Why do AUSTRALIANS have STRANGE ACCENTS?

Britain has the most accents per square mile than any other country in the world. The Australian accent is like nothing you’d hear in Britain, but why is this when the early settlers were almost all from the British Isles…why don't Australian or New Zealanders sound British? I’ll explain why in this video!
This , along with dozens of other stories, unusual facts and unheard tales comes from my history book ‘A Bash With The British Empire’
My other history book is called ‘A Romp With The Georgians’
You’ll find both books online - Thank you
#general australian accent #australian accents #australian accent example #the australian accent #learn the australian accent #how to do an australian accent #learn australian accent #aussie accent listening practice #australian accent vs british accent #History #British history #Antiques roadshow #antiques road trip #bargain hunt #david harper

[@brianlee5702]

We Aussies don't have an accent. It's only people in other countries who have accents while our speech is as pure as our sunshine.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

My Aussie friend agrees!

[@whophd]

For real though, there are some American and some British accents that are so mild or flat, that I never even notice they are not Australian. Maybe a specific word like "buoy" would tip me off, or using Frankenheit temperatures. But I suspect my middle-class 20th century Sydney accent is so mild that it has the same effect on others - at the very least it convinces a substantial proportion of Americans that I'm British, but there are 2 or 3 other reasons you can pin that on. I will also stand out as coning from a large city if I speak my nornal voice (particularly my normal pace) in rural and outback towns, especially in the hotter latitudes - everything goes a bit slower there, except the road trains of course. Yet equally, I will stand out in Britain: This is more complicated because I would have to find the right person or crowd if I had a chance to blend in. It would need to be slightly modern, slightly old RP, and certaibly not a typical London "local" accent of anyone my age. Britain is so amazing for having five friends in a room and you'd get an average of six accents. They could all have been friends for decades and it would still be distinct.

[@neilforbes416]

Oh yes, we *DO* have an accent! It's just that we hear it so much in our daily speech that we just don't notice it. We take it for granted. Our accent is an *egalitarian* one that sounds fairly the same whether from Newcastle or Perth, Adelaide or Darwin, with negligible variances.

[@francistaylor1822]

Yeah, I was too initially confused by this video when I saw your comment. Glad you straightened me out on that one!

[@trueaussie9230]

​​@@neilforbes416 EVERYONE who speaks has an accent. Do you not understand Aussie ironic humour? BTW - there's more than ONE Aussie accent. Travel the HUGE country and you'll quickly learn that. 😉😊

[@ruthfoster2516]

Travelling overseas and this Yank came up to me and asked (very slowly, one syllable at a time) “Do you speak English,” to which I replied in as Aussie as i could muster, “Yeah, nah, sorta”. That lovely look of total confusion priceless lol

[@helenphillips8389]

Love it when they shout at you. I was in LA and asked a cop for directions. OMG he shouted at me something wicked çause I was obviously foreign (though I sound terribly english imo as hubby has rubbed off on me). LOL

[@Siberius-]

Australians do love to sound as Australian as humanly possible in various situations

[@glennpeters4462]

@@helenphillips8389 Please, tell us more about your husband's habits 😀

[@helenphillips8389]

@@glennpeters4462 10 pound pom. Say no more.

[@glennpeters4462]

@@helenphillips8389 Over the decades so many of us Aussies with UK ancestry have gone to the UK to work and live (I have a daughter and S-in-L in Manchester ATM). Those links go back a long way...

[@davidwhite5800]

I worked with an Australian lady, who had moved to England for work, and honestly, I thought she was English when I first met her. She did not have a trace of an Australian accent, and sounded like she was from southern England. She was from South Australia, down the coast from Adelaide. She tells me that that is their accent in that part of the world. So not all Aussie accents are the same.

[@dougharrison7844]

Thats because South Australia was never a convict settlement, it was the first British colony in Australia settled by free immigrants. So more English looking for a better life in the land of sunshine and endless land than all manner of British criminals sent away as puishment.

[@deborahcurtis1385]

Very true! There's also a misconception that Australia is egalitarian; superficially it appears that way because it's friendly and informal. However there are differences depending on educational levels and cultures. South Australians can be a bit conceited on this point about being descended from free settlers but that is less so these days. There is also inverted snobbery so if you are well spoken you are expected to 'tone it down' for acceptance.

[@bingonamo7520]

Also some posh Australians talk like that, no matter which part of Aussie they are from. I worked for an older people, one from Sydney and one from a rural area in Queensland and they sounded like English people.

[@trueaussie9230]

@@bingonamo7520 When you say "posh" do you mean well educated? 🤣

[@trueaussie9230]

@@davidwhite5800 A fellow Aussie would most likely recognise their SA accent. When I lived in the UK in the 1990s, VERY few 'locals' picked my accent as Aussie. They would go through American (🤮); Canadian (🤔); Kiwi and even Sth African (😱). Many flatly refused to believe I'm Aussie - born and bred. By contrast, Aussie-Greeks on Cyprus immediately recognised my Aussie/Melbourne accent. JOOI - she was from "down the coast from Adelaide". West or East?! The accents are different.

[@craigcarthew5024]

Took the Poms a couple of thousand years to stuff the English language. Only took us Aussies 200 years to fix it 😜

[@IamFreefromtheWokeLeft]

Huh??? English evolved from GERMAN about 800 years ago....typical ignorant bogan.

[@stevie65able]

Craig, you took the words right out of my mouth! Too right. Everyone else is jealous because we refined it so well…

[@user-vs8yj8oy2v]

Prisoners of his majesty's service.p.o.h.m.s who are the poms!??

[@TheGrant65]

​@@user-vs8yj8oy2vPom = short for pomegranate, rhyming slang for "immigrant" (most of whom were English). There were lots of terms for convicts in the convict era, but no acronym like "pohms" or "pohm" was ever used.

[@brianlee5702]

@@TheGrant65 Yep. On best authority 'immigrant' became Jimmy Grant which became pomegranate that was shortened to pom. There is no record anywhere to support the pohm story.

[@howardwarren7683]

I didn't think I had an accent until I traveled overseas. It was then I discovered that I could distinctly hear another Aussie from a long way off.

[@BillyWatersIE]

yeah because it was 2000db

[@damiank2568]

And it might start with a high pitched whine.

[@stephenlitten1789]

You can always tell an Aussie But you can't tell them much...

[@theharper1]

I spent weeks overseas year ago and it was a blessed relief to hear the Captain of the plane as we flew out of Europe speak with a broad Australian accent. 😅

[@theharper1]

@@damiank2568 what's the difference between a Pommie and a Jumbo Jet? The Jumbo Jet stops whining when it gets to Australia.

[@JasonFollett]

People stationed in Antarctica develop a group accent after a few months.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

That is fascinating and a brilliant experiment in itself

[@10_rds_Fire_For_Effect]

A mate of mine was stationed in Antarctica with the RNZAF and noticed the "strong" NZ accents when he returned to NZ.

[@SOS51able]

Aussies who play cricket in very regional areas in the UK always come back with a rural twang that eventually goes away. Not specifically accent related but it took a friend months to start pronouncing full sentences again after being in rural Yorkshire for 6 months…things like the Yorkshire “take dog for walk” vs the Aussie “taken me dog fora walk” and using t’ a lot. Aussies tend to be pretty lazy with words so at least from my experience they latch onto the lazy aspects of “foreign” dialects.

