This article covers thephonological system ofNew Zealand English. While most New Zealanders speak differently depending on their level of cultivation (i.e. the closeness toReceived Pronunciation), this article covers the accent as it is spoken by educated speakers, unless otherwise noted. The IPA transcription is one designed byBauer et al. (2007) specifically to faithfully represent a New Zealand accent, which this article follows in most aspects (see table under§ Transcriptions).
The vowels of New Zealand English are similar to that of other non-rhotic dialects such as Australian English and RP, but with some distinctive variations, which are indicated by the transcriptions for New Zealand vowels in the tables below:[2]
The original short front vowels[æ,e̞,ɪ] (TRAP, DRESS, KIT) have undergone achain shift to[ɛ,e̝,ə].[3] Recent[when?] acoustic studies featuring both Australian and New Zealand voices show the accents were more similar beforeWorld War II and the short front vowels have changed considerably since then as compared to Australian English.[4] Before the shift, these vowels were pronounced close to the corresponding RP sounds. The stages of the shift are described below.[5]
KIT[ɪ] was first centralised to[ɪ̈] and then was lowered to[ə], merging with the word-internal allophone of/ə/ as inabbot/ˈɛbət/. This effectively removes the distinction between full and reduced vowels from the dialect as it makes/ə/ a stressable vowel.
The now-close-midDRESS[e] was further raised to near-close[e̝]. This encroaches on the vowel space ofFLEECE.[6]: 9
Realisation ofDRESS varies between near-close front[e̝], near-close near-front[ɪ], close-mid front[e], or close-mid near-front[e̠].[7]
Cultivated NZE retains the open pronunciations[æ] forTRAP and[e̞] forDRESS and has a high centralKIT ([ɪ̈]).[1]
The difference in frontness and closeness of theKIT vowel ([ɪ̈~ə] in New Zealand,[i] in Australia) has led to a long-running joke between Australians and New Zealanders whereby Australians accuse New Zealanders of saying "fush and chups" forfish and chips[3] and in turn New Zealanders accuse Australians of saying "feesh and cheeps" in light of Australia's ownKIT vowel shift.[8][9][10]
COMMA
In the morpheme-final position, the distinction between/ə/ (KIT, COMMA, LETTER) and/a/ (STRUT) is neutralized towards the open/a/ in the word-final position and towards the mid/ə/ elsewhere. For instance, the plural ofsofa[ˈsaʉ̯fa] is[ˈsaʉ̯fəz], with the mid/ə/.[11][12][13] Because of that, the names of the lexical setsCOMMA andLETTER are not used in this article.
KIT
Before the velar nasal, the vowel is much more close and front ([ɪ]) than in other environments. Some speakers also use this variant before/ɡ/ and, less often, before other consonants. It is transcribed with a plain ⟨ə⟩ in this article and so not differentiated from other allophones of/ə/.[14]
Initial unstressedKIT is at times as open asSTRUT, so thatinalterable/ənˈoːltəɹəbəl/ can fall together withunalterable/anˈoːltəɹəbəl/, resulting in a variable phoneticKIT–STRUT merger. This is less common and so it is not transcribed in this article.[12][13]
FLEECE
TheFLEECE vowel/iː/ may be realised with a slight on-glide when the word is stressed, with/fliːs/ becoming[fləis].[15] This onglide is increasingly becoming the main way to differentiateFLEECE fromDRESS in younger speakers as the latter vowel is a very closed[e̝] and there is a negligible length difference between theFLEECE vowel/iː/ and short vowels.[6]: 9
