h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

do we have to learn it word by word.. or is there some sort of unspoken rule..about different sounds..

for instance..when I see Coober Pedy...written.. I would assume that Pedy is pronounced.".Ped ee" but Aussies pronounce it..
"Peed ee"

so just wondering who a foreigner.. would be able to figure things out.. not make such mistakes..

G'day - g-dai,

There are no hard & fast rules - Aussies argue about the pronunciation of some "Aussie" words.

Take for example MANUKA - a suburb of our capital city Canberra.

People who live there pronounce it Mar-nick-a everyone else in the country says Man-oo-ka!

Good luck.

If it was going to be pronounced Ped-ee it would probably be spelt Peddy

3

There are no rules. You have to hear each word as it is spoken. Some peculiarities I have noticed in Australian place names are;
Goondiwindi - pronounced gUndiwindi
Yabulu - pronounced YabulA
Wee Waa - pronounced We War (rhyming with whore)
Gympie - pronounced Gimpee with a hard G as in God


Some annoying Australian pronunciations include the letter H, where they acctually pronounce it "Haytch"
Another one is the pronunciation of O in certain words (especially by women) Eg. The phrase "I am going home to make a phone call" becomes "Oy am goy-ing hoym to make a Phoyn call"

I´ve tried to figure things out about pronunciation, since I teach the subject. unfortunately, I have access only to American and English pronunciation and I would like to know more about Aussie pron.
Any comments?