[@trueaussie9230]

@@JasonFollett ALL of them?!

[@annacarter6559]

Not if there are two Ozzies among them 😂😂

[@stephennorris6150]

What linguists call Educated Australian sounds very English to many UK/US people. I’m Australian, and when I visit the UK people are confused by my accent - they can’t work out what part of the UK I come from. They almost never realise I’m Australian. It’s mostly NZ/AU folks who recognise it.

[@johnfoxwell9576]

The same thing has happened to me…..confusion about what part of the UK I was from…stunned when I said ‘Australia’.

[@TinBane]

Australians: we don’t have an accent. Also Australians: fight to the death over potato cake or potato scallop.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Rightly so!

[@jennymitchelson9356]

Scallop. 👌

[@ShipCreek]

Scollap

[@routier1642]

Potato fritter! :-)

[@shinji200489]

Potato cake and I will fight any Northerners who say other wise! It's not a fish it's a cake!

[@johngatley1470]

as an Aussie we can tell if you are from Adelaide or Melbourne or Sydney there are subtle differences in the way we speak

[@JessieLloydMusic]

Yep, def a regional QLD accent too

[@anitacollingwood4224]

I moved from Queensland to Victoria and people kept asking if I was English!

[@positiveaspect5730]

I don’t find that at all. There are “class” accents eg posh or bogan and then there are some cultural groups that have accents (although the better educated people are the more they loose that accent) and then there are country folk.

[@dabrewstar]

Just ask them to say the word "castle".

[@robynjefferson4779]

Very subtle. I can't tell the difference.

[@seanlander9321]

The Australian accent is from a process known as levelling, which is a combination of accents you’ve described deriving from people being understood by each other. The British who arrived after 1810 described the accent as ‘pure’ meaning there weren’t regional differences.

[@kenmc5690]

Well, there were and are regional accents. South Australians have a distinct accent. Mind you, it was only colonised in 1836…

[@thevocalcrone]

In 1810 the nation was really only around for about 22 years, and the first children of the colony had been born so it would have been primarily the people of Norfolk Island, Hobart Tasmania and NSW and whoever those brits were in 1810 calling it a pure accent, unlikely left NSW. Hobart was a horror box at the time apparently and extremely violent. I don't think that Victoria had been established, Qld was still to happen and WA was still to happen. Fast forward a few years to about the 1970s when iw as a child and you could pick what state person was from by the way they used language and pronounced words - not to mention we used to totally pull the stuffing out of each other , banana benders, Queensland, sandgropers from WA, south Australians were the Crow eaters, I can't remember the rest of them right now, but back then we did and we used them mercilessly.

[@campbellmackinnon3848]

We haven't had time to develop major regional differences. But they definitely exist! I suspect you must be Australian to detect them. They're fairly obvious to me.

[@seanlander9321]

@@thevocalcrone The reason why the Hobart accent and the Sydney accent are almost identical is because of those earliest years.

[@thevocalcrone]

@@seanlander9321 i think they evolved to be 'individual' though (in about the seventies and eighties in my observations) but potentially have devolved to similar again, Tasmania has had an invasion from those people that like cold weather). I'm not one. i've never been there.

[@johntomasini3916]

I'm a 71 year old Aussie. At fourteen I was in New Zealand at a Scout Jamboree, I found that I could chat with almost anyone and understand them regardless of any accent they might have. Not so today, the Poms and Kiwi's speak differently now, the accents have changed to the point that an interpreter might be needed. We all grew up with Teachers and Parents, they were also teachers in those days, speaking the Queens English, but what happened. The Colloquialisms of different backgrounds changed the languages that we were familiar with, we are not coming together, we are diversifying into a mish mash of foreign dialects, even within our own country.

[@joejugashvili3616]

I love to confuse people with language. In Brussels once, standing in front of Le Dome (hotel) and an American approaches me and asks slowly and slightly loudly, "Ou est le Dome?" "Voila, Monsieur", says I, pointing at the front door. He never had the slightest clue that I was anything other than Belgian. In England, they often say to me "Sth African?". "No". "Kiwi?". "No". "Aussie?". Third time lucky. Dunno why.

[@N17C1]

There are accents in the UK that are very close to a 'neutral' Australian accent as spoken in areas like Melbourne and Adelaide. I suspect the basis was that and then Irish and Scottish was added in to the mix like you say. One thing not mentioned is that Australians living overseas can easily drop their accent but it's hard for anyone to pick up an Australian accent. I'm told by a speech pathologist that Australians use an 'epiglottal slap' to start many words. This is a difficult thing to do and is uncomfortable for most non-Australians because it's something that is learnt very early in childhood. So, it's easy for Australians to reduce the slap but hard for others to adopt it.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

excellent info, thank you

[@glennpeters4462]

This sounds interesting. Can you give any examples of the "epiglottal slap" that differentiate Aussie from, say, Home Counties UK accents. Also, are there any published studies that you know of that cover the topic? I would really like to follow up on your hypothesis. (PS this is a genuine enquiry. Tone is difficult in this format 😊) I have noticed the growing preponderance of the "epiglottal stop" replacing the "t" sound almost universally.

[@daveb3987]

Interestingly, it’s been noted in international schools in Asia with a broad mix of backgrounds from India, UK, Singapore, etc etc sort of sound Australian, but with a slight American inflection on certain words. The American part being a media influence, the Australian part being a sort of flattening to fit all together.

[@johnnyjohn-johnson7738]

I think that the American aspect comes from a lot of Asians having learnt English from American language coaches.

[@primethe8th]

Yes, once when I was travelling I met two white guys from Singapore and even when they told me they had never been to Australia I still thought they were pulling my leg. Sounded like they grew up in the inner suburbs of Melbourne or Sydney.

[@allisonjames2923]

Nothing to do with a lot of Aussies becoming English teachers in foreign countries? 🤔

[@daveb3987]

@@allisonjames2923 no. I know a Singaporean and Kiwi couple, living in Singapore, they laugh about their kids having standard Australian English.

[@paulfri1569]

​@@allisonjames2923yes 👍

[@tsutsuji1]

I read that cockney had the biggest influence on Aussie English. My theory is the descendants of the convicts and early settlers were impacted by both cockney and the queen’s English.

[@katiemcfarlane5053]

Yes, I was going to say exactly this.

[@Nicole19989]

Wherever you read that, it's exactly right. 👍 This old pom doesn't have a clue.

[@markdouglas9182]

yeah I hear some Cockney in Australian accents, slightly.

[@McKeeDan]

There’s distinct similarities between Australian and east Anglian. Always wondered how much of that was direct influence or parallel evolution

[@pederricknell3685]

This is the theory I also heard.

[@keithdevine8281]

About 7years ago language experts studied English speaking countries and claimed the australian was the most perfect English.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Might be!

[@soleman1112]

Bloody Oath Cobber

[@johnfh]

Apart perhaps from the swearing!

[@mayormccheese6171]

Clive James said it's what inevitably happens to an Englishman's accent when his face is contorted into a permanent squint from the Australian sun.