The unstressed close front vowel inhappy andvideo istense and so it belongs to the/iː/ phoneme:/ˈhɛpiː/,/ˈvədiːaʉ̯/.[13][16][17]
GOOSE
TheGOOSE vowel/ʉː/ is very central, and may be realised with an on-glide, with/ɡʉːs/ becoming[ɡəʉs].[15]
NURSE
TheNURSE vowel/øː/ is not only higher and more front than the corresponding RP vowel/ɜː/, but it is also realised with rounded lips, unlike its RP counterpart. John Wells remarks that the surnameTurner/ˈtøːnə/[ˈtøːnɐ] as pronounced by a New Zealander may sound very similar to a German wordTöne/ˈtøːnə/ (meaning 'tones').[18] Possible phonetic realizations include near-close front[ʏː], near-close central[ɵ̝ː], close-mid front[øː], close-mid central[ɵː], mid front[ø̞ː] and open-mid front[œː].[19][20][21][7] It appears that realizations lower than close-mid are more prestigious than those of close-mid height and higher, so that pronunciations of the wordnurse such as[nø̞ːs] and[nœːs] are less broad than[nøːs],[nɵːs] etc.[19][22] Close allophones may overlap with monophthongal realizations of/ʉː/. Sources conflict on whether there may be a potential or incipientNURSE–GOOSE merger.[24]
STRUT,START
STRUT/a/ forms a short-long pair withSTART/aː/, which means thathut/hat/ contrasts withheart/haːt/ purely by length, like in Australian English. The quality of those vowels is that of retracted cardinal[a]:[a̠,a̠ː], open central[ä,äː], or somewhat higher[æ̠(ː)~ɐ(ː)].[7][25][26]
TRAP–BATH split
New Zealand English has theTRAP–BATH split: words likedance/daːns/,chance/tʃaːns/,plant/plaːnt/ andgrant/ɡɹaːnt/ are pronounced with an/aː/ sound, as inSouthern England andSouth Australia.[8][27] However, for many decades prior to World War II there existed an almost even split between the pronunciation ofdance as/daːns/ or/dɛns/,plant as/plaːnt/ or/plɛnt/, etc.[28]Can't is also pronounced/kaːnt/ in New Zealand (like Australia but unlike the North American pronunciation/kænt/ with theTRAP vowel). Some older Southland speakers use theTRAP vowel rather than thePALM vowel indance,chance andcastle, so that they are pronounced/dɛns,tʃɛns,ˈkɛsəl/ rather than/daːns,tʃaːns,ˈkaːsəl/.[29]
THOUGHT
TheTHOUGHT vowel may have an off-glide, typically word-finally, turningmore/moː/ into[moːə].[30]
LOT
TheLOT vowel is open-mid, close to[ɞ] and[ɔ], more precisely between[ɞ̠] and[ɔ̟].
TheFOOT vowel/ʊ/ is close-mid (close to[ɵ]),[7] and may become centralised, even when stressed, so words likegood/ɡʊd/ are pronounced closer to[ɡəd], andcould andkid may sound the same,[kʰəd].[15][31]
Changes before/l/
Before/l/,/ʉː/ is retracted to[uː], and/e/ is lowered to[ɛ] (seesalary–celery merger), yielding a merger withTRAP. These changes make words liketoo[tʰʉː] sound different fromtool[tʰuːl] and leads toEllen andAlan both being pronounced/ˈɛlən/. Mergers before/l/ may occur between/iː/ and/iə̯/ (as inreel/ɹiːl/ vsreal/ɹiə̯l/, the onlyminimal pair) and/ʊ/ and/ʉː/ (pull/pʊl/ vspool/pʉːl/).[27][32]
Māori English
Māori English has a more fronted and loweredDRESS vowel.[6]: 16
TheKIT vowel is less central, and is used in unstressed syllables where schwa would be expected[6]: 16 (due to the merger ofKIT and schwa).
