Undoubtedly, alcohol has played a role in the establishment of heaps of countries, but perhaps none quite so pronounced as Australia.
According to research from Victoria University in Melbourne, it’s very possible that the Australian accent is a result of a “drunken slur” caused by the heavy drinking of the early settlers.
“Our forefathers regularly got drunk together and through their frequent interactions unknowingly added an alcoholic slur to our national speech patterns,” says public speaking and communication lecturer Dean Frenkel.
This makes a lot of sense because, hey, who has time for vowels and consonants when you’re drunk?
“Missing consonants can include missing ‘t’s (impordant), ‘l’s (Austraya) and ‘s’s (yesh), while many of our vowels are lazily transformed into other vowels, especially ‘a’s to ‘e’s (stending) and ‘i’s (New South Wyles), and ‘i’s to ‘oi’s (noight).” writes Frenkel. And then continued with, “Our forefathers regularly got drunk together and through their frequent interactions unknowingly added an alcoholic slur to our national speech patterns… Aussie-speak developed in the early days of colonial settlement from a cocktail of English, Irish, Aboriginal and German – before another mystery influence was slipped into the mix.”
Much has been made about the decline of “proper” speaking skills in Australia, which is responsible for the “the most brutal maltreatment which has ever been inflicted upon the mother tongue of the great English speaking nations,” as Winston Churchill once remarked.
Australians, meanwhile, seem remarkably cool with the discovery (even if some experts are calling it a crap theory).
Either way, good on ya, mates!
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