by David Williamson & Mohamed Khadra
Ensemble Theatre in Kirribilli's premiere of David Williamson's new collaboration with Mohamed Khadra entitled At Any Cost? I helped cast member Tyler Coppin smooth out the creases in his Australian accent - even after living here for a few decades his native American still pokes through. A consummate professional and award winning talent - a privilege to work with!
The cast of At Any Cost?, directed by Sandra Bates.
As a general rule (and please note this is completely separate from my private sessions with Tyler) Americans seem to have difficulty with the Australian GOAT diphthong - especially before nasal consonants as in words like only, own, or home. Aussies use much less lip rounding and the first part of this diphthong tends to be much lower and more fronted than the round American sounds - closer to a TRAP vowel. Also final plosive consonants can be a challenge - we don't tend to give them a lot of release, and especially in connected speech they are either voiced or run together with following consonants.
Also DRESS vowels need less space, especially before voiced consonants - as in bed, when, them, well.
One of the most useful images I have found to use with any non-Australian attempting our General Australian accent is to imagine a plate in the mouth, keeping the lips spread and the jaw close.
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