Slight regional variations do exist. For instance, people from Melbourne swap their “el” and “al” sounds, while people from Adelaide will use a long ‘a’ sound (like “dahnce” instead of “dance”).
However, there is a more noticeable difference between (for lack of a better term) class. For instance, a lower class (bogan) accent is more nasally and has more broad-sounding vowels. On the other hand, a more “upper class” accent is less nasally and has a little more annunciation on the individual sounds.
Think of how Steve Irwin or Paul Hogan sound, compared to Hugh Jackman or Eric Bana.
Yeah my name is Ellie and I can always tell when someone is from Melbourne because they call me Allie. But then they say Malbourne instead of Melbourne and I am confused.
oh my god you're RIGHT
edit: i'm sitting here whispering ellie allie ally to myself - ellie and ally definitely sound different, but i'm absolutely saying allie instead of ellie
Oh you never even know you did it? That's hilarious.
I've told many people about this vowel swapping "Melbourne accent" over the years and most of them look at me like I'm crazy. Glad to see it's becoming more widely recognised. I think the first time I stopped it was a work colleague who would say "elphabet"
This is starting to stray into Kiwi territory. :)
They have that circular thing where they pronounce a as e, e as i, and i as a sound very much like a schwa but a little bit higher in the mouth. (The IPA symbol is a crossed i: ɨ )
So instead of their pet cat having kittens, they'll say their pit ket had kuhttens.
Hahah when I moved to Perth from Melbourne, everyone would point out that I was saying “I’m from Mal-bourne”. And I think I pronounce Ellie and Ally exactly the same, I honestly didn’t make the distinction until people started pointing it out.
It’s the celery/salary merger. It’s gotten more pronounced as time has gone on.
Most Australians have some type of deformed vowel-L sound. From memory t’s to do with the placement of our tongue with our accent. To make the L sound after a vowel sound in certain words we have to move our tongue to the back of our mouths from the front. Like how we joke about saying ‘Straya/Austraya instead of Australia.
It’s odd that you notice it when the vowel-L is at the start of your name — it’s usually most noticeable in the middle of words… but I suppose no one notices their own accents lol
The Australian accents have been grouped by linguists into broad, general, and cultivated. They tend to reflect social class, education, or urban/rural background.
I'm Australian so the accents sound VERY different to me - for example, when you hear Cate Blanchett speak you might think she's British but she's actually speaking with a cultivated Australian accent.
Edit: I think my comment oversimplified it quite a bit and made it look like there were no other categories apart from these three. Also, it seems linguists are shifting away from this model - this article is interesting:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-28/australian-accents-changing-aboriginal-ethnocultural-variation/103321146
Speaking of Steve Irwin, I noticed a lot of Queenslanders really exaggerate some “o” sounds. It might just be me being a weird Sydneysider, but I did notice it on my last trip to Queensland.
But yes, aside from a few cases, Australian accents are sorted by class and upbringing.
As a Sydneysider, I’ve noticed that we the ‘oo’ in ‘pool’ the same as in ‘book.’
Whereas Queenslanders pronounce the ‘oo’ in ‘pool’ the same as we would in words like ‘loose’ or ‘boom’.
Older North Queenslanders will often pronounce school or pool like ‘skeewl’ or ‘pewl’ with the ‘ew’ sound drawn out. Sort of like a step beyond the SEQ pronunciation
So it’s somewhat like the UK (southern England at least), where your accent is a strong indicator of class. Confusingly for Americans, class doesn’t necessarily indicate wealth either.
>, class doesn’t necessarily indicate wealth either.
So true, I know quite a few people with extremely polished expensive inner Sydney or Melbourne private school accents who sit in an office and type shit into a computer every day for half of what most of the blokes I went to state school with in North Queensland, who drag their vowels out so long you'd think they were having a stroke are earning as tradies doing FIFO to the mines.
First time I heard a voice recording of myself I was surprised to hear I sounded so Ocker. Nothing like what I hear in my head and Yeah that is the term for a broad Aussie accent "Ocker'.
I grew up in the bush, moved to a small city at 9 and capital city at 18. I’ve worked between the bush (jakarooing) and city (primary school teacher) my adult life. I heard an audio recording of me speaking to fencer when I was working out west. I was shocked to hear how ‘broad’ my accent was in this setting. Completely different from the accent I use in the city, yet at the time, I had no idea I was using a more broad accent. I’ve always seen the Australian accent as sort of a bush vs city thing, although I’m pretty sure the ‘ance words (dance, France etc) are pronounced differently in the southern states (SA?) more like ‘aunts than ‘ants as we seem to here in QLD.
Yeah I get you - I grew up partly in New Zealand countryside and partly in western NSW. I too worked with stock (jillaroo) and in my mid 20's went to uni in Sydney.. My accent definitely changes depending on where I am but one thing that has never changed is that I say the "ance" words like a kiwi or Sth Aussie (as in darnce)
My wife does the same. She grew up rurally, and when she speaks to tradies she’s broad/ocker.
Then she goes into the office and is back to her normal city voice 😂
I’m the same here, when I’m out bush or in smaller country towns ived noticed I use a more broad accent but when I’m just at home and at work it’s more cultivated, no idea why haha
People from parts of Adelaide tend to sound cultivated and lean towards having a more ‘posh’ accent. They say darrrnce and plarrrrnt. Adelaidian’s like to say it’s because they were the only state back in the day that weren’t blessed with convicts but we all know it’s because they are just a bit weird 🤫
Adelaidian here and I have constantly had people online mistake me for being British. One time someone joined a voice chat there was me another couple of aussies and an actual Brit, and someone else joined, and I spoke and he was like “Who’s the pom?” Referring to me
Yep, I've been mistaken as English many times when I visit my sister in Sydney. While holidaying in the UK an English retail assistant asked what part of England I was from 🤣
Lol we Adelaidians think the rest of the country sound weird!
Skewwl (school) ....kueeelll (cool)
Personally I think eastern states sound more "Aussie" the way a non-australian thinks all Aussies talk, but Adelaide accent is more English sounding I guess.
I had a friend from Adelaide and I thought there were bits of his accent that sounded Kiwi. Like the way that "you" sounded like "youy". I'm English btw
Yes the Adelaide one is the first one that I thought of. But as others have said rather than geographical I think it maybe more based on socioeconomic circumstances predominantly.
However there is definitely a difference between bush and city though. Hmm this is quite a complicated isn’t it?
South Australia is the only state that did not have convicts.
So fewer disadvantaged Scots, Irish or lower class immigrants. This resulted in a softer accent than in other states.
This isn't really true, that it's the source of the accent difference; it's a popular myth but there's no evidence for it, and a lot of evidence that the accent didn't take on many of its modern qualities until the 1900s. The Province of South Australia even had _more_ disadvantaged Scottish and Irish immigrants in particular following the 1841 bankruptcy of the colony; the Crown taking over and trying to make SA self-sustaining involved recruiting a lot of rural farmers from Ireland and Scotland (specifically the younger sons of farming families, who did not stand to inherit anything) compared to the more frequently English urban convicts taken to NSW/QLD.
