Phonology
Trap–bath Split
In Australian English, pronunciations vary regionally according to the type of vowel that occurs before the sounds nd, ns, nt, nce, nch, and mple, and the pronunciation of the suffix "-mand". In words like "chance", "plant", "branch", "sample" and "demand", the vast majority of Australians use the short /æ/ vowel from the word "cat". In South Australia however there is a high proportion of people who use the broad /aː/ vowel from the word "cart" in these words. For example, a survey of pronunciation in different cities found that 86% of those surveyed in Adelaide pronounced graph with an /aː/, whereas 100% of those surveyed in Hobart and 70% of those surveyed in Melbourne used /æ/.
Because of the prevalence of the South Australian long a, the South Australian accent appears to be closer to Cultivated Australian English than other state dialects.
"L" Vocalisation
The tendency for some /l/ sounds to become vowels (/l/ vocalisation) is more common in South Australia than other states. "Hurled", for example, in South Australia has a vocalised /l/, leading to the pronunciation "herwd", whereas in other states the /l/ is pronounced as a consonant. The "l" is vocalised; for example, "milk" sounds like "miuwk" and "hill" sounds like "hiw". A back allophone of /ʉː/,
Read more about this topic: South Australian English