“Austrayan” accent facing extinction?
January 26th, 2010 - 2:41 pm ICT by ANIMelbourne, January 26 (ANI): It maybe the end of the line for the distinctly Australian twang, suggest speech scientists.
Experts explained that the melting-pot of multicultural voices and dialects may push the “Austrayan” accent out the window.
Macquarie University phoneticians Felicity Cox and Sallyanne Palethorpe launched a new interactive website, Australian Voice, urging citizens to upload their own voice clips in a bid to save the tone.
“Many factors have played a part in shaping the way we speak, from the dialect mix present in the early days of the colony, to social change during World War I, the dismissal of the Whitlam Government, and the increasing linguistic diversity resulting from multi-culturalism,” the Daily Telegraph quoted website co-founder Dr Felicity Cox as saying.
“Today, there are many children born to migrant parents who speak a variety of ethno-cultural Australian English varieties that reflect their ethnicity which is non-Anglo, such as Lebanese Australian, and that affects their accent,” Dr. Cox added.
Dr Cox continued: “People say you can tell the difference between South Australians and Queenslanders. And differences will grow as we become more diverse.” (ANI)
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Tags: accent, co founder, daily telegraph, dialect, dialects, dr cox, ethnicity, extinction, felicity, linguistic diversity, melting pot, migrant parents, multicultural voices, queenslanders, sallyanne, south australians, speech scientists, twang, voice clips, whitlam government