TheTHOUGHT vowel is lowered compared to General New Zealand English.[6]: 16
TheGOOSE vowel may be more fronted in Māori English.[6]: 16
TheNURSE vowel may be more rounded and more fronted.[6]: 16
Pasifika English
Features identified as being part of a uniquePasifika English sociolect include a raisedKIT vowel, reduced diphthonisation ofGOOSE andFLEECE, a loweredDRESS, and for some a retracted and loweredTRAP.[6]: 17
Part 1 of New Zealand English closing diphthongs, fromBauer et al. (2007:99).[ɒʊ] represents the phonetic outcome of a neutralization of the non-prevocalic sequences/ɒl/ and/aʉ̯l/.Part 2 of New Zealand English closing diphthongs, fromBauer et al. (2007:99).Centring diphthongs of New Zealand English, fromBauer et al. (2007:99). The speaker in question does not differentiate between/iə̯/ and/eə̯/.
On the Cultivated end of the spectrum, the starting points of the fronting-closing diphthongs/æɪ̯/ and/aɪ̯/ are front[æɪ̯] in the first case and central[äɪ̯] or advanced back[ɑ̟ɪ] (both hereafter written with ⟨aɪ̯⟩) in the second case. These are the usual NZE realizations.[33][34] On the Broad end of the spectrum, they are both retracted, so that/æɪ̯/ acquires a central onset[äɪ̯], whereas the first element of/aɪ̯/ is retracted and rounded to[ɒɪ], sometimes with raising to[ɔɪ] (both hereafter written with ⟨ɒɪ⟩), approaching theCHOICE vowel/oɪ̯/ but without an actual merger. This means that the diphthong[aɪ̯] can stand for either vowel, depending on the variety of NZE. However, unlike the front vowel shift, rounded variants ofPRICE are stigmatised, and younger female speakers tend to opt for the conservative variants of those diphthongs even when they exhibit the most advanced variety of the front vowel shift, which leads to thewhite rabbit[ˌhwaɪ̯tˈɹɛ̝bət] phenomenon (note the Cultivated[aɪ̯] but Broad[ɛ̝]).[33]
The ending points ofFACE/æɪ̯/,PRICE/aɪ̯/ andCHOICE/oɪ̯/ vary between close-mid front[e] and close front[i].[35] In Cultivated NZE,FACE[æe̝] consistently has a higher offset thanPRICE[ae̯], much like in General Australian English, but in Broad NZE they normally have the same ending point[e]:[ae̯,ɒe̯].[1][36] In General NZE, they have been reported to differ as[æe̯] (with a close-mid ending point) vs.[ae̞̯] (with a mid ending point) by one source.[34] Elsewhere in the article, the offsets of the fronting diphthongs are written with ⟨ɪ⟩ regardless of their precise height, following the way they are usually transcribed in English.
The onset of/æʊ̯/ is normally raised open front,[æ], whereas its ending point varies between the close back[ʊ] and the close central[ʉ]. Unlike in Australian English, the open-mid back ending point[ɔ] does not occur. In Broad NZE, the starting point is higher, giving[ɛ] or[ɛ̝], whereas the offset is centralized and unrounded to[ə], effectively turningMOUTH into a centring diphthong that encroaches on the Cultivated realization ofSQUARE. This[ɛə] realization is gaining ground among younger speakers of the General variety. The Cultivated realization is[äʊ̯] (hereafter written without the diacritic), a glide from the open central position to the close back position, which differs from the General NZEGOAT/aʉ̯/ only by the backness of the second element.[37][38] According to one source,[aʊ̯] is sometimes also used in General NZE, though more commonly with a somewhat more front onset:[æ̠ʊ̯].[34]
