New Zealand English phonology

This article covers the phonological system of New Zealand English. While New Zealanders speak differently depending on their level of cultivation (i.e. the closeness to Received Pronunciation), this article covers the accent as it is spoken by educated speakers, unless otherwise noted. The IPA transcription is one designed by Bauer et al. (2007) specifically to faithfully represent a New Zealand accent, which this article follows in most aspects (see table under § Transcriptions).

Vowels

Variation in New Zealand vowels
Lexical set Phoneme Phonetic realization
Cultivated Broad
DRESS /e/
TRAP /ɛ/
KIT /ə/
NEAR /iə̯/
SQUARE /eə̯/
FACE /æɪ̯/
PRICE /aɪ̯/
GOAT /aʉ̯/
MOUTH /æʊ̯/

Monophthongs

Monophthongs of New Zealand English, from Hay, Maclagan & Gordon (2008:21). Variation of monophthongs in New Zealand English, from Bauer et al. (2007:98).

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:

Monophthongs
Front Central Back
short long short long short long
Close e ʊ ʉː
Mid ɛ øː ə ɒ
Open a
TRAP–DRESS–KIT chain shift æ > > ɪ > ə COMMA KIT FLEECE GOOSE NURSE STRUT, START TRAP–BATH split THOUGHT LOT FOOT Changes before /l/ Māori English Pasifika English

Diphthongs

Part 1 of New Zealand English closing diphthongs, from Bauer et al. (2007:99). represents the phonetic outcome of a neutralization of the non-prevocalic sequences /ɒl/ and /aʉ̯l/. Part 2 of New Zealand English closing diphthongs, from Bauer et al. (2007:99). Centring diphthongs of New Zealand English, from Bauer et al. (2007:99). The speaker in question does not differentiate between /iə̯/ and /eə̯/. Diphthongs
Closing æɪ̯ aɪ̯ oɪ̯ æʊ̯ aʉ̯
Centring iə̯ eə̯ ʉə̯
Phonetic quality CURE NEAR–SQUARE merger Changes before /l/

Transcriptions

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.

Transcription systems
New Zealand English Australian South African RP Example words
This article Wells 1982 Bauer et al 2007 Hay et al 2008 Rogers 2014
i ɨj fleece
i i i happy, video
ə ə ɘ ɪ ə ɪ ɨ ɪ ring, writing
kit
ə ə rabbit
ə accept, abbot
a sofa, better
ʌ ɐ ʌ ʌ a ɜ ʌ strut, unknown
ɐː a a ɑː ɑː palm, start
iə̯ iə̯ iə̯ iə̯ ɪə̯ ɪə̯ iə̯ ɪə̯ near
ʊ ʊ ʊ ʊ ʊ ʊ ɵ ʊ foot
ʉː uː / yː ʉː u ʉ ʉː ʉː goose
ʉə̯ ʊə̯ ʉə̯ ʊə̯ ʊə̯ ʉːə ʉə̯ ʊə̯ cure
ʉː fury
ɔː / oː sure
ɔ ɔ ɔː thought, north
e e e e e e e e dress
øː ɜː / øː ɵː ɜ ɞ ɜː øː ɜː nurse
ɛ æ ɛ æ ɛ æ ɛ æ trap
ɒ ɒ ɒ ɒ ɒ ɔ ɑ ɒ lot
æɪ̯ ʌɪ̯ æe̯ ei̯ ʌj æɪ̯ eɪ̯ eɪ̯ face
eə̯ eə̯ / eː eə̯ eə̯ eə̯ ɛː square
aʉ̯ ʌʊ̯ ɐʉ̯ oʊ̯ ʌw əʉ̯ œʊ̯ əʊ̯ goat
oɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ oe̯ ɔi̯ ɔj oɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ choice
aɪ̯ ɑɪ̯ ɑe̯ ai̯ ɑj ɑɪ̯ aɪ̯ aɪ̯ price
æʊ̯ æʊ̯ æo̯ aʊ̯ æw æɔ̯ ɐʊ̯ aʊ̯ mouth

Consonants

New Zealand English consonants are consistent with those from those found in other varieties of English, such as Received Pronunciation.

