Does anyone want to buy into this one?
the American accent and the Australian accent - Part 2
I noticed that many Americans thought that the Australian accent was English.
If I'd never heard American or Australian accents before in my life I think it'd be quite easy to mix them up.
Wait, is it possible for Brits get American and Australian accent confused?
<<Wait, is it possible for Brits get American and Australian accent confused?>>
I don't think they sound anything alike. . . .but I'm not British.
I don't think they sound anything alike. . . .but I'm not British.
<<Wait, is it possible for Brits get American and Australian accent confused?>>
I wouldn't think so... A lot of American TV shows are aired in the UK, right? So they must be able to spot an American accent when they ear it.
I wouldn't think so... A lot of American TV shows are aired in the UK, right? So they must be able to spot an American accent when they ear it.
I'm British and to me, US and Australian accents are completely different.
<<I noticed that many Americans thought that the Australian accent was English.>>
I've been confused occasionally when an Aussie or a Brit has spent some years in the United States and picked up characteristics of American speech and their dialect has levelled in a muddled mid-Atlantic/Pacific accent. I met a New Zealander once who had spent some time in the states, and his accent was completely unplaceable. The Kiwi vowel shift had been mostly neutralized. So in cases like that, I suppose it can be a little tricky.
It's pretty hard to mistake the unique Australian prosody though. That's usually what I recognize before any phonemes.
I've been confused occasionally when an Aussie or a Brit has spent some years in the United States and picked up characteristics of American speech and their dialect has levelled in a muddled mid-Atlantic/Pacific accent. I met a New Zealander once who had spent some time in the states, and his accent was completely unplaceable. The Kiwi vowel shift had been mostly neutralized. So in cases like that, I suppose it can be a little tricky.
It's pretty hard to mistake the unique Australian prosody though. That's usually what I recognize before any phonemes.
Well, British and Australian "do" sound quite similar to the ears of an American, whether it be a Southerner or New Yorker, but Australian and British are a little different.
Australian is more relaxed, because the British colonized the area, the natives had to adopt to speaking English (in the British accent form). It is not uncommon to see a tan-person (no offense) speaking with an Australian (which in return, maybe mistaken by an American) accent. A surefire way to know an Aussie (slang) if how relaxed they are. The typical "mate" can be used in British English too. Try to hear British talk, then Australian, then you will hear a difference. I have an Australian friend, which I had talked to a few times, and he did say the British would find right away if they were Australian.
Australian is more relaxed, because the British colonized the area, the natives had to adopt to speaking English (in the British accent form). It is not uncommon to see a tan-person (no offense) speaking with an Australian (which in return, maybe mistaken by an American) accent. A surefire way to know an Aussie (slang) if how relaxed they are. The typical "mate" can be used in British English too. Try to hear British talk, then Australian, then you will hear a difference. I have an Australian friend, which I had talked to a few times, and he did say the British would find right away if they were Australian.
Australian and (most) British accents sound very similar to us Americans because both are non-rhotic, whereas we are mainly rhotic. So all we would immediately focus on is the lack of R's, and lump them together. The rest of the differences are mainly in the vowels, which would be going to the next level of distinction. Frankly, we generally don't even make it a point to learn to place the various American accents, at least not beyond very broad and obvious classifications as "New England", "Southern", "New York/New Jersey" and "Everybody Else". (And half the time we get those wrong.) So don't be offended if we aren't all that up on foreign accents -- accents just are not a major preoccupation for us -- whereas they are for the British.
Heh - I myself can tell people from Chicago from people from Milwaukee by pronunciation alone, and the dialects spoken in Milwaukee and Chicago are quite close together all things considered. (I really would not expect most Americans to be able to tell the difference, as it really is very subtle - Milwaukeeans tend to have significantly more variation in vowel length and pitch than Chicagoans, and Chicagoans tend to unround historical /ɔː/ unlike most Milwaukeeans.)
Sure. But you're into linguistics. Your average person on the street is not.