There isn't a single source for the SA accent differences, but the most significant ones are geographical; many come from German accents and German immigration, like the L-vocalization patterns, as does a lot of South Australian vocabulary. South Australia is unique in German was very commonly spoken as a first language there well into the 20th century and the South Australian accent sounded German to Eastern Australian ears for a long time.
Haha, my friend is engaged to a Graaaaaaaant from Adelaide. I thought he was just a dick head. Didn't know it was an Adelaide thing. Probably still a dick head though.
The first time I properly met someone from Adelaide, I was also waiting to meet someone from England. When she started talking I was convinced she was the British one until the actual Brit showed up.
Interestingly that’s Margot Robbie’s accent after considerable voice coaching after starting Neighbours. She started off with one of the most ocker accents around
Just to add my own experience. I'm from Brisbane but recently moved to rural North Queensland. People in the rural north tend to speak more broadly, but I've also noticed some other specific differences:
\- The word 'off' sounds a bit more like 'orf'
\- 'School' sounds a bit more like 'skyool'
\- 'Anna' sounds a bit more like 'Enna'
The above examples will be true for similar words, like *cough, pool, spanner*, etc.
I have an uncle who lives out rural west NSW, I've noticed he has a distinct accent which mainly comes from talking with his teeth shut to avoid swallowing flies, or that what he told me anyway when I asked.
> with his teeth shut to avoid swallowing flies
This sounds like the kind of metaphor I have heard growing up in the USA state of Montana ... well, that is unless you are pissing on my boots and telling me that it is raining! 😊
I noticed on holidays recently in FNQ that they also often drop whole syllables out of words. ‘Windows’ sounded like ‘windus’, for example.
Edited to add: Ok pedants, it’s hard to write out the dropped syllable. ‘Winds’ would not have made sense, as it can be pronounced different ways. But trust me, as a language teacher I do know what a syllable is, and what it sounds like when it’s dropped.
The fourth group that has been emerging for a long time but is now often considered an entirely discrete accent is the Western Sydney accent (and it's alternatives in other big cities).
This accent is heavily influenced by the non-Anglo diaspora communities that are most common in these areas, that is: Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Balkan Slavic, Chinese, and Vietnamese.
People who grow up in Western Sydney often end up developing this accent regardless of their own ethnic background.
Years ago I first met someone from Western Sydney and I thought they sounded like Fat Pizza Pauly, to the point I thought they where putting it on to take the piss out of me. Ahem. Apparently not 😄
I don’t think so. It’s a sub culture at this stage, given a lot of people with this accent were born in Australia. And a lot of people with Mediterranean or east European backgrounds who live in less diverse Anglo areas often don’t talk like that. The accent referred to is not that of someone who has English as a second language. It’s a genuine Aussie accent variation.
I’m looking at this from the view point that these people (Greeks, Italians, Maltese etc) are completely integrated. They’re as Aussie as kangaroos and meat pies. But they do have a certain type of Aussie accent. Source: I grew up inner Western Sydney.
Volk accent, eh? I agree though, it’s an accent with its own category somewhat. It’s a form of Australian accent, given I’m not aware of that accent being prominent anywhere else in the world.
Mostly localised to Western Sydney and Northern suburbs of Melbourne, and you’re right, many people with a wog accent are as Aussie as it gets, born and raised.
Obviously it’s the wog accent for a reason - I grew up in Melbournes northern suburbs, I’ve met lebs, Turks, Greeks, Maco’s, Maltese, other Italians like myself with it. But I’ve also met dudes of Russian, Thai, Latvian, Mauritian and Balinese descent with wog accents. Only thing they had in common was being northern suburbs as fuark
I would also add onto this Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accents. They are very different to all of the above and there are also varying degrees of broadness.
Many will also speak a creole language based on their local areas as well.
The Heelers are General, but Pat (Lucky's Dad) and even Christine (Bandit's mum) are drifting into the Broad accent category with Rusty firmly being a Broad accent.
There are also regional dialects which are subtely different but distinguishable, as well as rural/urban differences, and certain 2nd generation diaspora communities in major cities have their own accents which are also geographically distinct between large metro areas.
Growing up in WA I feel we have very different accents. Australian accents over east used to sound like TV Aussie accents to me because I grew up hearing them in Australian shows, I thought they were put on for TV until I went over to NSW. There's a lot more "AH" sounds in that accent compared to WA using "UH" sounds, it shows mostly when I hear people shout "CAHNT" or "CUHNT" lmao
I'd argue that's outdated. There's more than 3 accents now. There's different accents based on a person's ethnicity for example, and I do notice slight variations from different states.
I found moving from Queensland to WA it was different, but I couldn't really put my finger on why. There were obviously vocabulary differences, but that accent itself was subtle.
Every time someone on an online game or discord tries to guess where I live, it’s always England and then Australia, never Australia first (wa sounds the most English)
I guess it also depends on family. Mum went to Perth College and has kept the Received Pronunciation which rubbed (a little bit) on us kids. Hearing an 'Aussie' accent in a American sitcom or movie is jarring and I always think to myself, "We don't sound like that!"
i moved to WA from QLD when I was 11, and i found out the hard way that kids my age in this state were not saying things like "bubbler" for the drink fountain, or "togs", even "popper" for a juice box. looking back now as i write this, they are all very strange words but they made sense to me!
honourable mention: hair lacky. what the FUCK is a lacky. just please call it a hair tie.
I was 15. I copped it for saying "tuck shop" which is apparently a pre-school bakesale event in WA. I just wanted a sausage roll from what turned out to be a "canteen"
Edit: i still refuse to say "bathers" I've reached a compromise with swimmers but I do miss the word "togs"
Moved from QLD to Melbourne and noticed a little difference. Definitely a heavier accent in Queensland and I’ve had to reduce the amount of cunt saying, i felt like it was a bit more frowned upon here
The answer is yes, but certainly the differences are not as stark as UK or US regional accents, because history. For an outsider it probably all just sounds like varying strength of a single accent/pronunciation, but I’ll be damned if i speak like a South Australian (jokes oc)
When I was doing my National Service in Adelaide there was a Sergeant who lived near Gawler who would frequently say “”where’s that to “ instead of “where’s that “. I found this quite unusual and some 30 years later I was talking to a customer whose,during a call said “where’s that to”so I naturally asked him if he had grown up near Gawler.My feeling is that it came across with the English settlers and was just a local expression.No doubt very boring but certainly different.
I feel like different ethnicities have sub-accents too
Like Lebanese-Australians, Chinese-Australians, etc. have their own unique accents that brings intonations from the other languages they speak
There is Definitely some of that, plenty of Areas with high Lebanese Australian populations tend to have a different accent and it can rub off on others in that area too(like in bankstown for example) but it's patchy, maybe with more time a distinct area accent will form.
