| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Australians talk that way because their ancestors were drunk, says academic Thread poster: Samuel Murray
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Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 21:49
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Hello everyone
I found this funny, but I think there might be a grain of truth in it (that also applies to other languages).
Let's get things straight about the origins of the Australian accent. Aussie-speak developed in the early days of colonial settlement from a cocktail of English, Irish, Aboriginal and German – before another mystery influence was slipped into the mix.
The Australian alphabet cocktail was spiked by alcohol. O... See more Hello everyone
I found this funny, but I think there might be a grain of truth in it (that also applies to other languages).
Let's get things straight about the origins of the Australian accent. Aussie-speak developed in the early days of colonial settlement from a cocktail of English, Irish, Aboriginal and German – before another mystery influence was slipped into the mix.
The Australian alphabet cocktail was spiked by alcohol. Our forefathers regularly got drunk together and through their frequent interactions unknowingly added an alcoholic slur to our national speech patterns. For the past two centuries, from generation to generation, drunken Aussie-speak continues to be taught by sober parents to their children.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-fourth-r-missing-from-australian-education-20151025-gkhv8k.html
What do you think?
Samuel
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Added:
http://mashable.com/2015/10/28/australia-drunk-accent/#sB0qaVWHhOql
Is it true that it is taken for a fact that the Australian accent may be due to early settlers trying to speak in a way that kept the flies out of their mouth? Surely that can't be a serious suggestion!
[Edited at 2015-10-30 12:41 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kirsten Bodart
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:49
Dutch to English
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| Interesting... | Oct 30, 2015 |
My husband joked it could have to do with the sun being in their eyes all the time . Though that would have required them not to speak at all during the night...
It could potentially also have to do with the early population being criminals who would have spoken in the most awful accents too. Even officials employed over there to keep them under control would have spoken their regional dialects, as received pronunciati... See more My husband joked it could have to do with the sun being in their eyes all the time. Though that would have required them not to speak at all during the night...
It could potentially also have to do with the early population being criminals who would have spoken in the most awful accents too. Even officials employed over there to keep them under control would have spoken their regional dialects, as received pronunciation only came in around the end of the 18th century with the rise in social mobility. Even Mr Darcys would have spoken in a regional accent.
So if you drop people at the other end of the world, they'll perpetuate what they know and if you then drop people with them who don't speak the language at all like Germans, they'll make it 'worse' or at least take over what's there.
Part of the reason that US English and Canadian has a rhotic r is because when the first people moved there at the time of Shakespeare, the rhotic r that can still be heard in the dialects of western England, Ireland and Scotland was standard all over. ▲ Collapse
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I just wonder how this person with no academic background in linguistics gets his ridiculous claims published.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:49
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
cyaneidae wrote:
I just wonder how this person with no academic background in linguistics gets his ridiculous claims published.
"Dean Frenkel is a lecturer in public speaking and communications at Victoria University."
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Vanda Nissen
Australia
Local time: 05:49
Member (2008)
English to Russian
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| I find it scary | Oct 31, 2015 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
"Dean Frenkel is a lecturer in public speaking and communications at Victoria University."
I find it scary that Victoria University has hired so called expert without any academic background to teach students. The ones who have the loudest voices are not always the most intelligent ones.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 21:49
Spanish to English
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| Ivory towers | Oct 31, 2015 |
Mr Frankel may have little or no "academic background" but at least he doesn't appear to have had a sense of humour bypass, unlike some armchair critics out there...
| | | | | The Evolution of Speech | Nov 1, 2015 |
Dean Frenkel writes in his book 'The Evolution of Speech': "The story of speech is a captivating tale of human history, biological feats and triumphant progress. The 'science of speech' is a biological wonder that incorporates a complex network of neurological functioning and precise muscular activity. It is a monumental feat of coordination and communication. All the functions of speech are really quite astounding, yet it has been a quiet achiever".
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 15:49
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| It can be included in a book called | Nov 1, 2015 |
" The most useless information" or "the least useful study results".
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The first (western) settlers were criminals, poor and uneducated people who probably liked a drink or two and didn't speak Shakespearean English. In short, it might be an "old" English dialect, just like Afrikaans, which is based on old Dutch from the 17th and 18th century.
[Edited at 2015-11-02 22:52 GMT]
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 01:19
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | The early European Australians perhaps | Nov 4, 2015 |
But the ancestors of many (if not most) modern Australians are Indians, Chinese, Lebanese and other Arabs, who speak a variety of languages from Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Gujarati to Chinese and Arabic.
Many of them are highly qualified professionals with impeccable accents in English as well as in their own languages.
[Edited at 2015-11-04 12:06 GMT]
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My parents were always drunk but I don't have an Aussie accent
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 21:49
French to English
maybe you should try following your parents' example to see what happens to your accent? The results could be quite exciting, I'm sure!
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| I said the first "Western settlers" | Nov 4, 2015 |
Balasubramaniam L. wrote:
But the ancestors of many (if not most) modern Australians are Indians, Chinese, Lebanese and other Arabs, who speak a variety of languages from Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Gujarati to Chinese and Arabic.
Many of them are highly qualified professionals with impeccable accents in English as well as in their own languages.
[Edited at 2015-11-04 12:06 GMT]
The rest came after and English was already the lingua franca. Furthermore, the people you are are talking about (most of them) came from English dominated territories. India, Pakistan and a large part of Arabia were English colonies, and they also had a large influence in China.
I said first "Western settlers". The continent was already inhabited by the Aboriginals, but hey, who is talking about them?
| | | | | Drink more .... | Nov 4, 2015 |
Chris S wrote:
My parents were always drunk but I don't have an Aussie accent
.... and you get there.
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 01:19
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | You are sadly mistaken | Nov 5, 2015 |
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Furthermore, the people you are are talking about (most of them) came from English dominated territories. India, Pakistan and a large part of Arabia were English colonies, and they also had a large influence in China.
If you think India and Pakistan are English dominated countries, you are out of sync with reality. And when did the English exert any influence on China, except perhaps in Hong Kong? And if you think Arabia was an English colony and should be well up on English, by that logic, the Spanish should be fluent in Arabic as Spain was a colony of of the Ottomens for eight hundred years.
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