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 specifically to faithfully represent a New Zealand accent, which this article follows in most aspects (see table under ).

Vowels

Monophthongs

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:

; chain shift
:
* The original short front vowels () have undergone a chain shift to . 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. Before the shift, these vowels were pronounced close to the corresponding RP sounds. The stages of the shift are described below.
*# was raised from near-open to open-mid .
*# was raised from mid to close-mid .
*# was first centralised to and then was lowered to , merging with the word-internal allophone of as in ''abbot'' . This effectively removes the distinction between full and reduced vowels from the dialect as it makes a stressable vowel.
*# The now-close-mid was further raised to near-close . This encroaches on the vowel space of .
** Realisation of varies between near-close front , near-close near-front , close-mid front , or close-mid near-front .
** Cultivated NZE retains the open pronunciations for and for and has a high central ().
** The difference in frontness and closeness of the vowel ( in New Zealand, in Australia) has led to a long-running joke between Australians and New Zealanders whereby Australians accuse New Zealanders of saying "fush and chups" for '' fish and chips'' and in turn New Zealanders accuse Australians of saying "feesh and cheeps" in light of Australia's own vowel shift.
;
* In the morpheme-final position, the distinction between and is neutralized towards the open in the word-final position and towards the mid elsewhere. For instance, the plural of ''sofa'' is , with the mid . Because of that, the names of the lexical sets and are not used in this article.
;
* Before the velar nasal, the vowel is much more close and front () than in other environments. Some speakers also use this variant before and, less often, before other consonants. It is transcribed with a plain in this article and so not differentiated from other allophones of .
* Initial unstressed is at times as open as , so that ''inalterable'' can fall together with ''unalterable'' , resulting in a variable phonetic – merger. This is less common and so it is not transcribed in this article.
;
*The vowel may be realised with a slight on-glide when the word is stressed, with becoming . This onglide is increasingly becoming the main way to differentiate from in younger speakers as the latter vowel is a very closed and there is a neglibible length difference between the vowel and short vowels.
* The unstressed close front vowel in ''happy'' and ''video'' is tense and so it belongs to the phoneme: , .
;
*The vowel is very central, and may be realised with an on-glide, with becoming .
;
* The vowel is not only higher and more front than the corresponding RP vowel , but it is also realised with rounded lips, unlike its RP counterpart. John Wells remarks that the surname ''Turner'' as pronounced by a New Zealander may sound very similar to a German word ''Töne'' (meaning 'tones'). Possible phonetic realizations include near-close front , near-close central , close-mid front , close-mid central , mid front and open-mid front . It appears that realizations lower than close-mid are more prestigious than those of close-mid height and higher, so that pronunciations of the word ''nurse'' such as and are less broad than , etc. Close allophones may overlap with monophthongal realizations of and there may be a potential or incipient – merger.
;,
* forms a short-long pair with , which means that ''hut'' contrasts with ''heart'' purely by length, like in Australian English. The quality of those vowels is that of retracted cardinal : , open central , or somewhat higher .
;– split
* New Zealand English has the – split: words like ''dance'' , ''chance'' , ''plant'' and ''grant'' are pronounced with an sound, as in Southern England and South Australia. However, for many decades prior to World War II there existed an almost even split between the pronunciation of ''dance'' as or , ''plant'' as or , etc. ''Can't'' is also pronounced in New Zealand (like Australia but unlike the North American pronunciation with the vowel). Some older Southland speakers use the vowel rather than the vowel in ''dance'', ''chance'' and ''castle'', so that they are pronounced rather than .
;
*The vowel may have an off-glide, typically word-finally, turning ''more'' into .
;
*The vowel is open-mid, close to and .
*The vowel may sometimes be unrounded.
;
* The vowel is close-mid (close to ), and may become centralised, even when stressed, so words like ''good'' are pronounced closer to , and ''could'' and ''kid'' may sound the same, .
;Changes before
* Before , is retracted to , and is lowered to (see ''salary''–''celery'' merger), yielding a merger with . These changes make words like ''too'' sound different from ''tool'' and leads to ''Ellen'' and ''Alan'' both being pronounced . Mergers before may occur between and (as in ''reel'' vs ''real'' , the only minimal pair) and and (''pull'' vs ''pool'' ).
;Māori English
*Māori English has a more fronted and lowered vowel.
*The vowel is less central, and is used in unstressed syllables where schwa would be expected (due to the merger of and schwa).
*The vowel is lowered compared to General New Zealand English.
*The vowel may be more fronted in Māori English.
*The vowel may be more rounded and more fronted.
;Pasifika English
*Features identified as being part of a unique Pasifika English sociolect include a raised vowel, reduced diphthonisation of and , a lowered , and for some a retracted and lowered .