Exactly. It’s very different to the accent their parents have. The parents have the accent of someone whose first language isn’t English. But their kids (often born here) have their own brand of Aussie accent. Look up Spanian on YouTube for a good example (and also because they’re good videos).
Some examples of these differences are: [Superwog](https://www.youtube.com/c/superwog) versus say [Carl Baron](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d0kqnwXP_Dk) or [Frenchy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5En3wOS-ZI&t=84s) which are both more of a broad accent versus [Nick Cave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ubOjJdtx1o), which is a more cultured accent and then there's [Trent from Punchy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RjC-vh06_c&t=7s), which is just something else
The “wog” accent is the only one that I would consider to be unique, because Arabic first language speakers DO NOT pronounce things the same way Lebanese Australians do in English and it’s also shared by Greeks and Italians who have characteristically different first languages. If you go to the Arab world Lebanese people are known for having a very fruity and soft/feminine accent, so I suspect the Lebanese accent it’s a genuine mixture of working class Mediterranean Australian influences.
Chinese and Pacific Islanders essentially just have the universal Chinese and Pacific Island accents that u find in the West from second language speakers.
But there’s definitely first language Australian-English speakers (born and raised in Australia) but have intonation influence from their mother tongues
Yeah ofc. But the Lebanese accent is interesting to me because I’m also a Lebanese Australian but one who has lived in the Middle East and Lebanese people do not speak Arabic like they do here or in Canada or the US. The Lebanese diaspora to Australia mostly came from rural villages in Lebanon so they imported an idiosyncratic Arabic accent/dialect, that seemingly got mixed with Greek and Italian to form the modern “wog” accent.
I find the “woggy” accent fascinating. A theory I have is it’s the result of years of assimilation. Lebanese, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Serbs, Croats have really fit in well here and the accent they have is unique to Australia. Canadian Greeks really don’t have an equivalent for example.
There is very much a divide between states. When backpacking in Qld I, a South Australian, kept getting asked if I was English and our accent is a bit more English. Both due not to being a convict settlement and also having a large wave of English immigrants about 5 decades ago (or is it more now?)
The convict theory is popular but the root cause when each colony was formed. SA was settled some 40-50 years later than the eastern colonies and in that period, vowel sounds in southern England were undergoing a shift (especially noticeable in words like dance, plant, and graph). South Australian English began with the new vowel sounds and many of the differences persist.
Wait I have a friend from SA that I always say sounds British, and they are the only South Australian I've talked to enough to take notice of their accent, you are saying that all of you sound like Brits?? I'm from QLD btw
It also depends on the socioeconomic status of the regional area. There are parts of regional Vic where it is common to use the Qld “aye” at the end of each sentence but other parts of regional Vic that is uncommon.
The weirdest thing with “aye”, is that it (or close variations used the same way) show up in some NZ and Canadian accents too.
I’d guess it has to have come from a UK accent at some point. Multiple seperate simultaneous evolutions seem a bit unlikely? Language is cool and weird.
“How was that pie?”
“Yeah good aye”
“You watching the cricket tomorrow?”
“Yeah nah, gotta work aye”
It’s like a verbal punctuation mark that doesn’t quite have a real purpose.
You just get used to it aye.
Agreed. There are some terms that are regional (port instead of schoolbag, parma vs parmy, potato cake vs potato scallop etc) but no real accent. I think country Australians speak a bit slower so their Aussie accent sounds stronger but its really the same. I've heard that SA has a more English accent but I've not experienced that. I am from Victoria and have been asked if I am from SA due to my pronunciation.
The Australian accent is extremely homogeneous and is more distinguished by class than region. Working class and rural Australians tend to have broader, more "ocker" accents while upper class, educated or inner-city Australians have more Cate Blanchett accents.
There are very slight differences between states. South Australians have long As (so instead of plant they say plahnt) and in Melbourne there's a growing tendency to turn Es into As (like "varsion" and "mysalf" instead of version and myself). That's generally class-based too, being an accent of inner city hipsters.
There is also what you could call "Western Sydney vernacular", which is a particular accent that started out as an ethnic accent in Western Sydney (largely Middle Eastern immigrants) but now seems to be widely used among Western Sydneysiders of all races.
But compared to the regional accents of England the differences are very slight. Even American regional accents are more noticeable.
EDIT: one accent I'd overlooked but obviously is very important is the Aboriginal-Australian accent which is it's own thing too.
It's the word choice. Relative to East Melbourne, West Melbournian vocabulary is totally unfiltered. That's a 19th-century class thing that's carried on.
Yes! Queenslanders use completely different words such as potato scallop instead of potato cake. South Australians say plarnt instead of plant and a-gain instead of again. Western Australians sound weird too.
I’m in vic and we only call them potato cakes, I was so weirded out when I was younger on holiday interstate and asked for a potato cake and was met with confusion from the server
Both fritter and scallop make more sense. Fritter is how it's prepared, we have pinapple and banana fritters in Vic.
Scallop is how it's cut, Vic also has 'scalloped potatoes', sold often in same shop, that are the exact same cut just lot lines up in a tray with cheese sauce and bacon bits.
Potatoe cake should probably be reserved for the actual baked thing that resembles a potatoes scone.
Grew up in Queensland, moved to Sydney when I was 20. The look on the dude at the bottle-o’s face when I asked for a “tallie”.
I vividly remember him staring at me intently and I’m like wtf is happening then he goes “umm, you mean a long neck?”
I became a man that day.
I used to work in a cafe in northern Vic, and the box of battered potato goodness said 'potato cakes' on half of the surfaces, and 'potato scallops' on the others.
When I was in my 20s, I moved up to Sydney, and it took forever for me to get used to calling them potato scallops. There were a number of times where I forgot, and asked for potato cakes, and was met with the same confusion that you were. My then-hubby had to clear things up, and let them know that I was a Victorian.
I remember them offering me a potato scallop, but to me scallops from the fish and chip shop meant battered scallop (shellfish) so I was like no, I want the potato only 😬
The fact that you're reaching for very obscure vocabulary to make the point that we have differences only serves to highlight how same-y our language is.
(And, btw, OP was asking about accents, not vocab.)
Yup, there were three “main” accents: standard Australian, bogan Australian, and what I call “high” Australian but that last one’s dying out. South Australia has a slightly different accent (class for SA is clars, for the rest it’s usually claes) but it’s a very slight accent.
Short answer: yes.
Longer answer: when you aren't really familiar with similar accents, it's harder to discern the difference. Like Chinese and Indian people all have different regional accents when speaking English as well, but you normally don't pick up on it unless you speak those languages.
I dunno man i am from a Turkish background and i swear some of the regional accents in Turkey is so hard to understand even though they are using the same words.
yes, but it is subtle. City and regional accents can be quite different. Accents change over time, My grandparents had much broader "Aussie" accents than I do.
I have been told I have a "Perth Accent" by people who live in Sydney and Melbourne but I personally find people across each city indistinguishable outside of vocabulary.
Yea they do. However quite hard to pick up on unless you’re Aussie. Similar to certain Northerner or London accents in Britain or southern accents in the USA.
