The Aussie accent is getting weaker

I don't expect us all to be drawling like Paul Hogan or something, but anyone over the age of 30 with ears can't help but notice the broad accent has been declining amongst the MAJORITY of the population. What's interesting, I found, is the change in the way the urban population of Australia spoke. Now I'm only 23, but I always have an eye (and ear) out for history. Prior to the 1960s, accent was largely due to class. You either spoke broad 'Strine' or something like BBC English, in the days of elocution. Dame Edna (or indeed Humphries himself) epitomizes genteel middle to upper class suburban speaking. In the 60s, however, it seemed everyone started speaking a bit more broadly. By my observation this peaked in the late 70s to the start of the 90s when most YOUNG people noticeably spoke more broadly than now, and used more Aussie slang. In the 1990s, due largely to us being ashamed of the ocker bushie legacy (although we were proud of it in one sense, we still looked down on it as a bit raw and provincial), and the American influence, the accent of middle class Australia became diluted. The 'i' sound in particular; fewer of us say the 'oi' sound epitomized by Kath and Kim or something like that.

Anyway, I was wondering how many Aussies or even foreigners noticed that. It's funny, the accent is still strong in alot of regional areas, and TENDs to be stronger in working class urban areas, like the northeastern suburbs of Perth, western suburbs of Sydney, north of Melbourne and most of Queensland outside the SE as a whole...footy players in general are interesting - even the young ones from the city speak quite broadly. It seems young females in the affluent inner suburbs have the least Aussie accents. They're still recogniseably Australian and not 'cultivated' (although bordering on it), but considerably different to say a 50 year old farmer from the Mallee or Longreach or something.

I'm no Australian, but am exposed to the Australian accent, having living in the country for years. I don't notice the decline, although understand the picture depicted in your posting. A teacher in Uni once talked about the link between accent and perceived social status with respect to cultural capital. He further cited himself, as one who learnt to speak educated English, to accord with his profession as an academic. It is interesting to compare the current PM Kevin Rudd with his predecessor John Howard in this respect; the former speaks the Australian version of RP, and the latter's Australian accent can't be more stereotypical. In my understanding, their speech patterns mirror their respective political ideology, if you can see where I'm coming from. When I watched the news, I realised Rudd's accent varied, sounding relatively crude at the point he condemned the arsonists with regard to the Victorian bushfires. I reckon he was nearly loosing it. A cultivated Australian accent, however, is not any less Australian than the larrikin counterpart. They are variants of a collective entity that manifests its unique characteristics.

So you're basically turning into Kiwi's then, eh bru? =p
Your vowels will all start disappearing until you're left with "I"!

;-)

Good observation, Gwaswa! There was a smh article awhile back, someone linked it here: http://www.antimoon.com/forum/posts/6433.htm

It's more the stereotypical, broad accent which seems to be dying out in the city, but is holding strong in some country areas.

Alot of it is indeed a kind of cultural cringe towards the 'ocker' accent.

Good observation with Rudd vs Howard too; Rudd's isn't too RP/cultivated, like say Robert Menzies or Alexander Downer, but is certainly more that way than John Howard.