Alcoholic explanation for Australia’s special accent seems far-fetched

Clearly, there is more to the term “colonial hangover” than a mere longing for the mores and customs of a phase of foreign suzerainty. At least that is the implication of the assertion by an Australian professor that his country’s distinctive accent was not merely the result of Aboriginal, Irish and German influences but also because the early settlers were quite literally “under the influence” (of the alcoholic kind) when conversing. It does seem rather remiss of the more sober descendants of these drunken speech pioneers to pass down the garbled version to their unwitting children. Of course, the first practitioners of this accent were probably not even aware of the effects of drunkenness on their conversations, much less of the effect it might have on subsequent generations of Australians.

Hopefully, Australians will not take this slur on their lilting accents lightly. In fact, they should aver that it is total ‘rhot’ anyway. After all, there are many theories on the regional variations in English pronunciation, some seemingly more credible than others. For instance, the typical nasal drawl of the New Yorker is often blamed on the need for voices to cut through the ambient traffic noise. But that would not quite explain the sheer variation the accents of spoken English in India, leave alone Africa and Europe, would it?