Why do so many countries have different accents for different regions....but not Australia?

Question

So many countries have different accents and you can tell what part you are from.

Here in Australia, we have one accent. Some words are pronounced differently, but you wouldn't be able to tell where someone is from.

Why is that?

Answer 1

Contrary to popular thought, the MAIN reason there is less diversity of accent and dialect amongst Australians than the U.S. or Britain display, is NOT the result of the relative youth of the nation. Rather, there was less diversity in Australian English to START with.

Compare:

BRITISH ENGLISH -
The various Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) who invaded Britain after 437 AD brought with them their own dialects of West Germanic. These formed the basis for the emergence of later dialect areas.

(see David Crystal, *The Stories of English*)

U.S. ENGLISH -
The main dialect areas of the US are rooted in the four main migrations of English speaking people to America from the British Isles during the colonial period (1607-1775).

Summary:
1. New England - Puritan Migrations (1629-40) from East Anglia
2. Coastal South (Virginia to Florida) -Cavalier Migrations (1642-1675) from South England
3. New Jersey, Pennsylvania - Quaker migrations (1675-1725)from the Midlands area of England (near Wales)
4. Appalachian English - Scots-Irish migrations (1715-1775), mostly English people from Britain's Celtic fringe (North England, Northern Ireland)

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/AmericanDialects.htm
(see also studies of the different cultures these four groups brought, reflected to this day -- in David Hackett Fischer's *Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America*)

In other words, it was not just a matter of dialects growing up and growing apart over the centuries. Rather, from the very BEGINNING distinct groups from different regions each brought their OWN variety of English (or 'pre-English'!).


The reason Australian English is less diverse is that there was not such diversity in the dialects of the FOUNDERS of English-speaking Australia. DO note that there ARE varieties of Australian English -- generally analyzed as three types, largely falling along class lines. But still not with the degree of diversity found in regional dialects of American English, much less the dialects of Britain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English
(see esp. section on "Varieties of Australian English")

Answer 2

There are regional and syntactical differences between Australian regions, but Australia is still such a new country, we haven't had time for these to become pronounced.

There is a particular Aussie drawl that gets stronger in regional areas, and is less pronounced in urban areas, where Received Pronunciation (the "Queen's English") appears to have had a more lingering effect. Radio and television recordings from 50 years ago are a good example of Received Pronunciation having a strong presence in Australian urban areas, and influencing our spoken language.

It's possible to tell a country person from a city person, but that's not always accurate, as city people can easily fake or exaggerate a regional Aussie accent.

Answer 3

There must be different accents in Australia, maybe with very slight differences between ones and others. The thing is that usually it's not easy nor common to listen to our own accent when speaking. Probably there's something such as a standard accent that could be considered as widely spoken by Australian people, but certainly, there must be distinctive features in the way each region speaks.

Answer 4

Because we are so nice, we don't ever want anyone to feel different.

When I travel people always assume I come from England, but when I say I am Australian, they say I don't sound Australian. When pressed if they think we all talk like the ex crocodile hunter or Paul Hogan, they say the people they have met from Australia sound more like that than I do. I think perhaps male Aussie travellers ham up the Aussie accent to make an impression.

What really surprised me, was listening to some Australian speeches recently from the 1930's and wow did they sound different. Nothing like us today at all!