[@keithad6485]

that is funny!

[@MarthaAnthony]

I've heard it's also because of not wanting to let flies into your mouth 😆

[@kzbb9977]

@@MarthaAnthonyI’ve heard this too, especially in the bush

[@salaltschul3604]

It's true, lol. And keeping your mouth narrow to avoid flies ;)

[@IamFreefromtheWokeLeft]

BRITISH. England is not a sovereign country......Act of Union 1707!!

[@kymcopyriot9776]

Just spent a month in Germany where without fail my accent was recognised as Australian. So how is it that every American I’ve ever met says “Oh, so by your accent I guess you’re from England, right?”

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

That is interesting

[@flamingfrancis]

Would guess you were in the eastern states. When we were in NY in 91some hotel staff specifically asked us to speak with them.They recognised it was different to the Anglospeak they were more used to. Western states hear Aussie a lot more often.

[@yellard6785]

In Calfornia, English are often asked if they are Australian.. 😂

[@dazsmith690]

and yet i can tell the difference between canadians and americans..canadians love that..

[@happylala33]

they literally can’t do it

[@danielmaher964]

That is the clearest explanation I've heard, thanks from Australia

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Many thanks, really appreciate the comment

[@Droo75]

So basically, what he said was, we have a ‘British’ accent. It’s British that are actually regional.

[@garthpetch4173]

You obviously forget the impact of the pervasive common fly in Australia; you dare not open your mouth to fully proclaim you voice and have to speak nasally through closed lips lest you swallow one

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Never thought about that!

[@sampuatisamuel9785]

😂😂😂😂

[@onemoredeadman]

No, it's nasal because of all the dead flies stuck up the hooter

[@peterhart4301]

The Australian accent has a nasally tone to it due to not opening ones mouth when speaking, because if you do, you end up with a mouth full of flies. It is more pronounced in country areas where there is lot of cattle (and their shit) or bush where is lack of water. Flies like to bred in shit because it is moist. Accent is different on the west coast compared to the east coast.

[@carbyau349]

@@DavidHarperAntiquesTV Not so sure how impactful on accent it was but when I was young the flies were a damn problem! Introducing cattle in australia made lots of dung that flies loved for breeding. Then CSIRO (an Australian science org) deliberately introduced dung beetles which - from my lived experience - made a significant difference reducing the fly problem. One link, you should be able to find more if you care to : www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/dung-beetles-in-australia

[@adriaandeleeuw8339]

In the late 60's my Australian mother had her accent analyzed by a speech therapist and was told there was lots of Italian overtones.... My grandfather worked with many Italians building Melbourne infrastructure..... Dont forget that the current accent also has large swages of other countries accents. Just so you understand my father was Dutch, I can do such a passable accent of South Africa that a native born South African started to talk to me in Afrikaans.

[@neilforbes416]

It's only the despicably racist boers who speak Afrikaans. The decent people speak English.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Good info. Shows how these things change over the years

[@flamingfrancis]

You went to USA to have accent analysed? Americans analyZe, we analySe...let's keep some of our proud heritage.!! It is interesting though. to note the changes in the written language since the addition of US based computer software.

[@flamingfrancis]

Reminds me of an excellent banner I saw at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the 70's...an Aussie having a dig at the then great tv commentator and South African born Tony Greig (RIP) The banner simply read..."Tony Gregg...crecket ixpirt"

[@neilforbes416]

@@flamingfrancis Very true, the *Correct* spelling is *ANALYSE!*

[@gtr5973]

The main difference between the Australian and NZ accents is that Australia had a bigger Irish influence and NZ had a bigger Scottish influence. You can hear it if you listen to the differences.

[@MsLaariii]

Theres also the Te Reo influence in NZ depending on where you are from.

[@freowho9974]

I would think Maori and Aboriginal have an influence.

[@basilpunton5702]

Both Kiwis and Aussies do not have uniform accents. Both have several forms depending on education and region.

[@paulfri1569]

Bingo 🎉😅

[@mattbarbarich3295]

There ONLY seems to be Scottish influence in NZ looking at all their names. If ever a country should've been called New Caledonia it's NZ. Yeah big Irish influence in Aus but also from elsewhere in UK.

[@karesage2889]

I'm now living in Australia, I have been here for almost 8 years and I am now going to love being able to tell fellow Australians this! I am a true Bristolian and I don't think I will ever take on the Aussie accent! 😂

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Haha, good luck!

[@charlesfenton2063]

I have read that it is called 'flattening.' They all had to pull their accents down, or flatten them, to be understood by each other.

[@Pyjamarama11]

They obviously didn't bother in FNQ 😂😂

[@mikeyhau]

@@Pyjamarama11 You're right about that, heh.

[@tonyguyot2271]

@charlesfenton2063 So as to get away with comments without being seen. Although, that might have been school...

[@paulhunt3307]

Or levelling. See my comment above.

[@qfa330]

I didn't realise we spoke to flat until I spent a month in the US and wondered why my words were so flat

[@456eec]

You may not be aware that Australia has subtle regional accents. I am from Adelaide and South Australia was the only colony which didn't have convicts only free settlers who would generally have been higher in the British class system although 3 of my 4 grandparents had convict ancestry from the eastern states. I now live in Queesnland and am often asked where in the UK I am from although a Brit would hear my accent as Australian. Melbourne also has a very distinct accent and I can always pick a person of British ancestry who are from Melbourne. I once had abusive troll in my KZbin comments saying that Australians should learn to speak English properly. I replied that I do not speak English. I speak "Strine".

[@wefinishthisnow3883]

Perhaps this was true pre-2000, but not any more you can't. Immigration has had a dramatic effect on the cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Future Australians will be speaking with a slight Indian accent.

[@katesmiles4208]

​@@wefinishthisnow3883🥺😫😭 probably true

[@lookieloo-q8f]

It doesn't count as a regional accent. Regional differences are so small. You CANT always tell where someone is from and I'll guarantee that you sanctimonious cunn+

[@audas]

"didn't have convicts only free settlers" - Adelaide had a HUGE proportion of convicts, they had no penal colonies. "higher in the British class system " - complete and utter load of crap. Vast numbers of convicts were actually political prisoners and hence from higher status - while most of the free settlers were scum of the earth desperate for a chance. Adelaide will always be Adelaide though. Low Class. Adelaide Hills have a strong accent and its cultivated. Melbourne has a strong Irish accent, while some protestant's on the south of the river love to concoct an accent - which is laughable really.

[@davidpearn5925]

The Irish Catholics dominated the NSW public service and the free English gentry occupied Victoria - and now Australia has a multicultural society that cannot be nailed down.... IMHO.

[@jc2426]

There is an Australian lady (Demi Rawling) that does perfume ratings on KZbin. She keeps on saying 6-7 owls of projection. Why are owls in cologne. She was saying hours. LOL to the Aussie accent.

[@dizzman5546]

G'DAY David, how ya going, Aussie here, I have learnt a lot of fair dinkum on your channel today with regards to the origins of Australian accents - good on ya mate !!!!

[@brucestorey3400]

WW1 in the trenches, an English army priest says to the newly arrived soldier from Australia: "My son did you come to this place to die?". The Aussie replies "No mate, I come here yester_die."

