Accents

The main colonists of South Africa were British, just as they were in Australia and New Zealand.

South African English and New Zealand English are both more clipped than Australian English.

The influences on South African English are Dutch, which gives a slightly gutteral tone that doesn't occur in Australian speech (except among Dutch migrants). There is a tone and inflexion that comes from the indigennous speech.

The influence on New Zealand English is Scottish, as there was a higher percentage of Scottish immigrants to NZ than to OZ. New Zealand speech respects the consonants far more than OZ speech does. However, the most singular and defining characteristic of NZ English is the manner in which they modify vowel sounds. These are minimised so that many sounds are similar (to the ear of anyone not from New Zealand). It can be impossible to tell whether a Kiwi is talking about a pin, a pen, a pan, a pun or upon. They all come out as a pn. As for six, sex, sacks, socks and sucks.... it can be very confusing! This characteristic in New Zealand English appears to come directly from a similar characteristic in the language of the indigenous Maoris.

In Australia, the bulk of the earliest European settlers were working class people from Southern England and London. This includes convicts, and military personnel who made up a large number of the original settlers. Later shipments of convicts included many from Ireland. There were also Scottish convicts settlers, and in 1810 a Scottish regiment accompanied the new governor, Lachlan Macquarie.

There was a shortage of women, and many of the convicts who had served their term probably took aboriginal wives. There are characteristics of modern Australian speech that have similarities to indigenous speech. One characteristic is that Australians, proabably more than any other English-speaking people, smile while they are talking. If you want to imitate the long flattened vowel sounds of Australian speech, then put your front teeth together, grin as widely as you can and recite the Lord's Prayer (or anything else you know well) making sure that your lips don't touch.

These long flattened vowels, and a disrespect for consonants are the defining characteristics. HOWEVER, Queenslanders, while retaining the length of the vowel, do not define its sound as clearly as elsewhere in OZ, so that many vowels are reduced to "er" or the "uh" sound that occurs as the second vowel in "cabbage" or "apple".

Some years ago a book was published by the mysterious Professor Affabec Lauder called "Let Stalk Strine". For the uninitiated, "Strine" is the word "Australian" corrupted to the fullest possible extent. The book included gems like "Aorta" (through which flows the lifeblood of the community) as in "Aorta do sumpthin about them rye-wyes" and "Bin-bim-by" as in "Arm arm! Eye bin-bim-by a farn webs pider!"

The classic example that I collected was at the soup-market in Sinny. It went like this "Snow ewes both carrin thuh shoppy-gnome. Wecan gome inner car! Isle gome getter car!" to which her friend replied "Jeeez, yor real nize-ter me!"

The capital city is Kairm-bruh, and trains leave Sinny from Sennel Rye-Wye.

Do hope that this simplifies the issue!









"great minds think differently"