Accents

This is something students asked me about, so hope some of the Australians on here can help me!

I've been to the country,and I know quite a few Australians. And I can tell an Aussie accent without problems, even if my first language is not English.

However I can't tell what part of the country they are from.Are there very noticeable regional accents?

Could you tell immediately what part of the country someone is from?

Are there different expressions or slang words used in different states?

Thanks for any help,Luc

There are very very few ways to tell what part of Australia someone comes from based on accent. Sure there is a country accent if anything, but its just a more quintessential Australian accent and its the slang that is more often the differentiator. That and things like beer sizes, what you call a potato cake/scallop, the type of football they follow can all direct you to what part of the country someone grew up in.

As Justin says there are some words that pop up but they vary a bit.

Potato cake and scallops is one. Drinking fountain and bubblers is apparently another. Schooners, pots, middies, ponies, glasses - the beer thing is odd. Even a 'pint' (which is far more common than it was a coupe of decades ago) - I swear some serve smaller US-sized pints and others British.

I get the impression the differences relate to NSW/Qsld versus the normal parts of Australia (excluding Tassie, they are even more odd).

I always thought Qslders used 'eh' alot but that could be wrong. Differences in accent are more likely to be class - bogan, upper, middle, rural (although the latter is not really a class, maybe a subset of classes) rather than geographic.

one lady I met was from BRISSIE sorta said HE ah instead of here as for aussie accent myself from city centre London UK most people I met assumed I was aussie cause of my cockney accent

In general terms, a bank teller, brickie's labourer, school teacher, or dentist in every state and territory city, sound identical to their counterparts elsewhere ... in other words, geography in itself is not a major factor, such as it is in the UK or USA. There are four other indicators that have more effect:

• socioeconomic background ... there is a distinct working-class "Australian" accent, reflected in the exaggerated speech of Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin, and there is a small cohort that exhibits a "toffy" form of speech, however the majority are between the extremes

• level of education tends to iron out a lot of differences, with most tertiary educated people exhibiting a standard received English style (that is still distinctly Australian of course)

• there are significant differences between city dwellers and country folk, and this difference can amplify (or be amplified by) the two factors above

• and heritage ... I think even after 2 or 3 generations here, the accents of children of NESB migrants remain slightly but recognisably different to those with Anglo Celtic ancestry, especially Greek, Italian, and Middle East, but less so for Asians.

So while the states and territories are generally the same, I can often pick a Queensland speakers as distinct to say a South Australian ... but I expect you need to be a native and a student of this stuff to be consistently accurate.

And finally there is Aboriginal Australian, which to the inexperienced ear can sound like a different language ... and to a significant extent it is, or at least is a genuine dialect. Australian English has been much influenced by Aboriginal speech, in my view.

There was what was known as " the Queensland drawl" when I lived there in the 70s. The further north you came from, the more the drawl.
I also worked with a Queensland girl back in about 1971 who wanted to buy good old sellotape. Newsagent sent her to the chemist. Chemist sent her back to the newsagent. Here in NZ, Durex does not stick down parcels.

Thanks for all the answers!

No worries, cobber ...

I was raised in Sydney, but many years ago lived in Adelaide where I knew some Kiwis. Although I couldn't hear it, they said I spoke differently to the locals. My brother moved to Queensland where he and his wife had children who grew up as Queenslanders. Some of the slang was totally different, as young schoolchildren, they would carry their "Ports" to school where they would have their mid-morning break, known as "Little Lunch".

Beer sizes/glass names and the type of footy you follow is an easy way to tell where you come from (even you could tell, Luca :) ). It is quite strange for a NSWelshman to visit QLD and see big boofy blokes drinking small beers.

I reckon you can always tell a South Australian accent because it has a lot in common with the Kiwi accent. And I was quite surprised when I went to Tasmania to find that they have a real drawl too, much like a QLDers.

The Greek Australian accent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep8FHim97dw
Lebanese Australian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQsIf9lb0bc
The working class Australian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dik_wnOE4dk
But this is the best https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDgUVov1SGI

I remember being in Adelaide in the 1960's and wanting a pastie, my NSW pronunciation did not impress the seller and he corrected me, saying SA style, pastie I presume!. I think South Australians have a different name for pumpkin, In Qld they do carry a port and Australians wear thongs, which raises lots of eyebrows in the US

Ah yes, but Americans wear fanny packs, which raises eyebrows with Australians.