[@michaeltb1358]

Stolen from Dad's Army

[@runestone1337]

@@michaeltb1358 Dad's Army stole it from the WW1 trenches.

[@keithyork8226]

My WW1 veteran grandfather used to tell it.

[@trueaussie9230]

'I came here ... 🤔 ... YES ter die'.

[@DieFlabbergast]

1st Australian: "What's the difference between a buffalo and a bison?" 2nd Australian: "I dunno. What is the difference?" 1st Australian: "You can't wash your hands in a buffalo."

[@brettsimpson1505]

Thank you for explaining this. It makes a lot of sense to me. Our accent continues to change as the community becomes more global, but I miss hearing the way my maternal grandmother (who was born in the interwar period) spoke. Less and less Australian slang these days. In fact, I doubt my children would know most of it.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

My pleasure, thank you, it’s a fascinating topic

[@flamingfrancis]

You can definitely notice exactly that by viewing some of the old Movietone Newsreels that exist on YT. They are the news medium used in the old movie theatres prior to TV. (Remember when we used to roll the Jaffas on the timber floors?) See if you can find one with Leonard Teale as the narrator.

[@Crossingt]

@@brettsimpson1505 there is still regionality. A good lunch is a conti roll with a long mac three quarters topped up. Ask for that east of Kal and get a blank look in return. I know that is vocab but even in Perth there is very subtle differences based on immigration and or education. First Nation people have adistinct accents.

[@kramrollin69]

@@flamingfrancis Peter Finch was a narrator for newsreels too.

[@christenedoering7720]

I don't think it's changed at all .

[@HunterWinchester666]

That is very interesting, thanks for sharing - cheers mate 🍻

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

My pleasure, thank you

[@JediJan]

Lol. As a migrant Australian, who speaks Australian with a few slight differences, I should point out that New Zealanders sound quite different to us too. Their accents and pronunciations, to Australian ears at least, are quite obvious.

[@dickowilley2642]

I think the Kiwi accent developed more from Scottish and Maori . Saying thus and thit instead of this and that is clearly a carry over from the Scottish settlers.

[@stephenphillips4609]

Accents are fascinating! And I didn't know this about Aussie and Kiwi accents, so I've learned something. Also, Cantebury Cathedral is a wonderful backdrop...so (and I say this very gently) for future reference...can you PLEASE keep still. I had motion sickness watching you moving around!!

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

I’ll try!

[@dcmastermindfirst9418]

Kiwi accents are a mix of Mauri and Scottish

[@neilforbes416]

@@dcmastermindfirst9418 Somethung to thunk on while you're chumping on your fush & chups! LOL

[@homebrandrules]

@@dcmastermindfirst9418 I've always been fascinated by how the kiwi accent came about, and i,d thought that what you suggest may have been the case, is there conclusive research/historical info regarding what you say ?? cheers.

[@dcmastermindfirst9418]

@homebrandrules Well not really. I'm just using logic really. The Mauri were the dominant culture of NZ and still is in many ways. Unlike Australia it wasn't snuffed out so badly but rather kept alive and mixes with European values. The Scottish influence is just from lots of Scottish migrants and even Christ church is a sister city from Scotland.. So mix the two and you got Kiwi English

[@antoniohernandez-yx6xu]

Curiously, Mitchell and Delbridge (1965) "The Pronunciation of English in Australia" identified three varieties of Australian English: Broad Australian 34%; General Australian 55% and Cultivated Australian 11%. I'm not aware of any recent studies, but I'm sure that there will have been some changes. There have been some movies where the Broad Australian variety has been exaggerated. in 2022 about 50% of the population had a degree at a bachelor level or above.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Thank you, good info

[@Diggles67]

I remember when former PM Bob Hawke broadened his accent to identify with working people. He was the son of a minister and a Rhodes scholar!

[@antoniohernandez-yx6xu]

@@Diggles67 The cultivated Australians, like Hawkie are able to move through the other varieties depending on their circumstances. 😉

[@redhorsburgh..2345]

I am Victorian but have travelled most of Australia so l can speak with all three Australian accents.. l have noticed that l tend to copy the accent of the person l am talking too.

[@Philip-hv2kc]

I also noticed Hawke's tendency to broaden his accent when say he was hob nobbing with unionists or when he was being combative in interviews discussions.

[@ThaCyNiQ]

A Brit calling another accent strange is ludicrous lol

[@wendyneylon4377]

Hubby and emigrated to Perth in Western Australia in the early 80s. I noticed the Aussies had a habit of shortening words then adding an O. Your car registration was your rego, an island off our coast called Rottnest was Rotto. Some words though were lengthened with the O like my husband John who became Johno. I swore I would continue to use the words properly but of course I didn’t, I was soon speaking like the locals. Everyone was my mate or some type of Bastards… “silly bastard” or “that bastard over there”. I of course was a Pom which was fine as long as I didn’t become a “whinging Pom” or a “to and from Pom”. Italians were Dings and Greek/Slavs were Wogs. Our (now grown) sons have mates who are never called by the name their parents lovingly chose for them, there’s Pigga, Squeak, Dimmer and Damo. I’ve been here 40 yrs and wouldn’t live anywhere else, love the lifestyle, the sunshine and yes… the Aussie accent 😊

[@johnsummerfield]

I have been a regular patient at Fiona Stanley Hospital for nearly four months, over three weeks in ward 7D, then soon after a few days in 7C. The ethnic and cultural diversity of the nurses is astounding. Australians of course, but a few poms, Irish & Scots, a few mainland Europe (but not so many), Deshi of all kinds, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Africans, I think a South American. And it's a happy place to work.

[@joshuah5556]

Yeah probably leave the racial slurs back in the 80s mate

[@jillmacarthur6226]

Why do Kiwis have accents.... They sound more South African than UK English 😂

[@GenZMother]

@@joshuah5556b00mers have zero self awareness unfortunately.

[@Jez4prez1]

@@joshuah5556 calm down you ding dong.

[@johnanthonycafe2993]

This is spot on. I grew up in working class Sydney after the war and readily related to the British accents and customs I saw on the TV. Although white Australian each household would reflect something of their ancestry whether English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish.

[@brianmurphy6243]

You never mentioned the people who's land you are living on . Also , what fucking war ? Are you 120 ? . Great, that is all we need , a geriatric from WW2 with an ability in 2024.

[@johnanthonycafe2993]

@@brianmurphy6243 Just reporting on what I experienced. I cannot speak on behalf of others but with a name like Brian Murphy and the attitude of a bitter alcoholic I’d say you’re Irish ?

[@utha2665]

@@brianmurphy6243 Do you really think people in their 70s and 80s are incapable of using a computer? My father is in his 80s and he is quite adept, and not every 80 year old is suffering from dementia. Show some respect when addressing these people, they deserve better than the vitriol you just spewed.

[@triarb5790]

​@@brianmurphy6243 anyone born now has been born 'after the war' too😅. Joking aside, I've heard people born in the 70s saying the grew up in the ' post war era' ...like duhhh.

[@george.1405]

⁠@@brianmurphy6243what’s up your ass

[@jena.alexia]

*Everyone* has an accent but nearly everyone thinks they don't have an accent.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

True

[@aflaz171]

I don't have an accent until I meet people from other countries, then I have an accent, apparently as they do to me! Simples!

