Friday, March 19, 2010
quicko: australian accents
I don't know if you've really thought about this much (I hadn't), but there are different accents within Australia. The Sydney/Melbourne one is the same the most standard, but the differences actually lie a bit more in "country" v. "city" than "state" v. "state." A more country accent -- very "Ocker" (i.e., very heavily Australian) -- is more what people might make fun of and is quite drawn out and thick. Otherwise, people might acquire accents based on their family background -- i.e., if their parents are native Korean speakers, their accent might reflect that -- or educational status -- i.e., an "educated Australian" accent might be something an American could mistake for closer to British.
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During 2003, we stayed in an hostel in southern Germany where at breakfast we met some people from Australia. We thought that they sounded like they came from Brisbane but not quite - they were from the Gold Coast. So it is detectable but I think it's unlikely to get as strong as the regional variations found in the UK and USA due to the high mobility of the population.
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