The Australian Accent: Origins and Evolution

Venue: Kathleen Fitzpatrick Theatre, Arts West

Presenters: Associate Professor Felicity Cox

Australian English differs from other Englishes of the world in its syntax, lexicon and idiom, but it is the phonology that immediately signals ‘Australian’ to a listener. The phonology determines the unique characteristics of the Australian accent but what is the nature of the Australian accent today and how has it evolved in response to the rapidly changing society in which we live?

Unprecedented cultural change has led to increased linguistic variation in the community necessitating a reevaluation of ideas about Australian English and its various forms. In particular, it has been important to acknowledge the wide range of ethnocultural and indigenous varieties and to demonstrate a greater awareness of social and regional variation within mainstream Australian English. The proportion of the Australian population born overseas is currently at its highest point in 120 years so it is timely to examine how the accent has changed over this period and to consider the impact of sociocultural variation on language change.

In this talk the origins and evolution of the Australian English accent with reference to acoustic analyses of both archival and current speech data to illustrate where the accent has come from, how it got to where it is now, and where it may be headed will be explored.

Associate Professor Felicity Cox is Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University.

from
https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/7484-the-australian-accent-origins-and-evolution