New Zealand English consonant phonemes
Labial Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal   m   n   ŋ
Plosive pb td kɡ
Affricate t͡ʃd͡ʒ
Fricative fv θð sz ʃʒ h  
Approximant   l   ɹ   j   w
Rhoticity Pronunciation of /l/ Pronunciation of ⟨wh⟩ Flapped /t/ and /d/ Glottal reinforcement Pronunciation of /hj/ Retraction of /s/ Yod-dropping Pronunciation of ⟨th⟩

Other features

Pronunciation of Māori place names

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.

Examples
Placename English pronunciation Māori pronunciation
Cape Reinga /ˌkæɪ̯p ɹiːˈɛŋə/
Hāwera /ˈhaːweɹa, -wəɹ-, -aː/
Ōakura /ˈɒkɹə/
Ōtāhuhu /ˌaʉ̯təˈhʉːhʉː/
Ōtorohanga /ˌaʉ̯tɹəˈhaŋa, -ˈhɒŋə/
Paraparaumu /ˈpɛɹəpɹɛm/, /ˌpɛɹəpɛˈɹæʊ̯mʉː/
Pāuatahanui /ˌpaːtəˈnʉ.iː/, /ˈpæʊ̯ətaːhənʉːi/
Taumarunui /ˌtæʊ̯məɹəˈnʉːiː/
Te Awamutu /ˌtiː əˈmʉːtʉː/
Te Kauwhata /ˌtiː kəˈwɒtə/
Waikouaiti /ˈwɛkəwaɪ̯t, -wɒt/

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/ or Pram /pɹɛm/ for Paraparaumu, the Naki /ˈnɛkiː/ for Taranaki, Cow-cop /ˈkæʊ̯kɒp/ for Kaukapakapa and Pie-cock /ˈpaɪ̯kɒk/ for Paekakariki.

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 feature apocope, 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, while Lake Wakatipu is sometimes referred to as Wakatip /ˈwɒkətəp/, Oamaru as Om-a-roo and Waiwera South as Wy-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. An extreme example is The Kilmog /ˈkəlmɒɡ/, the name of which is cognate with the standard Māori Kirimoko.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Gordon & Maclagan (2004), p. 609.
  2. ^ a b Bauer et al. (2007), pp. 98–100.
  3. ^ a b c "Simon Bridges has the accent of New Zealand's future. Get used to it". NZ Herald. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  4. ^ Evans, Zoë; Watson, Catherine I. (2004). An acoustic comparison of Australian and New Zealand English vowel change. pp. 195–200. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.119.6227.
  5. ^ Hay, Maclagan & Gordon (2008), pp. 41–42.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Brooke Chantel Ross (2018). "An Acoustic Analysis of New Zealand: English Vowels in Auckland" (PDF). Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
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  12. ^ a b Bauer & Warren (2004), pp. 585, 587.
  13. ^ a b c Bauer et al. (2007), p. 101.
  14. ^ Bauer & Warren (2004), pp. 587–588.
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  22. ^ a b Bauer & Warren (2004), p. 591.
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  34. ^ Cox & Fletcher (2017), p. 67.
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  41. ^ "4. Stickmen, New Zealand's pool movie – Speech and accent – Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. 2013-09-05. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
  42. ^ Gordon & Maclagan (2004), p. 610.
  43. ^ "Tracking the New Zealand English NEAR/SQUARE merger using functional principal components analysis" (PDF). September 15–19, 2019.
  44. ^ Wells 1982, p. 609.
  45. ^ Wells (1982), pp. 608–609.
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  47. ^ Rogers (2014), p. 117.
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  50. ^ Gordon & Maclagan (2004), p. 605.
  51. ^ Bauer & Warren (2004), p. 594.
  52. ^ 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. ISBN 9780521264785 p. 387. Retrieved from Google Books.
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  57. ^ "Earliest New Zealand: The Journals and Correspondence of the Rev. John Butler, Chapter X". New Zealand Electronic Text Centre. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  58. ^ 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. ISBN 9783110208412.
  59. ^ Wood, Elizabeth (2003). "TH fronting: the substitution of f/v for θ/ð in New Zealand English" (PDF). University of Canterbury. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  60. ^ Bell, Allan; Gibson, Andy (2008-11-21). "Stopping and Fronting in New Zealand Pasifika English". University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  61. ^ a b Nikolenko, p. 412.
  62. ^ Nikolenko, p. 414.
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  64. ^ Goodall, M., & Griffiths, G. (1980) Maori Dunedin. Dunedin: Otago Heritage Books. p. 45: "This hill ...has a much debated name, but its origins are clear to Kaitahu 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."

Bibliography

Further reading