Australian accent developed from ‘drunk’ speech

An Australian communication expert has claimed that the country’s distinctive accent is the result of a “drunken slur” caused by the heavy drinking of early settlers.

In a post written for The Age, Dean Frenkel, public speaking and communication lecturer at Melbourne’s Victoria University, claims “the Australian alphabet cocktail was spiked by alcohol”.

“Our forefathers regularly got drunk together and through their frequent interactions unknowingly added an alcoholic slur to our national speech patterns.

“For the past two centuries, from generation to generation, drunken Aussie-speak continues to be taught by sober parents to their children,” he wrote.

In the post, Frenkel calls for Australian schools to teach verbal expression and delivery, and asserts that poor communication is “not related to class” but is “evident among all sectors of Australian society”.

He explained: “The average Australian speaks to just two thirds capacity – with one third of our articulator muscles always sedentary as if lying on the couch; and that’s just concerning articulation.

“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).”