Australia we need to talk!

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RP symbols cast a long shadow...

0:00 Introduction: weird stuff
2:49 The 7 closing diphthongs
5:02 The RP-centric tradition
7:43 Daniel Jones
10:00 The class system & Pygmalion
14:13 Australian English & transcription
16:55 /iː/ lives on
20:16 Missing generalizations
21:27 Methodology & diphthongal GOOSE
23:44 The 7 AusE diphthongs before vowels
24:22 Diphthong glides & symbols
27:44 FLEECE and NEAR
28:32 Bad consequences

[Elesario]

Surely an Australian Diphthong would be called a Dip-flip-flop in the UK?

[dannyslammy]

As an Australian, a lifetime ESL teacher and a somewhat patchy student of linguistics who shies away from phonetics precisely because I've run into this exact problem and incredibly complex but contradictory symbology which seemed to be completely lacking any satisfactory explanation ... this is just a ... bloody big relief. Thank you Geoff. I just would not have had the patience, probably should say attention span, in this lifetime to sort out something that has been gnawing at me like an ulcer for many years. Thanks again!

[brianocampo]

No wonder why when I used to transcribe Australian English words for international Chinese students who are familiar with IPA, they could not believe that my ad-hoc transcriptions could be so utterly different from what they received in 'official' dictionaries

[caretakerfochr]

I am reminded of the old joke: The British General is addressing newly arrived Australian troops. "Did you come here to die ? " "Nah, we kime here yester-die".

[skittering]

the most convincing proof of FLEECE and GOOSE being diphthongs, imo, is just playing recordings backwards, as you did in one of your earlier videos. You can clearly hear the 'y' and 'w'.

("yipee" and "woohoo" sound the same backwards and forwards, kind of mind-blowing the first time)

[brenatevi]

The cut to the wasteland of explanations cracked me up.

[dr.everyzig]

I didn't even know they had monophthongs in Australia, they all sound like dodecaphthongs to me

[parhwy]

I've worked in a call centre for 25 years. I'm Australian living in Australia. I would have spoken to 200, 000 different Aussies, from Wurrimiyanga to Joodalup to Parramatta to Penguin and so on. I should've been taking notes of regional and socio-economic uniqueness. Imagine where the data is N=200, 000!

True story: Only one caller has ever picked me as having a Victorian accent. He was an Englishman. I asked how. His reply? "I spent time in a Victorian prison" HAHAHAHA

[royd]

Watching the Australian English vowel drift in real-time is truly fascinating. 😀

[saiyajedi]

11:28 [re: Pygmalion and a scene involving teaching Eliza a vowel]: “Can you guess which one?”
ME: “Ooh! It’s ‘FACE’, isn’t it? ‘The rain in Spain stays mainly in the—’”
11:30: “That’s right — ‘FLEECE’!”
ME: “Oh.”

[MorganHJackson]

I won't say I fully understand what's being said, but I do quite appreciate the accuracy about Australian English, not just in the analysis but also in the perfect accent. I mean, no surprise from a linguist of his level, but still, this guy has one of the few perfect Australian accents done by a foreigner.

[SOBIESKI_freedom]

Australia accepts your apology. Much carnage has been averted.

[thelibraryismyhappyplace]

😂 Glad i stayed all the way to the end (after the patron names on screen)

[FairyCRat]

"...by clicking the link in the description down under."


*slow clap*
that was good.

[TheGrant]

I have long felt that there are "covert diphthongs" in Cultivated Australian, RP and related registers. And have similarly pondered the oddities of pronunciation cited in dictionaries from the OED to the Macquarie. This explains it perfectly. With all my heart: thank you, Geoff!

[clairem]

Have you ever watched the Australian comedy show “Kath and Kim”. The affected ‘posh’ accents of ‘Prue’ and ‘Trude’ are hilarious. I think you’d enjoy them.

[rachelbroughton]

As an Australian linguistics lover I can’t tell you how excited I was to click on this video!

[magyarbondi]

As a learner of English before the audiovisual internet (we had to copy audio from cassettes back then), I was lucky that my English teacher started our learning journey with pronunciation.

Ever since then, I take extreme care of ‘correct’ pronunciation, this channel is a gem.

[clerigocarriedo]

When Germans are taught /i:/ as a monopthong (instead of /ij/) they end up sounding like Henry Higgins. "Ok, this one's easy, just like our /i:/". I'm afraid not! Similar problem for French and Italians.

[bhami]

Re: 9:00 Daniel Jones: As an American speaker, it boggles my mind that anyone could think that "ship" and "sheep" have the same vowel. As I sustain each vowel indefinitely, it's obvious that the "sheep" vowel is far tighter with a far higher tongue.