From saying 'zee-bra' to putting 'like' in every sentence: Why Australian kids are sounding more American every year
The speech of Aussie kids is becoming more and more American to fit in with friends who watch US television and films, a speech pathologist has revealed.
Children are developing American accents, such as peppering 'like' and 'basically' in everyday speech, communication expert Lana McCarthy said.
Children's accents change as they enter school, another expert has explained.
The speech of Aussie kids is becoming more and more American, a speech pathologist has revealed
Parents may have noticed their little ones pronounce 'zebra' as 'zee-bra', holidays have become 'vacations' and biscuits are now 'cookies'.
It might be blamed on American YouTubers and TikTokkers, but communications consultant Ms McCarthy said parents aren't imagining the change.
She said the change in language is due to schoolchildren's exposure to 'the Americanisation of English', particularly on TV, reported the Daily Telegraph.
As children enter school, you can expect their accents to shift drastically from sounding like their parents to their peers.
While children originally develop their voice from family, they eventually imitate their peers in order to be accepted into social groups.
'Children have an innate desire to be part of a group, a social peer group, they take in the speech of those around them,' Professor Felicity Cox from Macquarie University said.
An expert has said the change in language is due to schoolchildren's exposure to 'the Americanisation of English'
While the Australian accent originally derived from the English, it has been impacted by the many dialects of people from around the world who have settled here.
The many cultural groups in Australia will force the accent to change in the future as children take on each other's pronunciations, said Dr Cox.
'That is how the original form of Australian English developed in the early days of the colony,' she said.
'European children born in the new colony began communicating with each other and taking on the speech patterns of their peers which came from a whole range of British accents.'
Children are developing American accents, such as peppering 'like' and 'basically' in everyday speech, communication expert Lana McCarthy has revealed