Ockers tossing fewer vowels on the barbie

It sounds suspicious but, strewth, is your average Aussie sounding more cultured - and less Crocodile Dundee - these days?

Two speech scientists tracking a century of change in the Australian accent have found an increasing shift away from the stereotypical broad Australian English - a la [Crocodile Dundee] Paul Hogan - and a move to a more generalised form.

"Part of the reason is that the stereotypical accent has been stigmatised because it sounds really ocker," said Macquarie University researcher Felicity Cox.

"People want to be more generally known as Australian but not carry those connotations of ockerism."

Dr Cox said people were determined not to sound like Hogan, Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin or television's mum and daughter "westies" Kath and Kim.

"When we think of the broad stereotypical type we think of people like Steve Irwin. That accent is a kind of a caricature of an Australian.

"It's not real. It's also associated with something stereotypically Australian - from the past perhaps."

Dr Cox told the Sydney Morning Herald Australians were finding their identity through a more general accent, which was neither cultivated nor broad.

Articulating how this change occurred was not easy for Dr Cox or fellow researcher Sallyanne Palethorpe, who have spent 15 years attempting to identify the three strands of Australian English: educated-cultivated, general and broad.

Dr Cox said there was no evidence of the Australian accent becoming more American.

"We'll occasionally find words that are pronounced in the American way rather than the British way, but that's more to do with the lexicon, not the pronunciation of vowels."

The large number of New Zealanders living in Australia had also failed to make a discernible impact.

"We're certainly not seeing any New Zealand influence either.

"In fact we're seeing a divergence."

- NZPA