In a world where regional accents and dialect seem to be disappearing due to the smoothing effect of instantaneous mass-media, Australians and new Zealanders seem to be going their own way. Now "letters" and liters" are one and the same for many of them. "Pen" was once easily-distinguishable from "pin," but not much any more, in many English-speaking countries. Is it normal for every language to become less and less complex over time?
This kind of linguistic drift has been going on for as long as there's been language. Here's the example I'm familiar with: Great Vowel Shift - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I think it makes more sense to understand culture and language is not static. It remains a thing of flux and change. Bob Wilson
No, but they do drift around. If they got simpler with time, English would be down to just three words by now.
New Zealanders have spoken like this for years: it's as if they're speaking with their mouths full of fush and chups. But not Australians. I find that a lot of British and American people can't tell the difference between a New Zealand accent and an Australian one. But they are wildly different. The comment you've made really only covers Kiwis, not Aussies. But I'm sure Grumpy Cabbie will agree: the only people who speak English properly are from Northern England.
No, it's Canadians. They're the most familiar with various 'British' and 'American' accents, and are the best able to correct for them. Oz and NZ aren't really that difficult to distinguish, either.
Years ago we had a visit to NZ and my daughter attended a couple months of "kindy" (kindergarten) there. She immediately adopted a thick NZ accent, which was quite shocking. Thankfully the accent went away just as fast as she acquired it.
Yes, but even Yorkshire is a close approximation of proper English. Apart from their "Eeh by gum"s, and calling everybody "love", the only major linguistic difference is that we say "sheep" and they say "girlfriend".
When I worked for the BBC Overseas Services in London, we had a short wave transmitting site at a remote location in the North of England, of which it was said "Where men are men and sheep are nervous."
That would have been very weird. My kids may not have the same accent as me, but at least it's a constant. How long were you in NZ if she picked up the accent? I got an e-mail over Christmas saying that my best friend from school (high school - 11-18) is coming to Sydney on holiday later this year. He has a similar accent to mine - North-West of England - but he lives in LA. It'll be weird to sit in the garden chatting to a schoolfriend in our accent while my Australian kids play with his American kids. If the sheep didn't want it, they'd all run away to Lancashire.
Just got to NZ, for a cruise, will be in Oz in 10 days will report back as to any detectable linguistic variations.
Yes that should be good interaction to see. We were in NZ 5 months but I think the accent was picked up much faster than that. About as fast as I got used to driving on the wrong side of the street in my rental Holden. I wonder if we made any audio tapes, I know we had a cheap cassette deck with us, popular in those days.
That must have been fun. Was it for work? 5 months is a good length of time to get a feel for a place, I think. If you're ever feeling nostalgic, you should be able to find "Police Ten 7" - the Kiwi version of "Cops" - online. It's broadcast here, I think for homesick Kiwis. I think you'll find you were driving your rental Holden on the right side of the street. It's Americans who are doing it wrong. There's UPROAR here about people saying that this year the London fireworks might have been better. The Sydney ones are always brilliant, and they've always been the best New Year fireworks by miles. But I have to admit I was impressed by the London ones when I saw them on TV. We moved house the week before Christmas. But we haven't sold the old place yet, and the garden has a perfect view of the Harbour Bridge for the fireworks. So we watched it from there: a little over 1km over the sea due west of the centre of the bridge. Mum and Dad got here on the morning of New Year's Eve, and they're staying at my old place for a few weeks - they're taking advantage of free accommodation. The fireworks were a perfect welcome for them.
I really need a good mens clothing shop in Auckland, NZ as my luggage still hasn't arrived. Sydney is the last day if I don't get new underwear by then I doubt any of the Ozzies will want me out wandering around.
