Phonological change in AusE

Changes in vowels

A number of phonological changes have been studied since the descriptions of AusE by Mitchell and Delbridge and Bernard first appeared. Cox and Palethorpe (2001: 25–29) compared their acoustic study of vowels collected from a group of men during the 1990s with a similar acoustic study reported by Bernard (1970) who collected his data in the 1960s, also from males. The summary of the changes are shown in Table 3. They note that these changes follow patterned relationships. The raised second target of the MOUTH vowel follows the raised LOT vowel and the fronted second target of the GOAT vowel follows the fronted GOOSE vowel. The fronted GOOSE and NURSE vowels represent a parallel shift and raised LOT and FOOT provide an example of a change shift.

The variation in the pronunciation of the GOAT vowel is of particular interest. Mitchell and Delbridge were the first to comment on the unusual behaviour of this vowel in their survey of adolescents in the 1960s. “A curiously variable glide is heard in the South Australian recordings. It ranges from  and from [ɔʊ] to [ɒy]. This group of sounds is the only one that emerged from our survey which seemed to be regionally distinctive” (Mitchell and Delbridge 1965: 84). Cox and Palethorpe (2001: 40) indicate that for their Sydney speakers, the first target has shifted toward [ɔ] and the upward glide is quite fronted, approaching [y] before /d/.