[@jena.alexia]

​@@aflaz171I don't think I have a distinctive accent though. Any native English speaker could understand me. Some accents though - yikes. Very hard to understand, particularly some English accents. I have to put the subtitles on for Happy Valley bc I can barely understand what they're saying.

[@Rubytuesday1569]

We'll said. ☮️

[@richardbaker7235]

@@DavidHarperAntiquesTVPeople from Adelaide say ‘darnce’ or ‘Frarnce’, the rest of us pronounce it with a short vowel sound as in ‘ant’. This is generally believed to be because Adelaide people see themselves as being a bit posh, being the only Australian state never to be populated by transported British convicts. However your theory might explain how it developed as they never had the same mix of British and Irish accents in the formative years of white settlement.

[@todd6798]

Australian English is actually the most pure English. The settlers needed to change so they could understand each other.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

True, they’d all have to accommodate one another’s accents

[@lnicko]

Very interesting! I've always been a little curious about this!🤔

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Thank you

[@berniemccafferty8642]

We don’t have a problem it’s the bloody poms that speaks funny 😳

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

And we speak funny in so many different ways…more accents per square mile than any country in the world!

[@user-he1kk4vv7z]

Nah! Its you speak funny coz your all bloody upside down!!!!!

[@theharper1]

@@user-he1kk4vv7z speak for yourself! 😅

[@flamingfrancis]

@@user-he1kk4vv7z One hopes you are not suggesting we speak through our arses? AND it's YOU'RE..... BTW...

[@keithad6485]

Poms speaking funny is called whinging. ;-)

[@TenOrbital]

Others say it is most based on the 18thC London accent. Simon Roper did a video on London accents and the late 1700s one (as pronounced by him) sounded more like Australian than any of the others. Before that they sounded West Country-ish and after headed in the Cockney/Estuary type direction. So you could say Australian was influenced by a very particular moment in London accents.

[@danpictish5457]

You are correct the host is wrong!

[@whophd]

The other day I was listening to an American on KZbin except after 7 seconds I realised it was one of the Irish accents. Just tucked in amongst what I always expected to be American because that's what the other people were speaking before and after him. That's how it became super clear to me how one accent could begin another.

[@hiramhackenbacker9096]

Yes this is what I had learnt before that the Australian accent developed from the cockney accent of that time. Though I think the Irish had some influence too from the sound of it. Accents change over time. You don't hear the broad Australian twang in the cities anymore but then you also don't hear the quasi upper class brit version of the australian accent anymore either. Apparently Sydneysiders have been influenced by the Kiwi accent in recent decades. Likewise the english being brought in by asian migrants will have some influence.

[@noxiousdow]

I just listened to Simon Roper's video and it sounds nothing like Aussie. Maybe I'm watching the wrong vid.

[@redsword1659]

The influence of black language is always ignored but is as significant an influence as any british regional tongue. Of course, there is word for that.

[@yointhebedroom83]

Amazing! I’m Aussie and had no idea but had always wondered.. Thank you so much for the knowledge 😊

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

@@yointhebedroom83 Thank you for commenting

[@benchurchill9735]

It's interesting to me when people say British when it comes to accents, when in Britain the accent changes from town to town. It shows a dense population in smaller spaces have a lot to do with accents forming.

[@kimnovak8985]

We also have 3 types of Australian accents.Broad, Neutral and Cultured. The broad they suspect also came about from slurring speech from drinking alcohol and needing to keep their mouth slightly closed to avoid swallowing flies.Think of broad accents like Steve Irwin and Paul Hogan as examples.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Love it, thank you

[@barnowl.]

@@DavidHarperAntiquesTV Aussie accents : Broad (as from Crocodile Dundee and often in the country/rural areas), General (as from Hugh Jackman and is the general accent of Aussies) and Cultured ( as from Cate Blanchett, perhaps have parents who went to private schools, elocution lessons) . Interestingly, Barry Crocker has an Anglicised 'toffy' accent because his snobby mother had BBC radio on all day of which he was made to listen. Also, I have spoken to teenage girls who I thought may have been born in the USA as they has a slight American accents. They replied no, but they had watched much American TV when very young. Thank God for 'Bluey"! When I was living in a city hostel for country students there was a supervisor from England who was a lecturer in English language including elocution. She heard me in a play role where I had to speak in a posh English accent. She complimented me on the way I spoke , with the suggestion that I could improve upon my 'strine' speech. I replied in the negative in an even broader Aussie accent ! I got a phone call one day from a male on the public phone at the hostel. I didn't have a clue who he was and could not understand anything that he was saying. So I just went along with letting the caller speak, trying to work out if it may have been someone I had met at a dance and given the phone number to. Eventually the caller twigged and asked if I knew who he was. I answered in the negative. He replied that he was my FATHER ! I had never heard my Dad on a phone-line before! My parents were Welsh.

[@norbitcleaverhook5040]

Sounds like something someone with a cultured accent would say to feel superior.

[@lllordllloyd]

​@@norbitcleaverhook5040 Private schools were, and to a degree are, all about inculcating 'signals' so the upper class can know who to help and who to crush.

[@LemonAde-zs9oz]

Snob. More likely the result of isolation. I know my accent has broadened considerably since retiring and living alone for a number years. Like all muscles, you use them or lose them.

[@stephengrose890]

It's good to know that, in time and with more and more travel aroiund the UK, you guys over there will all end up speaking Australian. Always good to get an upgrade!

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Never thought about that!

[@katv1195]

Australian British settlement was led and managed by the Navy and while all the accents are present, there's also the overarching influence of London, Liverpool and Portsmouth. Everyone had to come to Australia by sea and the cant and culture of the sailors, reinforced by the naval leaders of the colonies, is a powerful influence on Australian languages, accents and attitude. It was the one culture everyone could share - like air travellers today share share airline terminology. Your friend is your mate (cook's mate, bosun's mate etc). Sailing terms like scuppered, waylaid, dodgy, "he keeled over" and wind up are used in everyday conversation by people with no idea of their origin. An expression used by older Aussie is "I don't like the cut of his jib".

[@oufukubinta]

That's really fascinating stuff and it makes sense

[@anniedarkhorse6791]

I'm a Sydney-sider. I've noticed that a lot of people in South-Western Sydney (Bankstown area) have a slighly different accent because many are from Middle-Eastern backgrounds. I'm interested to see what other Aussies think about that.

[@carrier411]

yes, I'm a kiwi who lived in Hobart for several years. Visited Sydney, stayed in Revesby near Bankstown and I picked up the Lebanese/ME differences in accent. quite interesting.

[@helenphillips8389]

I was born a "Banky chick"back in the 60's. Totally working class. I don't think I'd recognise it now sadly.

[@jonovdp6033]

There is also a train of thought, that the Australian accent solidified during WW1, so the Australian soldiers would standout from British. If you listen to any Australian recordings in the early 1900’s Australians had an English sounding accent. After WW1, all audio recordings had distinct Australian accents. By the late 1880’s the majority of people living in Australia, were born in Australia. There was a generational conflict between the older generation who were born in Britain, and the next generation who were born in Australia. I’m sure this also played a large part in the development of our Accent.