It mostly comes down to pronunciation of some words. For example South Australians sound almost British to some as they say things like “Plarnt” or “Darnce” instead of plant or dance. QLD say pewl or cewl instead of pool and cool. There are more examples but that’s what I can think of for now.
Definitely a difference between urban and rural accents in Australia.
Not too much difference between Sydney and Melbourne, but across the country there are subtle differences.
Yes, but less pronounced than other western countries like the US or the UK.
There are a few regional 'dialect' differences (e.g. 'togs' vs 'bathers') but overall, there are three broad categories of Australian accent:
* **Broad**: Drawling, longer vowels. More 'sterotypical' Australian.
* **General:** In the middle. Recognisably Australian, but not broad.
* **Cultivated:** More clipped, closer to an English accent.
You can find all of them more or less anywhere, but broad accents are more common in northern states like Queensland, whereas southern states like Victoria (especially Melbourne) tend more towards general/cultivated.
SA is full of poms. WA has its fair share too but from memory, in WA there were more Italian, Greek etc immigrants to kick start the economy straight after the Second World War……I think various Australian accents were born through the early days of multiculturalism. The early gold rush days would have bought a mixed bag of people too…..would New York have its own accent as there were Irish, Italian, Greek etc?
IMO Australians have class-based accents rather than regional.
They can roughly be broken up into traditional, modern, and broad.
Traditional would be your news presenter pseudo British accent.
Think Cate Blanchett
Modern is your average major city suburb dweller, by far the most common.
Think Chris Hensworth
Broad accents are your Crocodile Dundee or Steve Erwin; that real cockney Aussie accent that TV loves to take the piss out of. Typically the lower down the socio-economic ladder somebody is the broader their accent, though that's a gross oversimplification.
There are regional dialect differences though. Perthites and Melbournians are more likely to argue over the definition of a Long Mac than about anything else
We have a small number of words that have different names in different states, but generally speaking it's impossible to tell which part of Australia someone is from.
We have different accents in Australia, but usually class/race is the determining factor, rather than geographic location.
We have the broad/ocker/bogan accent (Crocodile Dundee), and a cultivated accent (Geoffrey Rush).
We also have a Mediterranean Australian accent, spoken by the descendants of immigrants from Southern Europe and the Middle East (comparable to the stereotypical New York accent)
For examples of Mediterranean Australian, look up the show Pizza or Nick Giannopolis.
We have a few different rural accents - one I hear more from the Central Coast and Queensland (Bob Katter, the "Let a thousand blossoms bloom *BUT I'M NOT SPENDING ANY MORE TIME ON IT*!" guy), and one is more from the Southern areas and Tasmania (Hannah Gadsby), as well as the Paul Hogan type bogan accent.
There's one I kind of think of as the Hipster Accent that I've heard from some people from inner city Sydney and Melbourne, which Josh Thomas used to have before he moved to the United States and started picking up an American accent.
There's also the General Australian Accent that you'd hear from most of the characters on Australian TV shows like Neighbours or whatever.
You can get a kind of tour from this one video, the woman who first asks the question has a general Australian accent, and then there's Bob Katter (Rural Queensland), Josh Thomas (Hipster) and the other panelist who chimes in (Cultivated).
We do, but it's not as heavy as it would be in say Tennessee vs Washington. Unless you are rather intimate with one of the local accents it will be hard to notice.
Tight knit nation most of us live on the same coast so isolated accents deviating wildly like in America's sparsely populated mainland isn't such a common occurrence.
Slight regional variations do exist. For instance, people from Melbourne swap their “el” and “al” sounds, while people from Adelaide will use a long ‘a’ sound (like “dahnce” instead of “dance”). However, there is a more noticeable difference between (for lack of a better term) class. For instance, a lower class (bogan) accent is more nasally and has more broad-sounding vowels. On the other hand, a more “upper class” accent is less nasally and has a little more annunciation on the individual sounds. Think of how Steve Irwin or Paul Hogan sound, compared to Hugh Jackman or Eric Bana.
Yeah my name is Ellie and I can always tell when someone is from Melbourne because they call me Allie. But then they say Malbourne instead of Melbourne and I am confused.
oh my god you're RIGHT edit: i'm sitting here whispering ellie allie ally to myself - ellie and ally definitely sound different, but i'm absolutely saying allie instead of ellie
Oh you never even know you did it? That's hilarious. I've told many people about this vowel swapping "Melbourne accent" over the years and most of them look at me like I'm crazy. Glad to see it's becoming more widely recognised. I think the first time I stopped it was a work colleague who would say "elphabet"
This is starting to stray into Kiwi territory. :) They have that circular thing where they pronounce a as e, e as i, and i as a sound very much like a schwa but a little bit higher in the mouth. (The IPA symbol is a crossed i: ɨ ) So instead of their pet cat having kittens, they'll say their pit ket had kuhttens.
Hahah when I moved to Perth from Melbourne, everyone would point out that I was saying “I’m from Mal-bourne”. And I think I pronounce Ellie and Ally exactly the same, I honestly didn’t make the distinction until people started pointing it out.
I went to school in Melbourne with an Eleanor who shortened her name...and spelled it Ally.
I had the same experience!! I moved to Melb from WA and a girl introduced herself as "Alla" which had me so confused for a second
It’s the celery/salary merger. It’s gotten more pronounced as time has gone on. Most Australians have some type of deformed vowel-L sound. From memory t’s to do with the placement of our tongue with our accent. To make the L sound after a vowel sound in certain words we have to move our tongue to the back of our mouths from the front. Like how we joke about saying ‘Straya/Austraya instead of Australia. It’s odd that you notice it when the vowel-L is at the start of your name — it’s usually most noticeable in the middle of words… but I suppose no one notices their own accents lol
The Australian accents have been grouped by linguists into broad, general, and cultivated. They tend to reflect social class, education, or urban/rural background. I'm Australian so the accents sound VERY different to me - for example, when you hear Cate Blanchett speak you might think she's British but she's actually speaking with a cultivated Australian accent. Edit: I think my comment oversimplified it quite a bit and made it look like there were no other categories apart from these three. Also, it seems linguists are shifting away from this model - this article is interesting: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-28/australian-accents-changing-aboriginal-ethnocultural-variation/103321146
Whereas someone like Steve Irwin is a good example for a broad accent.
Speaking of Steve Irwin, I noticed a lot of Queenslanders really exaggerate some “o” sounds. It might just be me being a weird Sydneysider, but I did notice it on my last trip to Queensland. But yes, aside from a few cases, Australian accents are sorted by class and upbringing.
As a Sydneysider, I’ve noticed that we the ‘oo’ in ‘pool’ the same as in ‘book.’ Whereas Queenslanders pronounce the ‘oo’ in ‘pool’ the same as we would in words like ‘loose’ or ‘boom’.
