I wrote, quoting Kristian Jensen:
> (I have local friends who have lived some years in
> Queensland, and if I ask about accent differences I might
> be able to get some info, if that would interest anyone).
Have done this. Of course, my friends weren't paying
attention to accents at the time, but they tell me:
* Queensland pronunciation of 'school' etc is like the South
Australian one, not like the New South Welsh one. So that
settles that.
* Queensland /I/ is closer to [a] than elsewhere in the
country, which probably means it's [V].
> > For instance, words like "no/know" get rendered as
[no-y].
..
> I'm quite certain my speech does not contain [o], although
> my singing voice does. When I sing, no/know are [no:].
When
> I speak, they contain a diphthong that begins with a
> neutralish vowel (perhaps [rounded-V]?) and ends with
vowel
> #3 in my list above. [i.e. the vowel in _moon_]
> > >2. The vowel in good/book/wool/woman is similar to [w]
> > > but a little wider.
..
> > In fact, it seems to me that Australian /U/ is quite
> > the opposite of American /U/ -- more closed and more
> > rounded. Indeed, its articulation is quite a lot like
[u].
..
> > Obviously, this makes Australian /U/ much closer to /w/
> > than Australian /u/.
I think I'm with you. Of course, Australian is closer to
British than American, and when I picture the British /u/ in
my head it's just like the Australian AFAICT, i.e. not at
all [w]. Phonetic symbols might be useful.