[@trueaussie9230]

@@jonovdp6033 That suggests that 'group accents' are/can be created by conscious and deliberate effort, rather than 'organically'. That's not how it happens.

[@FlyingwithFire]

@@trueaussie9230 I think it can be both

[@trueaussie9230]

@@FlyingwithFire With very small groups of insecure people, yes. It would be very difficult to get a large group - eg an entire city - to consciously and deliberately adopt a concocted accent. To the best of my knowledge, no linguist has discovered such a phenomenon.

[@cW-jk1sw]

Thats so interesting David, thank you!

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

My pleasure!

[@chrish3126]

This is quite interesting. Makes perfect sense too

[@BlueNeahno]

Wow… David I learnt something today,that makes complete sense, also as we were settled mainly in the early 1800’s shipping and movement in general meant we traversed our country constantly thereby maintaining a general Aussie accent nationally.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Thank you. I do find accents fascinating !

[@trueaussie9230]

In the "early 1800s" there was sooooo much traffic 'traversing the outback' it became necessary to install traffic lights. That's why it was so easy for Burke & Wills; Blaxland, Wentworth & Lawson; etc to get so much 'exploring' done in the MID 1800s. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@mikespearwood3914]

Exactly. Too much rapid migration, and too rapid internal migration. I realised a year or two ago that I've been to school and worked with people from every state and territory!

[@zephyrmj]

The biggest influence on the Australian accent has a connection to the land. The wide open expanses - the focus on vowels. Just compare it to NZ with similar cultural background, but their vowels resemble the NZ land with clipped vowels.

[@susansparkler3684]

Hooray, someone else thinking of place and not just people as far as accent influence goes

[@catherinemcdade9518]

Thank you. That was fascinating. Makes sense too!

[@triocha233]

As someone who’s grandparents arrived from Italy My accent constantly switches from Aussie to Wog I have 2 accents 😂

[@garysheppard4028]

Interesting that Kiwis with much the same mix, have a similar but slightly different accent. Maybe it was not having as many convicts :-)

[@kingscres]

No, it’s the Māori influence being thrown in that makes the difference. You can tell just by the vowel differences.

[@catinthehat906]

Agreed the Australian and NZ accents are quite different? Perhaps its because there were more English and Scottish settlers in NZ and less Irish, in comparison to Australia. The Suffolk accent for example sounds a bit clipped like a Kiwi. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYKYeq2Cd9yKl7M

[@trueaussie9230]

Born and raised in Aus, with a Scots father. Now in my 70s. I can identify a LOT of Scots influence in the (general) Kiwi accent - and manner. South Aus was settled by 'upper class' English and a LOT of Welsh miners and developed a quite unique accent. Whereas Victoria had a lot of Scottish farmers that strongly influenced the accent there. MANY Scots - especially in Scotland - have recognised I have Scottish ancestry, just from my speech / accent. Most Poms never recognise my Aus accent. Aussie-Greeks immediately pick it up.

[@gregvanpaassen]

@@kingscres As in, "bro!" versus "mate!" 🙂

[@stevemcrae6614]

@@trueaussie9230that’s what I hear

[@johnferguson5930]

One thing you did not take into regard is the uncanny resemblance to the local magpies and cockatoos within the Australian accent.

[@Potatoincanada201]

As a guy who’s not Australian and has an ‘Australian accent’ I can confirm I have no idea where my accent came from…

[@bananadev]

That was so interesting thanks for making this

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

My pleasure

[@kiwinzdebz]

I agree that it is a large component of the New Zealand accent too, but I think the Māori language and pronunciation subtleties introduced by transliterations have had a much larger contribution than people generally realise.

[@jackjackson6476]

I've always wondered if it was due to a stronger Scottish influence? But there again I've heard varying NZ accents over the years i.e some really push the "I" into a "U" like fush und chups, and to most aussies NZ accent seems to pronounce six as sex.

[@kersebleptes1317]

It's the Scots influence that is responsible for New Zealand English's vowels. Many more Scots migrated to NZ than to Australia.

[@grancitodos7318]

This is only the case in the poor class.

[@kri249]

I noticed how influential the Scottish accent was to the New Zealand accent. There are some words pronounced the same by both.

[@kiwinzdebz]

Hahaha... replies proving my point. Amazing how many people would rather leave Māori out of the story than admit they could *possibly* have had any influence. Colonialist biases hard at work here. Edited to add: For what it's worth, the Scottish influence is much more prevalent in Te Waipounamu, the South Island, where many more Scottish people settled. However, most people (76.5%) live in Te Ika-a-Māui, the North Island - and yes, there are very many regional accents, although the differences can be more subtle to people from other countries.

[@GuyIncognito_]

The differences are also highly noticeable by state/territory. I'm from South Australia/Adelaide, and when I went to Melbourne and Sydney, it was clear I sounded much more English than the Eastern states population do, it's just because the region of SA was a Free Settlement not a penal colony. The Eastern states also tend to use the American pronunciation of words such as "plant", "dance", etc with the A which sounds more like an E. It's quite interesting.

[@g30rg3-c5]

I agree and that is about the only real difference I hear... aside from pronunciation and habits formed from social backgrounds.

[@simpetcla12]

Victoria was a free settlement as well

[@jamescarter9559]

Wow. Fantastic video!

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Thank you very much!

[@austenj4539]

David Harper is a joyous marvel. Always upbeat and glad to see you doing so well and with a new book. Reminds me of Adam Hart Davis from around 20 years ago with his BBC series 'Local Heroes', which is well worth checking out on KZbin.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Thanks so much

[@bradleybarnett9545]

As a teenager, I went to an English language school in a non-English speaking country. Our parents all said we pupils had an accent of our own. The various accents- English, South African, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian et cetera merged to create something new. I first heard the (fairly obvious) idea that the children of the First Fleet formed the new sound in a documentary John Clarke (a New Zealander!) made about the Australian accent. I recognised the reality straight away. I'd also suggest that children who arrived at Sydney Cove barely speaking English- Cornish, Gaelic Scots, Irish- also contributed to the accent as they worked & played with their new chums.

[@flamingfrancis]

There were 155 Irish convicts in that First Fleet and a number around 7000 followed in the next few "shipments"

[@bradleybarnett9545]

@@flamingfrancis Do you happen to know how many children arrived in Jan. 1788? I remember reading a breakdown of who the First Fleeters were, maybe in Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore.

[@neilward9932]

Did you know that sex, is what kiwis carry coal in !

[@RockinFootball_23]

That is true! I personally call it the "international school accent". It's like a general american accent but also not quite. It's strange because it's well pronounced english but it doesn't have a certain regional flavour that I would usually be used to.

[@bradleybarnett9545]

@@RockinFootball_23 I went to a British based school, the accent was an amalgam of southern English accents. I remember the kids from the International School had a version of American.

[@Westyrulz]

As an Aussie I am amazed to know that in 1820 it was noticed something funny was happening with our accent.

[@LillieTee]

Thanks for this explanation. I have often wondered how our accent developed so I found this really interesting.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

You're very welcome!

[@kayew79]

I found back in 1970s when I did the Aussie pilgrimage to England travelling on the London tube through the east end of London, reading, I thought the train was full Australians!!!