The starting point of/aʉ̯/ is[ä], whereas its ending point is close to cardinal[ʉ], making it a glide fromSTRUT toGOOSE.[37][39][40] In certain phonetic environments (especially in tonic syllables and in the wordno), some speakers unround it to[ɨ], sometimes with additional fronting to[ɪ], makingno sound likenigh.[41] In the Cultivated variety, the onset is mid central and rounded, whereas the ending point is more back:[ɵ̞ʊ̯].[1]
The starting points of/iə̯/ and/eə̯/ are identical ([ɪ]) in contemporary NZE. However, conservative speakers distinguish the two diphthongs as[ɪə̯] and[e̞ə̯].[1]
Sources do not agree on the exact phonetic realizations of certain NZE diphthongs:
The onset of/oɪ̯/ has been variously described as close-mid back[o][40] and mid near-back[ö̞],[34] both overlapping with the allophonic range ofTHOUGHT/oː/.[7]
The starting point of/ʉə̯/ has been variously described as near-close central[ʉ̞][34] and near-close near-back[ʊ].[40]
CURE
TheCURE diphthong/ʉə̯/ (as in "tour") is becoming rarer,[42] and tends to be found only following/j/.[30] Most speakers use either/ʉːə/ or/oː/ instead.[42]
NEAR–SQUARE merger
TheNEAR–SQUARE merger (of the diphthongs/iə̯/ and/eə̯/) is on the increase, especially since the beginning of the 21st century[43] so that the phrasethat's neither here nor there is pronounced[ˈðɛtsniːðaˈhiə̯noːˈðiə̯] in General NZE, withhere rhyming withthere. In Cultivated NZE, the distinction is maintained:[ˈðætsniːðaˈhiə̯noːˈðeə̯]. Similarly,beer andbear as well asreally andrarely are homophones:[biə̯],[ˈɹiə̯liː].[3] There is some debate as to the quality of the merged vowel, but the consensus appears to be that it is towards a close variant,[iə̯].[37][44] The proportion of teenagers showing the merger increased from 16% in 1983 to 80% in 1999.[45] The merger is nearly complete, with most younger speakers being unable to tell the two diphthongs apart.[6]: 13 As the merger is not yet fully complete, it is transcribed only in phonetic transcription, whereas in phonemic transcription the distinction is maintained:/ˈðɛtsniːðaˈhiə̯noːˈðeə̯/, etc.
Changes before/l/
Before/l/,/aʉ̯/ becomes[ɒʊ̯],[34] makinggo[ɡaʉ̯] sound different togoal[ɡɒʊ̯ɫ]. This vowel change may lead to a merger withLOT (/ɒ/) (doll[dɒɫ] vsdole[dɒʊ̯ɫ]),[46] especially when the/l/ isvocalised. This has been labelled theGOLD lexical set byBauer et al. (2007:98).
Sources differ in the way they transcribe New Zealand English. The differences are listed below. The traditional phonemic orthography for the Received Pronunciation as well as the reformed phonemic orthographies for Australian and General South African English have been added for the sake of comparison.
New Zealand English is mostlynon-rhotic (withlinking and intrusive R), except for speakers with the so-called Southland burr, a semi-rhotic, Scottish-influenced dialect heard principally inSouthland and parts ofOtago.[51][52] Older Southland speakers sound the[ɹ] variably after vowels, but today younger speakers use[ɹ] only with theNURSE vowel and occasionally with theLETTER vowel. Younger Southland speakers pronounce[ɹ] inthird term[ˌθøːɹdˈtøːɹm] (General NZE pronunciation:[ˌθøːdˈtøːm]) but not infarm cart/ˈfaːmkaːt/ (same as in General NZE).[29] Amongr-less speakers, however, non-prevocalic[ɹ] is sometimes pronounced in a few words, includingIreland[ˈaɪ̯(ə)ɹɫənd],merely[ˈmiə̯ɹɫiː],err[øːɹ], and the name of the letter R[aːɹ] (General NZE pronunciations:[ˈaɪ̯ə̯ɫənd,ˈmiə̯ɫiː,øː,aː]).[53] SomeMāori speakers are semi-rhotic, although it is not clearly identified to any particular region or attributed to any definedlanguage shift. The Māori language itself tends in most cases to use an r with analveolar tap[ɾ], like Scottish dialect.[54]
