Quote:
Originally Posted by wodin
I recall a few years ago attending an international convention where there were several Kiwis and a number of Aussies from several Australian states. My admittedly untrained ear was unable to discerned a difference.
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Aaah - I can comment on the Kiwi accent as I am a Kiwi, and also a speech teacher! I can detect some of the regional accents within Kiwi - the Scottish burr of the original settlers in the Otago accent at the bottom of the South Island, and the infuence of Samoan in the Auckland accent at the top of the North Island. Maori speakers have their own English accent as well, which also influences the rest of the population.
Admittedly, Kiwi and Strine are alike - as the American and Canadian accents are alike (to us). But each has its 'shibboleth", as in the Canadian "out - oot".
Kiwis don't use a clear "i" sound as in 'bit'. They pronounce it rather like 'but', with a flat vowel sound. They would say "vusual sumphony" rather than "visual symphony", and an Australian Sydneysider would say "veesual seemphony".
Kiwis also have lost the ability to distinguish between the 'eer' and 'air' sounds. When I asked my students to give me as many meanings for a word as they could remember, I used the spoken word "peer", (which could also be spelled "pier" ). To my astonishment, all 54 students I had that week started by stating that a "peer" was a fruit you could eat. Not one of them mentioned looking at something closely, or tying up a boat. And they couldn't distinguish between my carefully enunciated "peer" and "pair"
They also transpose the 'eer' and 'air' sounds. So, you'll find that pilots in the NZ 'ear' force can suffer from 'air' ache.
So, each country, and area within a country, develops its own accent in a hundred years or so, and not one of them is right or wrong, just different. And to each country, other accents are attractive or not. Usually the French accent is considered very attractive by any English, but apparently the Spanish don't like the French accent (presumably when the French are speaking Spanish).