hello fellow posters.. i need some help with the aussie accent.. i need it for a play im in were my character is australian. how do i do this? i mean i speak american midwestern english, what changes should i make besides
ï The front mid-high vowel /e/ is changed to the diphthong /ai/.
e.g. day---/dai/
ï The final -er is often very open.
e.g. ever---/_v_:/
ï The front mid-high vowel /i/ is considerably lengthened like /i/.
e.g. fish---/fi_/
ï The intervocalic /t/ often sounds like [_].
e.g. better---[b___]
ï The diphthong /a_/ is more nasal and open.
e.g. town---/t_a_n/
Kevin from Florida:
Good luck with your Aussie accent....I hope it turns out better than your written English sentence construction.
A Midwestern accent is generally understood (in the US) to be the American standard (i.e. broadcaster's accent).
How would you classify the NBC broadcasters (Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, etc) on the Today news show?
<<This one sounds a bit like our Catalan friend (;)) here!: >>
Is that Jordi?
How do you go about trying to record your voice on the internet. I know you need a mic. Anyone know a site with instructions on how to do this. I would love to record my own accent. :-)
That aussie accent sound like a cultivated one, not the general one.
> How would you classify the NBC broadcasters (Matt Lauer, Katie Couric,
> etc) on the Today news show?
God, it's been ages since I've seen them. I'd say Midwestern, especially Couric, though for some reason I remember Lauer having more of a West Coast lift to his voice (maybe my dislike of him is putting it there, though).
Ailian: such animosty ;P
To me that that West Coast twang seems show business-like. Maybe that's what you dislike about Lauer and the West Coast accent?
Juan:
re: Aussie voice recording:
I don't know about cultivated but it is fairly general, while a bit regional or old hat in accent. I suspect the reader isn't originally from a capital city but he isn't reading uncouthly either. Anyhow, that's how most people would read a written passage. Of course things aren't quite the same in rapid-fire speech.
As for voice recordings, just buy a cheap little microphone which you can hook up to the red/pink DIN jack on your sound card. Here's some shareware you can download to render it in mp3 format.
http://www.tomdownload.com/audio_mp3/mp3_recorders/
Otherwise use Windows "sound recorder" which saves to .wav format then find a way of converting it to .mp3.
Hello Mick!
I enjoyed that one. That's what I would expect from a nice traditional Aussie accent back home down the Parramatta years ago. I'm glad you think I sound like that ;-). It does sound strangely familiar as far as pitch, tone and accent are concerned. I've been away too long and get to hear too many Poms. You know what happens with accent? It gets more and more like older generations as you grow older. It even happens with your vocabulary. In ten years time there are words and expressions you'll feel really silly listening to yourself and the broad vowels will tend to get more general. Well, it will all depend on where we are ten years from now. Since I've passed 40 I know what it's all about.
I was thinking more along the lines of Steve Irwin and John Howard. The guy in the audio doens't sound remotely like them. The strine effect is kept to a minimum. Very intelligible.
Jordi:
And a dash of Catapom thrown in ;)
PS: I swear I thought it was you at first! A long lost Aussie brother? hehe...
Juan:
Oh yeah Steve Irwin... Strine! but he's an outback boy. What do you expect from someone who feels at home with wildlife? He only ever started going to major cities when he got the limelight. I'm surprised you find him hard to understand because he's very expressive and an excellent communicator.
As for John Howard, it's true that he speaks differently (like a kiddy!) from other politicians but his way isn't strine. That's just him!
Jordi
If it's any comfort, the subtilties are almost negligible so you could write me off as being a little nitpicky, if you like.