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New Zealand English phonology


Not all New Zealanders have the same accent, as the level of cultivation (i.e. the closeness to Received Pronunciation) of every speaker's accent differs. The phonology in this article is of an educated speaker of New Zealand English, and uses a transcription system designed by Bauer et al. (2007) specifically to faithfully represent the New Zealand accent. It transcribes some of the vowels differently, whereas the approximant /r/ is transcribed with the symbol ⟨ɹ⟩ even in phonemic transcription.

The vowels of New Zealand English are similar to that of other non-rhotic dialects such as Australian English and RP, but with some distinct variations, which are indicated by the transcriptions for New Zealand vowels in the tables below:

However, vowel charts show that /æe, oe, e, iː, ɒ/ aren't accurate transcriptions, and /æɪ, oɪ, ɪ, ɪi, ɔ/ approximate the actual pronunciation closer.

In New Zealand English, the three short front vowels have undergone a chain shift. Recent acoustic studies featuring both Australian and New Zealand voices show the accents were more similar before World War II and the short front vowels have changed considerably since then as compared to Australian English.

The pronunciations of many Māori place names were anglicised 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 a shibboleth, with correct Māori pronunciation marking someone as non-local.

Note that this section also uses the transcription system designed by Bauer et al. (2007) specifically for New Zealand English. To compare it with the more usual transcription, see above.

Some anglicised names are colloquially shortened, for example, Coke /kɐʉk/ for Kohukohu, the Rapa /ˈɹɛpɘ/ for the Wairarapa, Kura /ˈkʉəɹɘ/ for Papakura, Papatoe /ˈpɛpɘtɐʉi/ for Papatoetoe, Otahu /ˌɐʉtɘˈhʉː/ for Otahuhu, Paraparam /ˈpɛɹɘpɛɹɛm/ or Pram /pɹɛm/ for Paraparaumu, the Naki /ˈnɛki/ for Taranaki, Cow-cop /ˈkæokɒp/ for Kaukapakapa and Pie-cock /ˈpɑekɒk/ for Paekakariki.


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