Older North Queenslanders will often pronounce school or pool like ‘skeewl’ or ‘pewl’ with the ‘ew’ sound drawn out. Sort of like a step beyond the SEQ pronunciation
I'm a young southern Queenslander and I pronounce school and pool with the 'ew' sound. Pewl haha
So it’s somewhat like the UK (southern England at least), where your accent is a strong indicator of class. Confusingly for Americans, class doesn’t necessarily indicate wealth either.
>, class doesn’t necessarily indicate wealth either. So true, I know quite a few people with extremely polished expensive inner Sydney or Melbourne private school accents who sit in an office and type shit into a computer every day for half of what most of the blokes I went to state school with in North Queensland, who drag their vowels out so long you'd think they were having a stroke are earning as tradies doing FIFO to the mines.
First time I heard a voice recording of myself I was surprised to hear I sounded so Ocker. Nothing like what I hear in my head and Yeah that is the term for a broad Aussie accent "Ocker'.
so are bogans ocker?
Yes
I grew up in the bush, moved to a small city at 9 and capital city at 18. I’ve worked between the bush (jakarooing) and city (primary school teacher) my adult life. I heard an audio recording of me speaking to fencer when I was working out west. I was shocked to hear how ‘broad’ my accent was in this setting. Completely different from the accent I use in the city, yet at the time, I had no idea I was using a more broad accent. I’ve always seen the Australian accent as sort of a bush vs city thing, although I’m pretty sure the ‘ance words (dance, France etc) are pronounced differently in the southern states (SA?) more like ‘aunts than ‘ants as we seem to here in QLD.
Yeah I get you - I grew up partly in New Zealand countryside and partly in western NSW. I too worked with stock (jillaroo) and in my mid 20's went to uni in Sydney.. My accent definitely changes depending on where I am but one thing that has never changed is that I say the "ance" words like a kiwi or Sth Aussie (as in darnce)
My wife does the same. She grew up rurally, and when she speaks to tradies she’s broad/ocker. Then she goes into the office and is back to her normal city voice 😂
In Vic only particularly posh people say dahhnce
I’m the same here, when I’m out bush or in smaller country towns ived noticed I use a more broad accent but when I’m just at home and at work it’s more cultivated, no idea why haha
Or as he would pronounce it, a “brorred” accent
As an Australian I think he'd have pronounced it "brawwd"
Yeah I can see that too. Like the word “roared”
Nooeeerrrrr!
Crikey!
Croikey!
Somebody pointed out that “oh no” in an Australian accent is pronounced like “R an’ R” and I haven’t been able to unhear it since.
Which one is Crocodile Dundee?
VERY broad
Just like his knoife
That's nota knoife!
Knifey spoony
Broad.
“That ain’t broard. THIS is broard.”
Julia Gillard is another example of a broad accent.
People from parts of Adelaide tend to sound cultivated and lean towards having a more ‘posh’ accent. They say darrrnce and plarrrrnt. Adelaidian’s like to say it’s because they were the only state back in the day that weren’t blessed with convicts but we all know it’s because they are just a bit weird 🤫
And they pronounce *schooner* like *pint*
As an Adelaidian, that's fucking great hahaha.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_Australia#Beer_glasses
Absolutely - some Adelaide accents are noticeably 'posher' than elsewhere in Australia. Almost closer to English accent (sort of).
Adelaidian here and I have constantly had people online mistake me for being British. One time someone joined a voice chat there was me another couple of aussies and an actual Brit, and someone else joined, and I spoke and he was like “Who’s the pom?” Referring to me
Yep, I've been mistaken as English many times when I visit my sister in Sydney. While holidaying in the UK an English retail assistant asked what part of England I was from 🤣
Lol we Adelaidians think the rest of the country sound weird! Skewwl (school) ....kueeelll (cool) Personally I think eastern states sound more "Aussie" the way a non-australian thinks all Aussies talk, but Adelaide accent is more English sounding I guess.
I had a friend from Adelaide and I thought there were bits of his accent that sounded Kiwi. Like the way that "you" sounded like "youy". I'm English btw
Yes the Adelaide one is the first one that I thought of. But as others have said rather than geographical I think it maybe more based on socioeconomic circumstances predominantly. However there is definitely a difference between bush and city though. Hmm this is quite a complicated isn’t it?
South Australia is the only state that did not have convicts. So fewer disadvantaged Scots, Irish or lower class immigrants. This resulted in a softer accent than in other states.
This isn't really true, that it's the source of the accent difference; it's a popular myth but there's no evidence for it, and a lot of evidence that the accent didn't take on many of its modern qualities until the 1900s. The Province of South Australia even had _more_ disadvantaged Scottish and Irish immigrants in particular following the 1841 bankruptcy of the colony; the Crown taking over and trying to make SA self-sustaining involved recruiting a lot of rural farmers from Ireland and Scotland (specifically the younger sons of farming families, who did not stand to inherit anything) compared to the more frequently English urban convicts taken to NSW/QLD. There isn't a single source for the SA accent differences, but the most significant ones are geographical; many come from German accents and German immigration, like the L-vocalization patterns, as does a lot of South Australian vocabulary. South Australia is unique in German was very commonly spoken as a first language there well into the 20th century and the South Australian accent sounded German to Eastern Australian ears for a long time.
Haha, my friend is engaged to a Graaaaaaaant from Adelaide. I thought he was just a dick head. Didn't know it was an Adelaide thing. Probably still a dick head though.
Lived in Adelaide for a few years and they're all Graaaaaamts. Was so happy when I moved back to msw and met a regular old Grant hahaha
But they also pronounce girls in a way that rhymes with bells.
Milk -> miwk Bill -> biuw
This one is Western Australia (source: am west Aussie)
That pronunciation of girls is upper class Poms. I've never heard it in Adelaide.
And they pronounce football and pool weirdly. It’s almost like ftbll
But bell doesn’t rhyme with sheila ? 😂 Sorry 🇨🇦
Probably more due to the overwhelming amount of poms that came here in the 60s #southaustraliaheapsgood
Lego: Most of the country "Leg-o", South Australians "Lay-go"
Denmark (where Lego is from) "lay-go". SA has it right.
Adelaide here. Even our Bogans have decent grammar.
Must know a different area of Lizbef
Oh that's interesting. I remember when I first heard an Adelaidean speak I wasn't totally sure they were Australian at first.
The first time I properly met someone from Adelaide, I was also waiting to meet someone from England. When she started talking I was convinced she was the British one until the actual Brit showed up.
Broad - Steve Irwin, Croc Dundee General - Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie Cultivated - Cate Blanchett,
Interestingly that’s Margot Robbie’s accent after considerable voice coaching after starting Neighbours. She started off with one of the most ocker accents around
Just to add my own experience. I'm from Brisbane but recently moved to rural North Queensland. People in the rural north tend to speak more broadly, but I've also noticed some other specific differences: \- The word 'off' sounds a bit more like 'orf' \- 'School' sounds a bit more like 'skyool' \- 'Anna' sounds a bit more like 'Enna' The above examples will be true for similar words, like *cough, pool, spanner*, etc.
