AUSTRALIAN ACCENT

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 141, 12 December 1923, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN ACCENT

The Australian accent. Mr. Lawrence Campbell, one of Sydney's leading elocutionists, attributes to ignorance on the one hand. and. on the other; to a strong objection on the part of the Australian youth to appearing in any wav pedantic or different from his fellows. Mr Campbell, m/a lecture on the subject, quoted the opinion of the British Medical Association, which, he said had pointed out that a large number of school teachers were not themselves acquainted with the best methods of using the voice properly, and they were not. tneretore, able to impart such methods to their pupils. Mr. Campbell instanced some striking examples of the peculiarity of the Australian accent. He took the long "a" in the word "day," for instance, but said that the word moro often sounded something like "die." Then there was the letter "i," as in try." The'well of pure English, however, was so aefifed that "try" became 'tray,'- or "troy," very often. The same with the word "nice." which flowed out of the mouth very often as "nace "' Mr. Campbell, by the way, quoted an utterance of Mr. Fisher, Minister of Education in the Lloyd George Government, and a noted educationist, which ought to be framed in every household where there is any regard for the English language. Mr. Fisher's words are worth quoting: "To speak and . to write English clearly and correctly, to read English in such a manner as to bring out the full value of its meaning and its music, to enjoy without affectation the ' principal glories of English literature, these are the chief prizes which every parent should desire his children to win from their education."