Pronunciation of/l/
/l/ isvelarised ("dark")[ɫ] in almost all positions, and is oftenvocalised to some sort of near close back vowel in syllable codas, so thatball is pronounced as[boːɯ̯~boːʊ̯~boːɵ̯].[55][8][31] Even when not vocalised, it is darker in codas than in onsets, possibly withpharyngealisation.[56] Vocalisation varies in different regions and between differentsocioeconomic groups; the younger, lower social class speakers vocalise/l/ most of the time.[10]
Pronunciation of⟨wh⟩
The traditional distinction between the/w/ and/hw/ phonemes no longer exists for most speakers. It is mostly only older speakers who retaina distinction betweenwine andwhine. All speakers are more likely to retain it in lexical words than ingrammatical words, therefore even older speakers have a variable merger here.[57][58][50]
As with Australian English and American English, the intervocalic/t/ and/d/ may be a flapped[ɾ], so that the sentence "use a little bit of butter" may be pronounced[jʉːzɐˈɫəɾɯbəɾ‿əvˈbɐɾɐ].[57] Evidence for this usage exists as far back as the early 19th century, such asKerikeri being transliterated as "Kiddee Kiddee" by missionaries.[59] In addition, in more careful speech/t/ may be realised as africative rather than a plosive, such as in words likecity.[60]
There is an increasing tendency for syllable-final plosives (/t/ and to a lesser extent/p,k/) to be either reinforced or replaced with aglottal stop.[31]
Pronunciation of/hj/
Like other accents, pronunciation of syllable-onset/hj/ may be realised as[ç].[50]
Retraction of/s/
The/s/ at the beginning of consonant clusters, typically/stɹ/ and/stj/, may instead be pronounced as/ʃ/, making words likestudent andstupid pronounced[ˈʃtʃʉːdənt] and[ˈʃtʃʉːpəd] respectively.[30]
The dropping of/j/ is uncommon but variable, and occurs more regularly in the wordnew[nʉː].[30] The yod is sometimes also dropped indebut, hence[dæɪ̯ˈbʉː].[61]
Pronunciation of⟨th⟩
A relatively recent phenomenon is⟨th⟩ fronting, where interdental/θ,ð/ are realised as labiodental[f,v]. This feature was not present in New Zealand English until the end of the 20th century. A 2003 analysis found that word-final⟨th⟩ sounds are fronted roughly half the time, with the wordwith being fronted more commonly than other words, and⟨th⟩ sounds in other places are fronted around a quarter of the time. This realisation is not consistent even within the same sentence.[62]⟨th⟩ fronting is also common in Pasifika English, and may be insteadstopped, producing[t,d] for/θ,ð/.[6]: 17
In Pasifika English,/θ,ð/ may berealised as stops[t,d] as well as the aforementioned[f,v].[63]
Some New Zealanders pronounce past participles such asgrown/ˈɡɹaʉ̯ən/,thrown/ˈθɹaʉ̯ən/ andmown/ˈmaʉ̯ən/ with two syllables, the latter containing a schwa/ə/ not found in other accents. By contrast,groan/ɡɹaʉ̯n/,throne/θɹaʉ̯n/ andmoan/maʉ̯n/ are all unaffected, meaning these word pairs can be distinguished by ear.[10][64]
Thetrans- prefix is usually pronounced/tɹɛns/; this produces mixed pronunciation of the letter A in words liketransplant/ˈtɹɛnsplaːnt/.[64] However,/tɹaːns/ is also heard, typically in older New Zealanders.
