I’ve always considered the Australian accent to be fairly homogeneous across regions, but certainly there isn’t the extreme diversity that the UK and America have. How much diversity is there, and what are the various characteristics? How long would it take you to tell a Cockroach from a Cane Toad when you meet him in the street?
The accent can vary from a light almost English or even mid Atlantic style through to a very broad “ocker/bogan” style. But that doesn’t really track to a location. You’re more likely to pick up on them using different words for the same thing than picking up specifically by accent. Potato scallops, cossies, for example
Guess where I’m from 😂
Judging by “cossies”, I’m thinking Mexican?
Sydney?
I have lived all my life in the urban inner suburbs of Adelaide, as have several generations of my family, so from my perspective the accent in other major cities around Australia is very different. They sound very harsh to my ears. Overly abrupt, loud and nasally vowels, etc.
People can pick my Adelaide origins everywhere I go, so there’s that.
What distinguishes the Adelaide accent?
What llandar said, but basically we sound a bit more ‘posh’.
I’ve heard it attributed to the fact that Adelaide didn’t have convicts, just free settlers. So more refined British accents influenced the way people spoke as opposed to broader and more diverse accents. Could be complete rubbish, not sure.
Here’s a short Wikipedia article on the subject.
The difference in the vowels is the main distinguishable trait that people within Australia can pick up on. In Adelaide you are more likely to hear longer, rounded vowels (see the trap-bath split section in that article) whereas in the rest of Australia they are more likely to be abbreviated and nasally. Personally I think people in Adelaide also have a clearer enunciation on average compared to the rest of the country, though non-Adelaideans don’t seem to notice/comment on this difference as often.
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You can spot a WAssie by how they pronounce words ending in L sounds.
It disappears. There’s still a vowel sound but it’s more like a soft W. Mi’w’k instead of milk.
No idea why, but when I moved to the east coast people thought I was Irish. So maybe there is a bit of an accent, from the north at least.
I’m not expert, but i assume it’s the same as anywhere else.
I live in Quebec, a cousin of mine goes to a French school in Montreal. She struggles understand my Grandmother when she speaks French, and she only lives 2hrs away in the country.
In theory the accent should be the same, but it’s not. It’s just different enough.