I suppose it's worth mentioning that differences in the names for things (fanny packs v bum bags, etc) is fine, but doesn't exclusively constitute an accent (or a dialect) - the pronunciation of words - the differences - are at least as important.

I would also suggest that the South Australian accent is NOTHING like a Kiwi one (shudder!).

I wonder if I should advise the Powers-that-be, what fanny means in Australian slang and some people may be offended by it and so no one may use it

I agree that its more a difference in names for things in different areas than an accent difference. Like the first time I was offered a juice box by a Victorian, I just stared at her for a second before I worked out she was offering me a popper. There are some differences but they are not universal. I live in a small country town but was brought up in Sydney. There is a difference in the way older farmers that have lived their whole life on a family farm talk compared to North Shore Sydney compared to Western Sydney. But its not exactly an accent. If I met another Aussie overseas I wouldn't be able to tell from an accent what part of Australia they were from.

I really cringe when I hear someone say fanny pack. It sounds horrendous

I've noticed that among the Australians I've met they either say dance or dahnce, or say chance or chahnce. Is that a regional variation?

I am from Victoria but have lived most of my adult life in NSW. I think that SA accents probably the most distinctive. They had a higher proportion of British immigrants there which I think has affected the accents. They say things like dahnce and chahnce but also pronounce words like our as ahr. The politician, Christopher Pyne (aka Christopher Pahn) is often mocked for his posh SA accent. See here (I think those doing the mocking in this clip are from Melbourne and you can quite clearly hear the difference):
https://youtu.be/r_7Z6Mh2N9Y

There was also an excruciating pair of women on a cooking show a few years back who had really strong SA accents. I suspect that is why they never went on to have much of a tv career. The woman called Jess was always Jessay and they always swallowed their final consonants, eg, but was buh etc.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/my-kitchen-rules-winners-bree-and-jessica-laugh-off-comments-about-south-australian-accent/story-fn8yvfst-1226900855191

There are a few giveaways with Queenslanders as well, eg, the propensity to say éh' at the end of a sentence. That is more a low socio economic or country thing though.

I've noticed that among the Australians I've met they either say dance or dahnce, or say chance or chahnce. Is that a regional variation?

It's a ludicrous latterday affectation picked up newsreaders and corporate captains in an effort to sound more like the educated elite. Ridiculous. Different rules for different words. One recent example. Newsreaders now say, Grahnt instead of Grant, but couple it with Hackett and they certainly don't run with Harkett.

Just to add. If you're from overseas then no, you would have no chance in picking where in Australia somebody was from.

Actually the dance thing isn't so latter day. My grandfather came to NZ as a single man, met my grandmother and got married. My mother at 94 still says dance not dahnce. Never noticed chance or chance.

I reckon it's not as horrendous as the word "panties". It feels creepy just typing that word. I have no idea in what countries anyone other than paedophiles use that word.

Paedophiles and snow droppers!

Thanks for all the answers. ..so it looks pretty much impossible for foreigners to understand where in the country an Australian is from.By accent anyway..,

Thanks also for the slang words.Some I have heard before, some not (a popper in the UK is a type of drug,for example).

And a scallop to me is seafood ;-)

A bogan is something like the British' chav',right?

I reckon it's not as horrendous as the word "panties". I have no idea in what countries anyone other than paedophiles use that word.

It's a commonly used in North America.

...a commonly used word...

Newcastle or Newcarstle. I always use the latter, but I would say dance and chance more often than not.

Different words for clothing worn for swimming - bathers, cossies, togs.

SA pronunciation of the place children spend most of the day ... schoowell.

Any geographic difference in language is marginal, if there at all. Having lived in London for many years and socialised with Australians from across all states, regions and cities an accent variation was not noticeable. Having been educated in regional NSW and from a farming family I disagree with a belief that there is a regional vs. city accent difference, it is class, exposure, and personal preference.

I have also picked up that some people in the public eye do over emphasise the strawn type of Australian accent to appear more "with the masses" e.g. news reader Sandra Sully.

There is a definite social difference in pronunciation regardless of location. Devonshire is one word which I had never considered pronouncing as "Devon Shire" but yes a lady from the housing commission flats gave her address as such just the other day. There is also a 1st generation ethnic accent for those from Mediterranean backgrounds a.k.a Bankstown accent. John Borghetti from Virgin has it, he tries to keep it out but is definitely there.

Castle and Chastle (h added for pronunciation) is a difference between NSW (as in Newcastle) and Victoria (as in Castlemaine) apparently. WA pronunciation of Derby is another unique one.

Little lunch is for infants school, recess for primary and above.

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