Southland burr
| New Zealand English | |
|---|---|
| Region | New Zealand |
|
Native speakers
|
3.8 million in New Zealand (2013 census) 150,000 L2 speakers of English in New Zealand (Crystal 2003) |
|
Indo-European
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Early forms
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Latin (English alphabet) Unified English Braille |
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | en-NZ |
New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant of the English language spoken by most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-NZ. English is one of New Zealand's three official languages (along with New Zealand Sign Language and the Māori language) and is the first language of the majority of the population.
The English language was established in New Zealand by colonists during the 19th century. It is one of "the newest native-speaker variet[ies] of the English language in existence, a variety which has developed and become distinctive only in the last 150 years". The most distinctive influences on New Zealand English have come from Australian English, English in southern England, Irish English, Scottish English, the prestige Received Pronunciation (RP), and Māori. New Zealand English is most similar to Australian English in pronunciation, with some key differences.
The first dictionary with entries documenting New Zealand English was probably the Heinemann New Zealand Dictionary, published in 1979. Edited by Harry Orsman (1928–2002), it is a 1,337-page book, with information relating to the usage and pronunciation of terms that were widely accepted throughout the English-speaking world, and those peculiar to New Zealand. It includes a one-page list of the approximate date of entry into common parlance of the many terms found in New Zealand English but not elsewhere, such as "haka" (1827), "Boohai" (1920), and "bach" (1905). A second edition was published in 1989 with the cover subtitle "the first dictionary of New Zealand English and New Zealand pronunciation". A third edition, edited by Nelson Wattie, was published as The Reed Dictionary of New Zealand English by Reed Publishing in 2001.
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Wikipedia