# Australian English



## gonzalo.-

Hello guys, I was wondering which of the two, American or British English, Australian English resembles more in terms of both grammar and vocabulary. What do you think about it? since the process of learning English for me has been mostly both from American and British English, and when I have been able to listen to someone speaking in Australian English I have been more concentrated in the pronunciation since is so special. Are there some points in Australian English than are in some way exclusively Australian?​


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## izedewelt

Hiya,
Australian English more closely resembles British English. We use the same spelling and vocabularly. American English is of course understood, but when it comes to formal writing it is not really accepted.


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## Sprache

Australian English is definitely closer to British English in terms of pronunciation (they are non-rhotic for instance) and vocabulary. They also use British spelling. There are actually a lot of Americans who sometimes have trouble telling an Australian accent apart from certain ones from southeast England.


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## MonC

Non-rhotic speakers pronounce /r/ only if it is followed by a vowell sound. Australian English  is most similar to New Zealand English and has some similarity to dialects from the South-East of England. It makes frequent use of diminutives. Australian spelling is almost always the same as British spelling, with only a few exceptions.


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## MarX

I honestly have been having the impression that Australian English is closer to American English, especially in terms of vocabulary, yet its spelling is closer to British.

Perhaps there's generational differences, with the younger generations being more "American" than the older ones.


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## MonC

I agree with you MarX. The "Americanisation" of the language appears in the introduction of words, terms, and usages. American influence has mostly arrived via pop culture, books, magazines, TV programs, computer software — and the world wide web.


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## MarX

Yes. I wrote that because I'd been watching series from the UK and Australia, and I noticed that the Aussies up above are "American" in terms of vocabulary, expressions, etc. Of course their distinct accent still makes it very easy to set them apart; unlike Canadians, which apart from their spelling, are often indistinguishable from Americans.


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## james.

Regarding rhoticity in Australian English: I have noticed a very pervasive intrusive 'r' in some Australian speakers' speech. When a word ending with a vowel is followed by a word beginning with another vowel, an 'r' will generally be added to link this two syllables together. I haven't really observed to what extent this is done in various British accents, for example Received Pronunciation, though I think it is less. This is also a common phenomenon in many American regional accents (particularly New England).


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## sound shift

james. said:


> Regarding rhoticity in Australian English: I have noticed a very pervasive intrusive 'r' in some Australian speakers' speech. When a word ending with a vowel is followed by a word beginning with another vowel, an 'r' will generally be added to link this two syllables together. I haven't really observed to what extent this is done in various British accents, for example Received Pronunciation, though I think it is less. This is also a common phenomenon in many American regional accents (particularly New England).



I haven't studied it, of course, but I reckon the pronunciation you mention ("It was an idea*r *of John's") is pretty widespread in England. To the best of my knowledge it is not, however, an example of rhoticity.


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## snowyau

I think there's been a shift in Australian English, you can definitely hear it in the generations. The US English influence has been quite heavy and there's a lot of Valley  Talk amongst kids. (Valley Talk seems to embody teenage talk on US sitcoms and I guess kids just emulate). However, I would guess that's reserved to vernacular - the accent is predominantly (UK) English.

I'm an immigrant myself, and I notice that the Australian accent is generally quite flat in cities. In Sydney especially, there is mass movement of people from all parts of the world, so the accent flattens out, much like a neutral English accent, possibly mistaken as American (which has historically experienced some flattening out). It's still distinctively Australian though. I have such a flat accent, but when I travel, the savvy person can say my accent is unmistakably Australian, though I'm ethnic Chinese.

On the phone, most people would think my accent is indistinguishable from the average Australian. (Of course, I disagree with them, but I suppose the immigrant *is* the "average" Australian nowadays)

After 20 years in Oz, I can start to tell the accents of people from different states, but by and large it's indistinguishable.

I've been told that New Zealanders have the most unspoilt English accent from about 200 years ago, I'm not sure if that's just a meme. However, I can distinctively hear that South Australians have a similar accent to New Zealanders, though not as pronounced. The South Africans also have that similar sound, albeit heavily influenced by the Dutch.

Fascinating discussion though.


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## snowyau

To the OP, in terms of vocabulary and grammar, I think we are more UK English; we share much more in common with the English, even in sports.

"hit for six", "on a sticky wicket", "bowled me over" are terms in cricket that you would never find in the US vernacular.

We have distinctive rhyming slang, which is probably only understood in Australia like "bring your china plates" for "bring your mates" or "pass the dead horse" = "pass the tomato sauce".

On the other hand, we have the re-appropriated migrant talk "couple of days, bewdiful!" and most US tourists get a shock when we order a "short black", a "long black" or a "flat white" (coffee).

Australians are very adaptable people, when we travel, we might drop a few ocherisms here and there. But by and large I would say we revert to US English phrases because it's the most understood English (thanks Hollywood) in the world.


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## dante08

snowyau said:


> However, I can distinctively hear that South Australians have a similar accent to New Zealanders, though not as pronounced. The South Africans also have that similar sound, albeit heavily influenced by the Dutch.


That's an interesting point. I think for most British people, Australian and New Zealand accents sound similar, but not to the extent that, for example, American and Canadians ones do. As you've mentioned, there's some similarities in the sounds of South African and New Zealand English (I think it's to do with certain vowel sounds, an example would be the word "s*e*x" being pronounced like "s*i*x"). But personally I can't hear the same thing in Australian English, which makes me think why does New Zealand and South African English have this connection, but maybe that's for a different thread...


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## snowyau

dante08 said:


> But personally I can't hear the same thing in Australian English, which makes me think why does New Zealand and South African English have this connection, but maybe that's for a different thread...



I'll hazard a guess - I've been told English immigrants came to New Zealand and South Australia as farmers and (generally) genteel folk. So this is the middle-upper class English accent we are hearing circa 200 years ago. With the swapped "e" and "i" sounds (One would argue the same with South Africa)

In comparison, the rest of mainland Australia has been cockney, lower-class, so you can still hear cockney in Australian. (Rhyming slang I've been told is from cockney)

UK English in the meantime has been heavily influenced by Welsh, Scottish, Irish, and mainland European influence and has become more "posh", "Queen's English" is what we often refer to when we think of a British accent.

The relative isolation of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand from other English speaking nations allowed the accent to thrive, until the advent of mass media (radio), so there were a good 100-120 years of consolidation.

What amazes me is how Western Australian English is so similar to East Australian English, whilst West Coast US English is so distinct from East Coast US English - the physical distances are about the same.

That's the wonder of mass media, I think, and perhaps we will all end up with an American English accent one day  (Of course there are many North American accents, I've been told that the Seattle one is the predominant movie accent and if you want to sound redneck, then Texan, gangster, then Boston/Jersey/NY, etc - it's unfair, I know)


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## dante08

snowyau said:


> I'll hazard a guess - I've been told English immigrants came to New Zealand and South Australia as farmers and (generally) genteel folk. So this is the middle-upper class English accent we are hearing circa 200 years ago. With the swapped "e" and "i" sounds (One would argue the same with South Africa)
> 
> In comparison, the rest of mainland Australia has been cockney, lower-class, so you can still hear cockney in Australian. (Rhyming slang I've been told is from cockney)


Thanks for that, snowyau, it seems like a really plausible theory to me.


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## gonzalo.-

Muchas gracias a todos muchachos, la vez pasada que revisé no pude encontrar este _thread_ así que me llevé la agradable sorpresa de encotrarme con estas respuestas. Muchas gracias.


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