[@petermartin7350]

I've often wondered whether the Australian accent is similar to the way people spoke in Britain at the time of the first settlers. The hymn-writer Charles Wesley, writing at about that time - the late 18th century - rhymed, for example, "join" with "thine".

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Some words might likely be pronounced in the way they were in Britain, but the accent as we know it is peculiar to Australia and was never heard in Britain!

[@shadowmaster1313]

This is the reason South Australia sounds different! Because we were a later colony accent changes that started in the UK got here but not so much the other states which were more set by then

[@susansheppard9614]

I've often been called 'soooo british' by overseas people. Yet I have the thickest aussie accent. It's like they only have brits as a reference...?

[@theHentySkeptic]

They were called the Currency kids, those who were born here first, and they had Aussie accents from the get-go. All the early historians noted that, "the currency kids have a weird accent".

[@tripawayinsafehands]

That's really interesting! Thank you.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Glad you liked it!

[@robertking7772]

Thank god I speak English, Australian, New Zealand, American and part Canadian ,part Irish ,part Welsh and part Scottish ….so I understand all of them 😀

[@lindsaycole8409]

The colonial founder effect is one thing, where you end up with a diverse set of accents when plopped halfway around the world that have to mend. But there is influence by every immigrant group that came after too, and obvious example isn't accent itself, but word choice. Italian immigrants gave Australia the zucchini, but the French gave the UK the courgette. Also aboriginal language as transmitted through animal and place names has had some influences the Australian accent in subtle ways that will be difficult to untangle, mainly because of the loss of speakers of many of the aboriginal languages that were in contact first. As a perculiar holdover from the colonial days is that in Australia bedding is often still called "Manchester" from the days when Manchester was the industrial centre of the cotton trade. It ironically makes sense that it stuck in Australia where it isn't as a confusing term unlike in the UK.

[@frankryan2505]

100% remember an ABC australia doco years again which came to this conclusion. at the same time it mentioned the pushback against it, 2nd/3rd gen australians with clipped english accents (north shore types) decrying the gutter language around them.

[@racmonbrown]

Thank you for answering a question I have often thought about

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Thank you for watching

[@racmonbrown]

@@DavidHarperAntiquesTV I’m an Aussie btw haha

[@justanothercreator7273]

After travelling for a long time and then returning to Australia. The sound of a group of loud Australians at the airports are one of the most horrific sounds you will hear😂 and make you wonder “ oh god do we sound like that”

[@mikeyhau]

I had never really thought about how the accent developed, but I had noticed that the accent varies surprisingly little across the huge country. Apart from a few local variations in word usage, the accent itself seems to be determined more by social position and education.

[@owenrees7544]

I think it's becoming more homogenised in recent years due to national mass media. But even now, inner city Adelaide sounds very different to Western Queensland

[@helenebennie3961]

My mother (who came from England) said that when she first came here in 1959 she could tell what state people came from by the way they spoke. She also said you can't anymore. So things change.

[@mcgrathfilms]

That’s all true, but the other key factor is related to the way Aboriginal people talk. If you listen to Aboriginal intonation and flattening of vowel sounds you can very much appreciate how influential they were on how we talk.

[@nelsonbennett259]

Aboriginals actually invented Australian English tbh

[@mcgrathfilms]

Big contributors to be sure.

[@elgordo9031]

Gday david. Love bargain hunt on tv and your dress sense. Thanks bud. From oz.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Thanks 👍

[@phaedragardeness]

This is so cool! Thanks for being curious and working it out! I had always just assumed we have this bogan sounding accent becuase many of us descended from convicts 😅

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

You're so welcome!

[@user-zv8ph5du5t]

The Australian accent varies a lot across society, from the plummy Eastern Suburbs 'ABC newsreader' accent to the broad working class 'strine' version. It also varies from city to rural areas. The wierd thing is that this same range of accents is found in every state of Australia with very little regional variation - despite how far apart out major urban centres are. I think this must be the result of a more mobile society where people moved around from place to place but stuck with their peers in the same 'class', compared to traditional British regions where people didn't venture out of their local area much at all. Maybe also there wasn't enough time for regional variations to establish before radio and TV brought everyone together liguistically.

[@yellard6785]

👍

[@Kate-lk6tw]

Weird. Spelling promotes a sense of credibility, when it is correct.

[@purryellis]

I heard our nasal accent developed by listening to so many crows "aark, aark, aark" growing up 🐦‍⬛😸

[@Diponty]

And listening to chooks. I want a cluck!

[@chrisbenn8691]

I know it, the birds drive you bloody mental here

[@TheBloggme]

Most likely ravens*

[@ShadowAussie]

@@TheBloggme Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, magpies, jackdaws, jays, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids.

[@michaelgolubovic6330]

I reckon it's inherited from the Aborigines. Whenever I hear an Aussie imitate an Aboriginal accent they end up sounding like a more caricatured version of themselves...

[@loyalastheyget]

that was very interesting thankyou

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Very welcome

[@markdouglas9182]

I have I guess a neutral Australian accent, and Ive travelled a lot throughout Asia. A lot of expats there (Brits, Americans, Europeans) as well as some people in Asia there - had said they thought Australians speak very clearly. I'd never really thought about that?! I actually didnt think we generally did particularly. But this vid kinda explains it. Flattening of the sounds so early settlers etc could understand each other!

[@rebmedina2835]

When I was travelling Europe many years, I was asked if I was from South Africa. Then I was asked if I was from New Zealand. When I replied I'm from Soith Australia they were shocked. I said I sound like other Aussies with parents from the Mediterranean. I call my accent wog aussie

[@marynoonan6111]

It’s interesting that over a VAST area of land (most of it I admit uninhabited) that there’s buggerall difference in inflection and syllable stress between the States. There are particular words and expressions that are used in different States, but it’s a very very generic accent. We all have to ask each other “what part of Oz are you from” to be sure. Mostly I don’t even think to ask because I just assume the people are locals. Occasionally, somebody will say they’re from Broome or Darwin or far north Queensland and really, their “accents” haven’t really given me the heads up. It might be something that they’re wearing. That might give me a clue. There are a few words that the people from South Australia use, and how they pronounce words with “lour” in them, that I can be pretty sure they’re from say, Adelaide. But other than that, our accent is Amazingly homogenous, considering the tyranny of distance that it has to cover. Some say that the country people speak slower, maybe there’s something in that. But the actual accent, apart from the pace, doesn’t sound too different. America is about the same size as us but of course is far more inhabited. They have SO many accents, you can even tell in New York what borough they come from. It’s interesting to hear you say about the children of the first anglo settlers all mixing together, whereas back in Britain they’d have never ever met. I think the one thing with out accentless accent is it’s class based. We all sound like Aussies, but some are “posher” than others. Chris Hemsworth does a very funny take on it. He & his brothers are dead set Aussies as soon as they open their mouths, but they can “do” all the Socio economic accents that prevail. And they’re bloody hilarious doing it. Thanks for all your research, it’s an interesting topic. My mate is from Cork in Ireland. She says she can pick which side of the river someone lives, down to the Pub on the corner, it is that parochial. My Great Grand Father came from there, but now I sound like one of those little 1st immigrant kids.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Brilliant info thank you and I love the Cork story. It’s true, you can literally cross a river, or a range of hills and the accents changed noticeably in Britain too!

