I’ve always considered the Australian accent to be fairly homogeneous across regions, but certainly there isn’t the extreme diversity that the UK and America have. How much diversity is there, and what are the various characteristics? How long would it take you to tell a Cockroach from a Cane Toad when you meet him in the street?
I have lived all my life in the urban inner suburbs of Adelaide, as have several generations of my family, so from my perspective the accent in other major cities around Australia is very different. They sound very harsh to my ears. Overly abrupt, loud and nasally vowels, etc.
People can pick my Adelaide origins everywhere I go, so there’s that.
What distinguishes the Adelaide accent?
Here’s a short Wikipedia article on the subject.
The difference in the vowels is the main distinguishable trait that people within Australia can pick up on. In Adelaide you are more likely to hear longer, rounded vowels (see the trap-bath split section in that article) whereas in the rest of Australia they are more likely to be abbreviated and nasally. Personally I think people in Adelaide also have a clearer enunciation on average compared to the rest of the country, though non-Adelaideans don’t seem to notice/comment on this difference as often.
What llandar said, but basically we sound a bit more ‘posh’.
I’ve heard it attributed to the fact that Adelaide didn’t have convicts, just free settlers. So more refined British accents influenced the way people spoke as opposed to broader and more diverse accents. Could be complete rubbish, not sure.
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