Aussie-American?!

[Dennis R. Preston]

Peter,

It ain't only in Strine that /ey/ is "floating" to /ay/. The "Southern US
Shift" has just such a feature. /ey/ moves toeards /ay/ (into the space
presumably credted by the monophthongization and fronting of /ay/; /iy/
(presumably later) falls into /ey/ space. The lax vowels (/e/ and /i/) have
raised onsets and diphthongize (but with a centering rather than rising
glide).

Similar features can be observed in London, South Africa, etc... , but with
different details.

dInIs

>Did anyone on this list happen to hear the report on NPR this morning about
>the Microsoft trial?
>
>Among those interviewed was one of Microsoft's attorneys.  The minute he
>opened his mouth, I said to myself, "Australian," because of the tell-tale
>diphthong in words with the same vowel as "mate."  But as he continued
>speaking, I was perplexed by his use of an "American r" and some other
>features (which I've forgotten now, darn it!) that sounded like the
>American South.  It sounded like some "shallow" (as opposed to deep)
>southern dialect but with that distinctive Australian diphthong.  Since I
>was driving at the time, I had no way to make a quick transcription of a
>sample.
>
>Does anyone know of an actual dialect like this--or did this have to be an
>Aussie who moved here and has tried to change his speech with only about 50
>percent success?
>
>Peter Mc.
>
>
>****************************************************************************
>                               Peter A. McGraw
>                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
>                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu


Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736