The name of the letterH is almost always/æɪ̯tʃ/, as in North American, and is almost never aspirated (/hæɪ̯tʃ/).[65]
The name of the letterZ is usually the British, Canadian and Australianzed/zed/. However thealphabet song for children is sometimes sung ending with/ziː/ in accordance with the rhyme. Where Z is universally pronouncedzee in places, names, terms, or titles, such asZZ Top, LZ (landing zone),Jay Z (celebrity), orZ Nation (TV show) New Zealanders follow universal pronunciation.[citation needed]
The wordfoyer is usually pronounced/ˈfoɪ̯.ə/, as in Australian and American English, rather than/ˈfoɪ̯.æɪ̯/ as in British English.[citation needed]
The word and combining formgraph is pronounced both/ɡɹaːf/ and/ɡɹɛf/.[citation needed]
The worddata is commonly pronounced/ˈdaːtə/, with/ˈdæɪ̯tə/ being the second most common, and/ˈdɛtə/ being very rare.[citation needed]
The pronunciations of many Māori place names wereanglicised for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but since the 1980s increased consciousness of the Māori language has led to a shift towards using a Māori pronunciation. The anglicisations have persisted most among residents of the towns in question, so it has become something of ashibboleth, with correct Māori pronunciation marking someone as non-local.[66]
Some anglicised names are colloquially shortened, for example,Coke/kaʉ̯k/ for Kohukohu,the Rapa/ˈɹɛpə/ for the Wairarapa,Kura/ˈkʉə̯ɹə/ for Papakura,Papatoe/ˈpɛpətaʉ̯iː/ for Papatoetoe,Otahu/ˌaʉ̯təˈhʉː/ for Otahuhu,Paraparam/ˈpɛɹəpɛɹɛm/ orPram/pɹɛm/ for Paraparaumu,the Naki/ˈnɛkiː/ for Taranaki,Cow-cop/ˈkæʊ̯kɒp/ for Kaukapakapa andPie-cock/ˈpaɪ̯kɒk/ for Paekakariki.[citation needed]
There is some confusion between these shortenings, especially in the southern South Island, and the natural variations of the southern dialect of Māori. Not only does this dialect sometimes featureapocope, but consonants also vary slightly from standard Māori. To compound matters, names were often initially transcribed by Scottish settlers, rather than the predominantly English settlers of other parts of the country; as such further alterations are not uncommon. Thus, whileLake Wakatipu is sometimes referred to asWakatip/ˈwɒkətəp/,Oamaru asOm-a-roo/ˌɒməˈɹʉː/ⓘ[66] andWaiwera South asWy-vra/ˈwaɪ̯vɹə/, these differences may be as much caused by dialect differences – either in Māori or in the English used during transcription – as by the process of anglicisation.[citation needed] An extreme example isThe Kilmog/ˈkəlmɒɡ/, the name of which is cognate with the standard MāoriKirimoko.[67]
^Evans, Zoë; Watson, Catherine I. (2004).An acoustic comparison of Australian and New Zealand English vowel change. pp. 195–200.CiteSeerX10.1.1.119.6227.
^Hogg, R.M., Blake, N.F., Burchfield, R., Lass, R., and Romaine, S., (eds.) (1992)The Cambridge history of the English language. (Volume 5) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521264785 p. 387. Retrieved fromGoogle Books.
^Laurie Bauer; Paul Warren (2008)."New Zealand English: phonology". In Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd (eds.).Varieties of English 3: The Pacific and Australasia. Berlin; New York: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 60.ISBN9783110208412.
^Goodall, M., & Griffiths, G. (1980)Maori Dunedin. Dunedin: Otago Heritage Books. p. 45: "This hill [The Kilmog]...has a much debated name, but its origins are clear toKaitahu and the word illustrates several major features of the southern dialect. First we must restore the truncated final vowel (in this case to both parts of the name, 'kilimogo'). Then substitute r for l, k for g, to obtain the northern pronunciation, 'kirimoko'.... Though final vowels existed in Kaitahu dialect, the elision was so nearly complete that pākehā recorders often omitted them entirely."
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Crystal, David (2003),The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press
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Bauer, Laurie (1994), "8: English in New Zealand", in Burchfield, Robert (ed.),The Cambridge History of the English Language, vol. 5: English in Britain and Overseas: Origins and Development, Cambridge University Press, pp. 382–429,ISBN0-521-26478-2
Bauer, Laurie (2015), "Australian and New Zealand English", in Reed, Marnie; Levis, John M. (eds.),The Handbook of English Pronunciation, Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 269–285,ISBN978-1-118-31447-0
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