Australia not Australian

[Occams Barber]

I have heard before the claim that American accents preserve an earlier English sound than what is currently spoken in England (ie. it's the English in England that changed more over time).

Yes and No, sort-of but not really.
It's a very complex topic.
For instance, comparing the Appalachian dialect (stereotypical 'hillbilly') to Elizabethan English may have been little more than a ploy by a North Carolina tourism organisation to try and counteract the negative aspects of the Appalachian hillbilly image.

This BBC article is an interesting (to nerdy little me ) summary of some of the confusion:

How Americans Preserved British English
​

(@Francis Drake - this might also interest you)
OB

 

[OzSpen]

That's great! I'd love to study in Australia or NZ. I love fishing & hunting, I heard NZ has some of the best places for that in the world.

I do hope you can get to visit us Down Under, whether Aust or NZ.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Shame on you for accepting such absolute hogwash at face value. I've read Frankel's fact free opinions on this and heard him speak. He confuses being drunk with sounding drunk, speech with writing and goes beyond simple articulation to suggest we're all incapable of expressing ourselves. (listen to the interview embedded in the article I've linked below - the link is at the bottom of the article - I couldn't stop laughing)

As a teacher in public speaking Frankel is an outstanding example of the adage;

When all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail​

But don't take my word for it. Here's an opinion from a professional linguist:
Claims Aussie accent slurred because our forefathers were always drunk 'absolute rubbish' says expert (ABC, Oct 2015)
(Interview link is at the bottom of this article)
OB

Thanks for the correction. I only read the initial report and have never seen a rebuttal. Not being Australian, I just found it mildly interesting - enough to remember, but not to read up about in any depth. This just shows how rubbish the internet is as a source though - I searched for this now on multiple platforms, and my results only mention the rebuttal of the claims at the bottom of the page or on the second, after all the various news outlets reporting the claim. The mechanism sounded plausible; as the poenal colony, Royal Navy and the Army, all had rum or other liquor rations daily; so everything was taking place at some level of inebriation.

 

[Occams Barber]

Thanks for the correction. I only read the initial report and have never seen a rebuttal. Not being Australian, I just found it mildly interesting - enough to remember, but not to read up about in any depth. This just shows how rubbish the internet is as a source though - I searched for this now on multiple platforms, and my results only mention the rebuttal of the claims at the bottom of the page or on the second, after all the various news outlets reporting the claim. The mechanism sounded plausible; as the poenal colony, Royal Navy and the Army, all had rum or other liquor rations daily; so everything was taking place at some level of inebriation.

Don't worry about it Quid.

I've used the odd source and only realised later that it wasn't all it appeared to be.

In a backhanded way Frankel was almost right - we don't have a drunken slur but we still drink too much.
OB

 

[prodromos]

In a backhanded way Frankel was almost right - we don't have a drunken slur but we still drink too much.
OB

I resemble that comment!

 

[Bob Crowley]

InZiddish​

OB

Is InZiddish a variation of Yiddish? Or does it just sound that way to us Strine speakers?

Mind you others might have difficulty interpreting Strine in its native form eg. "Didjaaveagoodweegend?"