New Zealand English

Swetlana Braun Marijana BubicJana BurdachLinda Rohlfing

Rabea Schwarze

Content

• Origin• Variations• Pronunciation• Vocabulary• Comparison of NZE and Australian

English

Pronunciation

• New Zealand English is close to Australian English in pronunciation

• But - shows more affinity to English of Southern England - shows influence of Māori Speech - shows some Scottish and Irish influences

• main differences of New Zealand English in comparison to other Englishes are shifted vowel sounds

Pronunciation

Front vowels and the flattened 'i'• front vowels are pronounced higher in the

mouth than in British English• the most noticeable difference is the flat

"i", which is lower and further back so that „illusion“ is pronunced in a way sounding like „allusion“

• „allusion, illusion“

• „Pete pit pet pat“

The Additional Schwa• Newzealanders will insert the schwa to words such as

grown, and mown, resulting in grow-en and mo-wen• but groan and moan are unaffected which means that

these word pairs can be distinguished by ear, unlike in British English

• „groan, grown“

• „moan, mown“

Distinction between /eə/ & /ɪə/• Words like "chair" and "cheer", (/tʃeə/,

/tʃɪə/) are usually pronounced the same way (/tʃɪə/, that is as "cheer" in British, American or Australian English). The same occurs with "share" and "shear" (both pronounced /ʃɪə/), bear and beer, spare and spear.

„kea, care, cheer, chair“ „beer, bear“

„spear, spare, shear, share“

Lack of distinction between /ɔ/ & /ɐ/

• There is a tendency for some words to be pronounced with /ɔ/ rather than /ɐ/, especially in those cases where the vowel with this particular sound is a stressed "a".

• words like "warrior" and "worrier" are harder to differentiate in New Zealand English than in many forms of English.

Lack of distinction between ferry and fairy

• for many speakers of New Zealand English, the vowel in ferry is raised and becomes indistinguishable from fairy

• the vowel length distinction is almost always retained

„ferry, fairy“

Use of mixed accents• The common New Zealand pronunciation

of the trans- prefix rhymes with "ants„. This produces mixed accenting of the a's

in words like "transplant" whereas in British English and most dialects apart from Australian English the same accent is placed on both syllables.

„example, transplant“

Comparison of New Zealand English and Australian English

• Mixing-bowl theory• NZE influenced Australian English• Great variation of influences

Consonant system• /l/ vocalization distinct feature of NZE

and developing feature of South Australian dialects

• Yod-dropping

Vowel system• Long vowels, RP /a:/…• Monophtongs are pronounced as

diphtongs (e.g. fleece)• Diphtongs from high-mid to low

central (e.g. face, price, choice)• Long vowels and diphtongs shifted

counterclockwise form their RP counterparts

• Short vowels (kit, dress, trap)• Chain shifts