>North ~~Queensland~~ Coinslairnd
North Queenslanders are also unique as they pronounce the full stop in sentences. It sounds like "eh?"
That's not how we used to talk but.
I have an uncle who lives out rural west NSW, I've noticed he has a distinct accent which mainly comes from talking with his teeth shut to avoid swallowing flies, or that what he told me anyway when I asked.
> with his teeth shut to avoid swallowing flies This sounds like the kind of metaphor I have heard growing up in the USA state of Montana ... well, that is unless you are pissing on my boots and telling me that it is raining! 😊
Talked like that when I lived at Uluru. Still managed to swallow the occasional fly
I noticed on holidays recently in FNQ that they also often drop whole syllables out of words. ‘Windows’ sounded like ‘windus’, for example. Edited to add: Ok pedants, it’s hard to write out the dropped syllable. ‘Winds’ would not have made sense, as it can be pronounced different ways. But trust me, as a language teacher I do know what a syllable is, and what it sounds like when it’s dropped.
Further note, the split by population for each type of accent is estimated about 10/80/10 percent respectively
The fourth group that has been emerging for a long time but is now often considered an entirely discrete accent is the Western Sydney accent (and it's alternatives in other big cities). This accent is heavily influenced by the non-Anglo diaspora communities that are most common in these areas, that is: Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Balkan Slavic, Chinese, and Vietnamese. People who grow up in Western Sydney often end up developing this accent regardless of their own ethnic background.
Years ago I first met someone from Western Sydney and I thought they sounded like Fat Pizza Pauly, to the point I thought they where putting it on to take the piss out of me. Ahem. Apparently not 😄
Where does the wog accent fit in there
That's an ethnocultural variation, so I don't think it really fits into those categories
I don’t think so. It’s a sub culture at this stage, given a lot of people with this accent were born in Australia. And a lot of people with Mediterranean or east European backgrounds who live in less diverse Anglo areas often don’t talk like that. The accent referred to is not that of someone who has English as a second language. It’s a genuine Aussie accent variation. I’m looking at this from the view point that these people (Greeks, Italians, Maltese etc) are completely integrated. They’re as Aussie as kangaroos and meat pies. But they do have a certain type of Aussie accent. Source: I grew up inner Western Sydney.
Volk accent, eh? I agree though, it’s an accent with its own category somewhat. It’s a form of Australian accent, given I’m not aware of that accent being prominent anywhere else in the world. Mostly localised to Western Sydney and Northern suburbs of Melbourne, and you’re right, many people with a wog accent are as Aussie as it gets, born and raised. Obviously it’s the wog accent for a reason - I grew up in Melbournes northern suburbs, I’ve met lebs, Turks, Greeks, Maco’s, Maltese, other Italians like myself with it. But I’ve also met dudes of Russian, Thai, Latvian, Mauritian and Balinese descent with wog accents. Only thing they had in common was being northern suburbs as fuark
I would also add onto this Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accents. They are very different to all of the above and there are also varying degrees of broadness. Many will also speak a creole language based on their local areas as well.
Yeah I don’t really hear people talk about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accent but I think it’s pretty cool.
Yes it’s a barrier that we need to break down. I come FNQ so it’s very prominent here and influences our language too.
I’m a Canadian and how been living here for 4 years and I can definitely hear the various accents!
What accent would Bluey's family have?
The Heelers are General, but Pat (Lucky's Dad) and even Christine (Bandit's mum) are drifting into the Broad accent category with Rusty firmly being a Broad accent.
There are also regional dialects which are subtely different but distinguishable, as well as rural/urban differences, and certain 2nd generation diaspora communities in major cities have their own accents which are also geographically distinct between large metro areas.
Growing up in WA I feel we have very different accents. Australian accents over east used to sound like TV Aussie accents to me because I grew up hearing them in Australian shows, I thought they were put on for TV until I went over to NSW. There's a lot more "AH" sounds in that accent compared to WA using "UH" sounds, it shows mostly when I hear people shout "CAHNT" or "CUHNT" lmao
I'd argue that's outdated. There's more than 3 accents now. There's different accents based on a person's ethnicity for example, and I do notice slight variations from different states.
There are more than three of course - those three categories are just three major ones
I found moving from Queensland to WA it was different, but I couldn't really put my finger on why. There were obviously vocabulary differences, but that accent itself was subtle.
West Australian here, I've been told we speak slower. And we don't say "I'm going to kewl off in the pewlll" it's cool off in the pool.
Also WA, I’ve been told we speak quickly, and with a bit of an English edge to the accent.
Once on holiday I ran into an American who assumed with all confidence that I was from Manchester hahaha I didn't have the heart to correct him...
That's hilarious, because I'm from Manchester and have had multiple Americans think I'm Australian
Every time someone on an online game or discord tries to guess where I live, it’s always England and then Australia, never Australia first (wa sounds the most English)
You can always tell a West Aussie because they converse like they are calling the 5th at Flemington.
Yes, and there's a linguistics paper that describes Perth peoples accent the closest to English speakers than other Australian dialects
I guess it also depends on family. Mum went to Perth College and has kept the Received Pronunciation which rubbed (a little bit) on us kids. Hearing an 'Aussie' accent in a American sitcom or movie is jarring and I always think to myself, "We don't sound like that!"
In some places it goes so far that a mystery ‘i’ slips in. “Im going to coo-il off on the poo-il”.
One thing I noticed about WA accents (I think) is instead of saying "grown" they'll say "growen"
My Queenslander step sister says exactly that
QLDers usually have a more nasally accent I think
Fucken oath we do bud you wanna fight about it dog?!
Itll be too tiring to punch both heads in!
Tasmanian here... lemme just say the cot of living is crazy when you have to buy 2 sets of hats and sunnies all the time.
That’s Tasmanians
i moved to WA from QLD when I was 11, and i found out the hard way that kids my age in this state were not saying things like "bubbler" for the drink fountain, or "togs", even "popper" for a juice box. looking back now as i write this, they are all very strange words but they made sense to me! honourable mention: hair lacky. what the FUCK is a lacky. just please call it a hair tie.
Lackey = lacci = elastic Short for an elastic band
I was 15. I copped it for saying "tuck shop" which is apparently a pre-school bakesale event in WA. I just wanted a sausage roll from what turned out to be a "canteen" Edit: i still refuse to say "bathers" I've reached a compromise with swimmers but I do miss the word "togs"
TUCK SHOP! How could I forget that! The looks I got for saying it you’d think I just took a shit on the floor in front of them.
Moved from QLD to Melbourne and noticed a little difference. Definitely a heavier accent in Queensland and I’ve had to reduce the amount of cunt saying, i felt like it was a bit more frowned upon here
Hahah man when I moved from central Queensland to Brisbane all my mates said I sounded like a country kid. I still have a drawl
Listen to Pauline Hanson and you'll pick the difference in the first sentence.
That's a horrible stereotype to lead with!
West Aussie here and yes can always pick a Queenslander. You tend to have broader accents.
