that are used by Australian are the shortened versions of longer words.

• Australians use abbreviations and shortened words more than other English-speakers. It is believed that we use such words to sound less pretentious and more friendly and casual and establish a relationship easily with others.

We often place a -ie at the end of words to shorten them:

• mozzie
• barbie
• sunnies
• bickie

Create our own nicknames:

• Shazza
• Gazza
• Jimbo

Can you identify these Aussie words:

• arvo
• footy
• servo
• maccas
• rego
• lippy
• salvos

VARIATION OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY OUTSIDE OF AUSTRALIA

Distinctive Australian language are words that are specific to Australia, they have different meanings in American English and British English

•eg Fairy floss- cotton candy

Distinctive Australian language can also represent the values and qualities that are very important in Australian culture, such as; equality, fairness and freedom of choice.

•eg “Give him a fair go”

VARIATION OF VOCABULARY WITHIN AUSTRALIA

Within Australia itself, there is a variation in the vocabulary that is used in the different regions

•eg: a blood nose(Melbourne and Adelaide), a bleeding nose(Sydney), a nose bleed(Brisbane)

•But there are no grammatical differences, only a slight difference in the vocabulary that is used

MORPHOLOGY AND LEXICOLOGY:

The Australian language has borrowed many words from the Aboriginal language by:

• directly copying Aboriginal words
• develop other words or idiomatic expressions from the Aboriginal language

The pattern that is visible is that the Australian English borrows Aboriginal words that are native to Australia. Like Australian animals, places and plants.

• Animals: Kookaburra, platypus
• Plants: Burrawang, Myola Palm
• Places: Ballarat, Canberra, Geelong, Werribee, Nowra, Kyogle, Kurri Kurri, Jenali

http://www.grandpapencil.net/austral/abword/abplace.htm

Focusing on Places:

• The places with Aboriginal origin tend not to be in the inner city suburbs
• They are in the rural areas, such as the Northern Territory, Western Australia
• Out of all the capital cities only one has an Aboriginal name: Canberra
• It shows that Australian's only started to give importance to the Aboriginal culture during the 1910's

PROSODIC FEATURES

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

INTONATION:

• Most Australians have a flat intonation, sentences tend to be long and monotonous
• At the end of each sentence the pitch increases, similar to asking questions
• This is called a high rise terminal and is most frequently used by young women

Australian’s are also quite laid back so the Australian body language is quite relaxed

Australian English uses that schwa at the end and in the middle of many words

•dinner becomes dinuh

A true laid back aussie

AUSTRALIAN ACCENT PATTERNS

G'DAY MATE!

WELCOME TO 'STRAYA

◦Assimilation:

• Sounds become the same as neighbouring sounds: pancake becomes pan-g-cake

◦Vowel reduction:

• Vowels in a word are deleted: and become n

◦Elision

• When a sound(smallest phoneme) is deleted from a word: primary becomes primri

◦Insertion

• The addition of sounds: film becomes fillum

◦Consonants:

• Australian English is non rhotic: moth-err(american and British) vs mothaa (Australian)
• R is not emphasised

PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY

Australia has three main accents:

• Broad (strine)
• General
• Cultivated

These accents are most differentiated by vowel phonemes (the smallest unit of sound)

These accents are influenced by:

• Class
• Education
• Gender
• Location(urban and rural)

.

Case Study: South Australian Variation

South Australia has preserved many British terms and British pronunciation in their current lexicon. The two differences in Phonology in comparison to the other states in Australia are:

• "L" Vocalisation
• Trap–bath Split (we will explain...)

"L" Vocalisation

The "L" Vocalisation is like we described in the word 'hurled'. South Australians are more likely to pronounce the 'l' sound as a vowel therefore sounding like 'hurwd'. Whereas other states pronounce it with consonants, sounding like 'hurrled"

Trap–bath Split

Trap-bath Spilt is the term used to describe vowels that come before certain sounds

(nd, ns, nt, nce, nch, and mple) and the suffix of -mand

Examples of words that use this sound are plant, branch, sample and "demand.

Other states would pronounce these words with the short /æ/ vowel from the word "cat".

What do these results show?

• The results of the research that Macquaire University of Sydney did show that South Australians have the most variation in accent.

• This may be because of the origin of South Australians.

• Most of the first settlers in South Australia where skilled and working class.

• Many of the settlers were of German origin, especially around Barossa Valley.

Processed meats are referred to as 'fritz' in SA, whereas in VIC, TAS, QLD, NSW we call it 'devon' and 'polony' in WA.

South Australia for people that don't know...

Sociology - Regional Variations

http://clas.mq.edu.au/australian-voices/regional-accents

HOPE YA HAVE A BLOODY RIPPER TIME.

SOCIOLOGY

The Sociology of Australian Accents can be found by examining the different states and their regional differences.

Though mostly Australians sound the same throughout there are still some small differences in the way they speak.

Each state has developed their own way of communicating throughout history and this causes a difference in the way that they speak.

Let's see what we say differently....

History of the Aussie Accent

• Australian English is a relatively new dialect, being just over 200 years old.
• It is a dialect that is the result of contact between people who spoke different varieties of English.

The formation of Australian English:

• It was likely first spoken by the children of colonists, born into the early colony in Botany Bay.
• This group of children would have been exposed to a vast range of different dialects from all over England, but mainly the south east (particularly London)
• Their new dialect was likely created from elements present in the speech they heard around them and their efforts to speak in similar ways to each other, in order to connect with each other and feel included.
• The children's dialect would have been strong enough to deflect the influence of the way in which new children spoke.
• Therefore, the language of the nation, was a dialect created by the first generation of children.