[@marynoonan6111]

@@DavidHarperAntiquesTV thank David. Keep up the good work 🦘🦘🦘

[@happylala33]

this has always been my point too. yes, there’s some slight variation but, with the exception of the very very occa, there’s rarely enough in it to pick where someone is from accurately. and yet in england with barely 20 kilometers to their name they change accents 3 times. Boggles the mind.

[@Kate-lk6tw]

Uninhabited? How you can you be so ignorant? 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[@lillynichols9884]

That was the conclusion I came to when I was in Uni (studying Theatre) we did a lot of accent and dialect work

[@jadedjourneys]

Very informative, thank you

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

My pleasure

[@flowerpower8722]

Aussies write in the King's English when necessary, being particular about grammar, using the proper boring names for things and we never ever shorten or chop words. When we speak it's to get as much out, in the shortest possible time, with minimum effort.

[@VintageCarHistory]

My wife, being a linguist, has talked about this phenomenon. She says that it take about 40 years (a generation) to establish a new dialect or accent of a regional language, so what you said regarding Down Under sounds about right. And yes, that and other great bits of info can be found in David's book, 'A Bash With The British Empire'. It's a good book and an easy read. It's a must have beside your loo for those long sessions.

[@laineymcd4074]

Nice confirmation and nice plug. 🙃

[@OriginalNethead]

It can take longer if there are "new chums" joining the mix. I'm just now starting to "hear" Los Angeles, California and have yet to reliably pin down Marin County. Too many new fish.

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Good info Bill. Don’t forget, the American accent in the 18th century would have been quite British…it was in many parts like that till the early part of the 20th century!

[@VintageCarHistory]

@@DavidHarperAntiquesTV Well, America even 240 years ago had French, Dutch and German influences (Spanish came some 60 or so years later) and all of them did not agree. Hence the wide variety of accents in the New World.

[@Myth-X]

As an Australian I never realised how different our accent is until I went over seas

[@scottbennier1335]

Like many countries, the genuine “orstraylin” accent is more noticeable in people from outside the major Australian Cities.

[@roycooper8735]

four tours Vietnam I didn't give a fuck what accent he had as long as he was watching my back

[@one4320]

5 tours of Rottnest.

[@roycooper8735]

@@one4320 four not five

[@pavlovsdogman]

By that logic so should New Zealanders and most Canadians? Where I live in Adelaide, South Australia it was a convict free state and all settlers were free settlers and the first waves came from Cornwall in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and quite a lot of Germans and Austrians then the next wave came from Eastern Europe, all over Britain, Ireland and in the country Afghan herders began arriving. This doesn't make for a classic English or "British" accent but now in modern times Adelaide is considered the most English of all the regional accents? The old money upper class english took over the finance industry but besides them most early Adelaide people were Cornish, Yorkshireman, Scottish, Irish and German which makes for 5 or 6 very distinct and different accents? Somehow after over 200 years the Adelaide accent developed into a southern coastal english accent? Which is a very clear and standard english accent and not a strong or upper class one. It's quite weird really? The rest of Australia especially Sydney and Melbourne had arrivals from British prisons but tons of free settlers also arrived from all over the world especially once it was established Australia was a safe place to migrate to and there was gold and other metals in abundance. They developed different accents altogether from each other though despite the similarities?.

[@Lorenzogino]

it's a little different for Canada and the US because of where and how populations gathered when they crossed over. for lack of a better term for it, the US and Canadian colonies were more 'segregated' than the Australian ones, mostly because of easier access to habitable land in North American meaning communities could more readily split off from one another.

[@donna6592]

@@pavlovsdogman Adelaide people never miss an opportunity to brag about South Australia being a “convict free state”. 😂 As for the accent, South Australians certainly sound much more English in comparison to other parts of Australia. South Australian’s ridiculous mispronunciation of the word “Laygo” rather than the correct “Lego” for example.

[@456eec]

@@donna6592 I grew up calling it Laygo but have since learned the reason for this. When Lego was first introduced to Oz (in the 50s before TV) they advertised for reps in each state. Interviews were done by phone and the reps appointed. The SA rep was never explained how it was pronounced and he thought it was Laygo and this was what he told everyone. The pronunciation stuck. There used to be a shop at Port Adelaide that sold everything Lego and was called "Laygo". The owner of this shop told me this story.

[@CaptainSlappy-c3l]

That's super interesting! I always thought accents evolve anyway on there own but this makes more sense 😊

[@virginiarundle4005]

I was taught Received Pronounciation or R.P. English at school in Sydney. I think it was agreed by educationalists that this was the preferred English accent, taught to BBC broadcasters apparently. It was also taught in South Africa, New Zealand and India. I speak quite differently to a lot of other Australians and I never realised why until I started watching KZbin videos on pronunciation. My parents also spoke Received English, which is fascinating, especially since my father's family were very early Colonialists.

[@mikequinn6206]

A former employee, an Englishman living here in Adelaide, told me that if he fronted the bar in the next village to his, a 10 minute walk away, he'd have trouble understanding the bloke next to him, even though they'd both have grown up in their respective villages!

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

That’s true. You can cross a river and the accent changes…I’ve literally experienced this!

[@trueaussie9230]

BECAUSE they'd grown up in their respective villages - with minimal 'outside' contact / influence.

[@stephenlitten1789]

@@DavidHarperAntiquesTV I think Germany might be on a par - their language and accents change not only N-S but W-E with the same parochialism.

[@catherinefrancis3537]

Ok so if English people from one town to the next can’t understand each others’ accent how come there’s no Leveling in England in order to be understood? Is there just no desire to mix with each other 😂

[@IamFreefromtheWokeLeft]

BRITISH. England is not a sovereign country......Act of Union 1707!!

[@zappababe8577]

I can hear remnants of the Cockney accent in the Australian accent

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

Yes, I agree, especially with older Australians who haven’t picked up the Americanisms that are creeping into all western accents!

[@adamroodog1718]

we had our own rhyming slang as well. my grandfather spoke it fluently my father was fluent but didnt speak it much and i just know a fair few words.

[@terencemccarthy8615]

@@DavidHarperAntiquesTV sad but true….some younger Australians are not only using Americanisms but to my ear they sound like.americans…😡…l blame the World Wide Web!

[@dcmastermindfirst9418]

Lol "remnants". Cute.

[@mattbarbarich3295]

I think there's 4 actually. Paul Hogan has the broad old fashioned Aussie accent and a true bogan one is different, more exaggerated as that classic TV interview of the young bloke telling the reporter what happened after a confrontation with a vandal outside a shop😂.

[@Jonathanmccallum1]

Fantastic video thanks ❤

[@DavidHarperAntiquesTV]

So nice of you

[@corystevens7029]

There is also the indigenous Australian influence on Australian English, lending not just new vocabulary, but a "rattley" sound to the accent. This came into the accent as indigenous Australians learnt English and spoke with an accent to their children, elements of this accent were preserved by the children and spread through the communities, some features arriving in the Broad Australian accent (Steve Irwin) before arriving in the general Australian accent (Hugh Jackman).