Australian English Phonology

Vowel System

/ɔ ɔː/ in the table below are in two different places. This is because they could be considered in either position. /ɔ/ is open-mid rather than close-mid like the other mid vowels, and it is very laxly rounded, if rounded at all. /ɔː/ is used only in the word "gone" [gɔːn]. It's not an allophonic variation of /ɔ/ or /oː/. It's worth noting that if we consider /ɔ(:)/ unrounded, then all unrounded vowels have long/short pairs, and rounded vowels are long, aside from /u/, which doesn't contrast with a unrounded vowel.

AusE monophthongs according to TAMcL

	Front	Front rounded	Back unrounded	Back rounded
High	i iː	yː		u uː
Mid	e eː	øː	ɔ (ɔː)	oː
Low	æ æː		a aː	ɔ (ɔː)

AusE diphthongs

	Start front		Start back
	Start high	Start low	End unround	End round
End high	ɪi	æi	oi	ɔy
Mid		æɔ	ɑe

Hiatus

Like many languages, Australian English forbids hiatus. Here is how it resolves the problem obtained when two vowels collide:

If the ffirst vowel is in set (1), then [ɹ] is added:

(1) ɪː eː aː oː øː ə uə~uː

If the fist vowel is in set (2), then [j] is added:

(2) æi ɪi ɑe oi

If the first vowel is in set (3), then [w] is added:

(3) æɔ ʉː ɔʉ

If the first vowel is in set (4), then it can’t end a word:

(4) ɪ e æ æː a ɔ u

Examples:

Here is a fair amount of far and away the poorest examples of Australian hiatus. These’re only on display if you can see ’em. I always saw the boy in the window, until a cow interfered with you over there. Keep low or you might be hit.

hɪː-ɹ-ɪz ə feː-ɹ-əmæɔnt əv faː-ɹ-ən ewæi ðə poː-ɹ-əst ɪgzæːmpəlz əv əstʃɹæɪliən hɑe-j-æɪtəs. ðɪizə-ɹ-ɔʉnli ɔn dəsplæi-j-ɪf jə kən sɪi-j-əm ɑe-j-oːwæiz soː ðə boi-j-ɪn ðə windɔʉ, antɪl ə kæɔ-w-intəfɪːd wɪθ jʉː-w-ɔʉvɐ ðeː. kɪip lɔʉ-w-ə jə mɑet bi hit