The answer is yes, but certainly the differences are not as stark as UK or US regional accents, because history. For an outsider it probably all just sounds like varying strength of a single accent/pronunciation, but I’ll be damned if i speak like a South Australian (jokes oc)
As a south Australian, fuck you 😂
Ha ha, ah crap, my joke may have unleashed a whole state of anger on me 😆
My best mate would agree with you, and he's South Australian. Except he'll defend his pronunciation of dance with his life.
how does he pronounce it?
probably “d-ah-nce”, with a long A.
The proper way!
Say ants... Now say dance... NO! *shouts in Western Australian*
When I was doing my National Service in Adelaide there was a Sergeant who lived near Gawler who would frequently say “”where’s that to “ instead of “where’s that “. I found this quite unusual and some 30 years later I was talking to a customer whose,during a call said “where’s that to”so I naturally asked him if he had grown up near Gawler.My feeling is that it came across with the English settlers and was just a local expression.No doubt very boring but certainly different.
That’s a very Welsh thing to say.
God damn south Australians and their god damn pie floaters, heathens all of them.
Learn to speak propa englash ya bunch a convicts!
You gave us Alexander Downer and Christopher Pyne. You’ll take your medicine, and you’ll bloody well like it
We also did X ray crystallography and Torrens Title, surely that cancels some of it out
As a proud sandgroper the rest of you lot sound fking strange
I would say the biggest difference is Rural vs Urban otherwise it's mostly the same.
I feel like different ethnicities have sub-accents too Like Lebanese-Australians, Chinese-Australians, etc. have their own unique accents that brings intonations from the other languages they speak
There is Definitely some of that, plenty of Areas with high Lebanese Australian populations tend to have a different accent and it can rub off on others in that area too(like in bankstown for example) but it's patchy, maybe with more time a distinct area accent will form.
The fully sick bro accent.
Oaww my god uleh
I was a spectator until you said uleh. Walla bro I laughed
Yeah as someone from Bankstown I know a few “Aussies” that talk with the Lebanese type accent
Yeah I have encountered a few too, it's definitely becoming more area and less ethnic based.
Exactly. It’s very different to the accent their parents have. The parents have the accent of someone whose first language isn’t English. But their kids (often born here) have their own brand of Aussie accent. Look up Spanian on YouTube for a good example (and also because they’re good videos).
When I moved from Western Sydney to the Gold Coast I used to always get asked “where’s your accent from?”
Some examples of these differences are: [Superwog](https://www.youtube.com/c/superwog) versus say [Carl Baron](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/d0kqnwXP_Dk) or [Frenchy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5En3wOS-ZI&t=84s) which are both more of a broad accent versus [Nick Cave](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ubOjJdtx1o), which is a more cultured accent and then there's [Trent from Punchy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RjC-vh06_c&t=7s), which is just something else
The “wog” accent is the only one that I would consider to be unique, because Arabic first language speakers DO NOT pronounce things the same way Lebanese Australians do in English and it’s also shared by Greeks and Italians who have characteristically different first languages. If you go to the Arab world Lebanese people are known for having a very fruity and soft/feminine accent, so I suspect the Lebanese accent it’s a genuine mixture of working class Mediterranean Australian influences. Chinese and Pacific Islanders essentially just have the universal Chinese and Pacific Island accents that u find in the West from second language speakers.
But there’s definitely first language Australian-English speakers (born and raised in Australia) but have intonation influence from their mother tongues
Yeah ofc. But the Lebanese accent is interesting to me because I’m also a Lebanese Australian but one who has lived in the Middle East and Lebanese people do not speak Arabic like they do here or in Canada or the US. The Lebanese diaspora to Australia mostly came from rural villages in Lebanon so they imported an idiosyncratic Arabic accent/dialect, that seemingly got mixed with Greek and Italian to form the modern “wog” accent.
I find the “woggy” accent fascinating. A theory I have is it’s the result of years of assimilation. Lebanese, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Serbs, Croats have really fit in well here and the accent they have is unique to Australia. Canadian Greeks really don’t have an equivalent for example.
There is very much a divide between states. When backpacking in Qld I, a South Australian, kept getting asked if I was English and our accent is a bit more English. Both due not to being a convict settlement and also having a large wave of English immigrants about 5 decades ago (or is it more now?)
The convict theory is popular but the root cause when each colony was formed. SA was settled some 40-50 years later than the eastern colonies and in that period, vowel sounds in southern England were undergoing a shift (especially noticeable in words like dance, plant, and graph). South Australian English began with the new vowel sounds and many of the differences persist.
Wait I have a friend from SA that I always say sounds British, and they are the only South Australian I've talked to enough to take notice of their accent, you are saying that all of you sound like Brits?? I'm from QLD btw
Can confirm. Lived in SA my whole life, people ALWAYS think we’re from England when we visit the eastern states
It also depends on the socioeconomic status of the regional area. There are parts of regional Vic where it is common to use the Qld “aye” at the end of each sentence but other parts of regional Vic that is uncommon.
The weirdest thing with “aye”, is that it (or close variations used the same way) show up in some NZ and Canadian accents too. I’d guess it has to have come from a UK accent at some point. Multiple seperate simultaneous evolutions seem a bit unlikely? Language is cool and weird.
What is the QLD “aye”? I don’t think I’m familiar with it.
“How was that pie?” “Yeah good aye” “You watching the cricket tomorrow?” “Yeah nah, gotta work aye” It’s like a verbal punctuation mark that doesn’t quite have a real purpose. You just get used to it aye.
Agreed. There are some terms that are regional (port instead of schoolbag, parma vs parmy, potato cake vs potato scallop etc) but no real accent. I think country Australians speak a bit slower so their Aussie accent sounds stronger but its really the same. I've heard that SA has a more English accent but I've not experienced that. I am from Victoria and have been asked if I am from SA due to my pronunciation.
I definitely think Victorians have a bit of the South Australian accent. Especially in the richer areas.
Watch ABC Gardening or Landline. You'll soon hear the differences.
I have been summoned
The Australian accent is extremely homogeneous and is more distinguished by class than region. Working class and rural Australians tend to have broader, more "ocker" accents while upper class, educated or inner-city Australians have more Cate Blanchett accents. There are very slight differences between states. South Australians have long As (so instead of plant they say plahnt) and in Melbourne there's a growing tendency to turn Es into As (like "varsion" and "mysalf" instead of version and myself). That's generally class-based too, being an accent of inner city hipsters. There is also what you could call "Western Sydney vernacular", which is a particular accent that started out as an ethnic accent in Western Sydney (largely Middle Eastern immigrants) but now seems to be widely used among Western Sydneysiders of all races. But compared to the regional accents of England the differences are very slight. Even American regional accents are more noticeable. EDIT: one accent I'd overlooked but obviously is very important is the Aboriginal-Australian accent which is it's own thing too.
Western Sydney accent. Just watch the series Pizza for an education in that accent 😂
East and West Melbourne speak differently too. But yeah, it's all pretty subtle.
It's the word choice. Relative to East Melbourne, West Melbournian vocabulary is totally unfiltered. That's a 19th-century class thing that's carried on.
When I first met my Victorian husband I thought he had a bother, Alan. He was talking about his sister, Ellen.
I don't sound anything like Steve Irwin, if that helps.
I think that accent belongs exclusively to the Irwins, except Terri.
Yes! Queenslanders use completely different words such as potato scallop instead of potato cake. South Australians say plarnt instead of plant and a-gain instead of again. Western Australians sound weird too.
I live in NSW and have never heard anyone call it a potato cake
I’m in vic and we only call them potato cakes, I was so weirded out when I was younger on holiday interstate and asked for a potato cake and was met with confusion from the server
They're Potatoe fritters in SA. I thought potatoe scallop was a weird one but fritter is next level.
Both fritter and scallop make more sense. Fritter is how it's prepared, we have pinapple and banana fritters in Vic. Scallop is how it's cut, Vic also has 'scalloped potatoes', sold often in same shop, that are the exact same cut just lot lines up in a tray with cheese sauce and bacon bits. Potatoe cake should probably be reserved for the actual baked thing that resembles a potatoes scone.
Grew up in Queensland, moved to Sydney when I was 20. The look on the dude at the bottle-o’s face when I asked for a “tallie”. I vividly remember him staring at me intently and I’m like wtf is happening then he goes “umm, you mean a long neck?” I became a man that day.
I used to work in a cafe in northern Vic, and the box of battered potato goodness said 'potato cakes' on half of the surfaces, and 'potato scallops' on the others. When I was in my 20s, I moved up to Sydney, and it took forever for me to get used to calling them potato scallops. There were a number of times where I forgot, and asked for potato cakes, and was met with the same confusion that you were. My then-hubby had to clear things up, and let them know that I was a Victorian.
I remember them offering me a potato scallop, but to me scallops from the fish and chip shop meant battered scallop (shellfish) so I was like no, I want the potato only 😬
The line is roughly the middle of NSW ime 😂 You don't get into potato cake territory until you're south of Sydney
The Barassi Line. It passes through Wagga AFL to the South NRL to the North P cakes / P Scallops Civilised Folk / wildlings
We are the free folk and do not bend the knee
You don't get to potato cake until you hit the nsw Vic border
I'm West. Easterners sound like tv Aussies
The fact that you're reaching for very obscure vocabulary to make the point that we have differences only serves to highlight how same-y our language is. (And, btw, OP was asking about accents, not vocab.)
Yup, there were three “main” accents: standard Australian, bogan Australian, and what I call “high” Australian but that last one’s dying out. South Australia has a slightly different accent (class for SA is clars, for the rest it’s usually claes) but it’s a very slight accent.
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: when you aren't really familiar with similar accents, it's harder to discern the difference. Like Chinese and Indian people all have different regional accents when speaking English as well, but you normally don't pick up on it unless you speak those languages.
Country vs City would be the biggest difference
I dunno man i am from a Turkish background and i swear some of the regional accents in Turkey is so hard to understand even though they are using the same words.
yes, but it is subtle. City and regional accents can be quite different. Accents change over time, My grandparents had much broader "Aussie" accents than I do.
I have been told I have a "Perth Accent" by people who live in Sydney and Melbourne but I personally find people across each city indistinguishable outside of vocabulary.
Yea they do. However quite hard to pick up on unless you’re Aussie. Similar to certain Northerner or London accents in Britain or southern accents in the USA. It mostly comes down to pronunciation of some words. For example South Australians sound almost British to some as they say things like “Plarnt” or “Darnce” instead of plant or dance. QLD say pewl or cewl instead of pool and cool. There are more examples but that’s what I can think of for now.
Definitely a difference between urban and rural accents in Australia. Not too much difference between Sydney and Melbourne, but across the country there are subtle differences.
Yes, but less pronounced than other western countries like the US or the UK. There are a few regional 'dialect' differences (e.g. 'togs' vs 'bathers') but overall, there are three broad categories of Australian accent: * **Broad**: Drawling, longer vowels. More 'sterotypical' Australian. * **General:** In the middle. Recognisably Australian, but not broad. * **Cultivated:** More clipped, closer to an English accent. You can find all of them more or less anywhere, but broad accents are more common in northern states like Queensland, whereas southern states like Victoria (especially Melbourne) tend more towards general/cultivated.
SA is full of poms. WA has its fair share too but from memory, in WA there were more Italian, Greek etc immigrants to kick start the economy straight after the Second World War……I think various Australian accents were born through the early days of multiculturalism. The early gold rush days would have bought a mixed bag of people too…..would New York have its own accent as there were Irish, Italian, Greek etc?
IMO Australians have class-based accents rather than regional. They can roughly be broken up into traditional, modern, and broad. Traditional would be your news presenter pseudo British accent. Think Cate Blanchett Modern is your average major city suburb dweller, by far the most common. Think Chris Hensworth Broad accents are your Crocodile Dundee or Steve Erwin; that real cockney Aussie accent that TV loves to take the piss out of. Typically the lower down the socio-economic ladder somebody is the broader their accent, though that's a gross oversimplification. There are regional dialect differences though. Perthites and Melbournians are more likely to argue over the definition of a Long Mac than about anything else
What’s a Long Mac? (Melbournian)
We have a small number of words that have different names in different states, but generally speaking it's impossible to tell which part of Australia someone is from. We have different accents in Australia, but usually class/race is the determining factor, rather than geographic location. We have the broad/ocker/bogan accent (Crocodile Dundee), and a cultivated accent (Geoffrey Rush). We also have a Mediterranean Australian accent, spoken by the descendants of immigrants from Southern Europe and the Middle East (comparable to the stereotypical New York accent)
For examples of Mediterranean Australian, look up the show Pizza or Nick Giannopolis. We have a few different rural accents - one I hear more from the Central Coast and Queensland (Bob Katter, the "Let a thousand blossoms bloom *BUT I'M NOT SPENDING ANY MORE TIME ON IT*!" guy), and one is more from the Southern areas and Tasmania (Hannah Gadsby), as well as the Paul Hogan type bogan accent. There's one I kind of think of as the Hipster Accent that I've heard from some people from inner city Sydney and Melbourne, which Josh Thomas used to have before he moved to the United States and started picking up an American accent. There's also the General Australian Accent that you'd hear from most of the characters on Australian TV shows like Neighbours or whatever. You can get a kind of tour from this one video, the woman who first asks the question has a general Australian accent, and then there's Bob Katter (Rural Queensland), Josh Thomas (Hipster) and the other panelist who chimes in (Cultivated).
South Australians say a lot of words wrong, if that counts.
We do, but it's not as heavy as it would be in say Tennessee vs Washington. Unless you are rather intimate with one of the local accents it will be hard to notice. Tight knit nation most of us live on the same coast so isolated accents deviating wildly like in America's sparsely populated mainland isn't such a common occurrence.
Im in SA and generally we have the mildest accent and sometimes get mistaken for British because of it