Diphthongs

;Phonetic quality
* On the Cultivated end of the spectrum, the starting points of the fronting-closing diphthongs and are front in the first case and central or advanced back (both hereafter written with ) in the second case. These are the usual NZE realizations. On the Broad end of the spectrum, they are both retracted, so that acquires a central onset , whereas the first element of is retracted and rounded to , sometimes with raising to (both hereafter written with ), approaching the vowel but without an actual merger. This means that the diphthong can stand for either vowel, depending on the variety of NZE. However, unlike the front vowel shift, rounded variants of 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 the ''white rabbit'' phenomenon (note the Cultivated but Broad ).
* The ending points of , and vary between close-mid front and close front . In Cultivated NZE, consistently has a higher offset than , much like in General Australian English, but in Broad NZE they normally have the same ending point : . In General NZE, they have been reported to differ as (with a close-mid ending point) vs. (with a mid ending point) by one source. Elsewhere in the article, the offsets of the fronting diphthongs are written with regardless of their precise height, following the way they are usually transcribed in English.
* The onset of is normally raised open front, , whereas its ending point varies between the close back and the close central . Unlike in Australian English, the open-mid back ending point does not occur. In Broad NZE, the starting point is higher, giving or , whereas the offset is centralized and unrounded to , effectively turning into a centring diphthong that encroaches on the Cultivated realization of . This realization is gaining ground among younger speakers of the General variety. The Cultivated realization is (hereafter written without the diacritic), a glide from the open central position to the close back position, which differs from the General NZE only by the backness of the second element. According to one source, is sometimes also used in General NZE, though more commonly with a somewhat more front onset: .
* The starting point of is , whereas its ending point is close to cardinal , making it a glide from to . In certain phonetic environments (especially in tonic syllables and in the word ''no''), some speakers unround it to , sometimes with additional fronting to , making ''no'' sound like ''nigh''. In the Cultivated variety, the onset is mid central and rounded, whereas the ending point is more back: .
* The starting points of and are identical () in contemporary NZE. However, conservative speakers distinguish the two diphthongs as and .
* Sources do not agree on the exact phonetic realizations of certain NZE diphthongs:
** The onset of has been variously described as close-mid back and mid near-back , both overlapping with the allophonic range of .
** The starting point of has been variously described as near-close central and near-close near-back .
;
* The diphthong (as in "tour") is becoming rarer, and tends to be found only following . Most speakers use either or instead.
;– merger
* The – merger (of the diphthongs and ) is on the increase, especially since the beginning of the 21st century so that the phrase ''that's neither here nor there'' is pronounced in General NZE, with ''here'' rhyming with ''there''. In Cultivated NZE, the distinction is maintained: . Similarly, ''beer'' and ''bear'' as well as ''really'' and ''rarely'' are homophones: , . 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, . The proportion of teenagers showing the merger increased from 16% in 1983 to 80% in 1999. The merger is nearly complete, with most younger speakers being unable to tell the two diphthongs apart. As the merger is not yet fully complete, it is transcribed only in phonetic transcription, whereas in phonemic transcription the distinction is maintained: , etc.
;Changes before
* Before , becomes , making ''go'' sound different to ''goal'' . This vowel change may lead to a merger with () (''doll'' vs ''dole'' ), especially when the is vocalised. This has been labelled the lexical set by .

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.

Consonants

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

; Rhoticity
* New Zealand English is mostly non-rhotic (with linking and intrusive R), except for speakers with the so-called Southland burr, a semi-rhotic, Scottish-influenced dialect heard principally in Southland and parts of Otago. Older Southland speakers sound the variably after vowels, but today younger speakers use only with the vowel and occasionally with the vowel. Younger Southland speakers pronounce in ''third term'' (General NZE pronunciation: ) but not in ''farm cart'' (same as in General NZE). Among ''r''-less speakers, however, non-prevocalic is sometimes pronounced in a few words, including ''Ireland'' , ''merely'' , ''err'' , and the name of the letter R (General NZE pronunciations: ). Some Māori speakers are semi-rhotic, although it is not clearly identified to any particular region or attributed to any defined language shift. The Māori language itself tends in most cases to use an r with an alveolar tap , like Scottish dialect.
;Pronunciation of
* is velarised ("dark") in almost all positions, and is often vocalised in syllable codas so that ''ball'' is pronounced as or or . Even when not vocalised, it is darker in codas than in onsets, possibly with pharyngealisation. Vocalisation varies in different regions and between different socioeconomic groups; the younger, lower social class speakers vocalise most of the time.
;Pronunciation of
* Many younger speakers have the ''wine''–''whine'' merger, which means that the traditional distinction between the and phonemes no longer exists for them. All speakers are more likely to retain it in lexical words than in grammatical words, therefore even older speakers have a variable merger here.
; Flapped
* As with Australian English and American English the intervocalic may be a flapped , so that the sentence "use a little bit of butter" may be pronounced . Evidence for this usage exists as far back as the early 19th century, such as Kerikeri being transliterated as "Kiddee Kiddee" by missionaries.
; Glottal reinforcement
*There is an increasing tendency for syllable-final to be either reinforced () or replaced () with a glottal stop.
;Pronunciation of
*Like other accents, pronunciation of syllable-onset may be realised as .
;Retraction of
*The at the beginning of consonant clusters, typically and , may instead be pronounced as , making words like ''student'' and ''stupid'' pronounced and respectively.
; Fronting of
*A relatively recent phenomenon is fronting, where interdental are realised as labiodental . This feature was not present in New Zealand English until the end of the 20th century. A 2003 analysis found that word-final sounds are fronted roughly half the time, with the word ''with'' being fronted more commonly than other words, and sounds in other places are fronted around a quarter of the time. This realisation is not consistent even within the same sentence. fronting is also common in Pasifika English, and may be instead stopped, producing for .
;Yod-dropping
*The dropping of is uncommon but variable, and occurs more regularly in the word ''new'' . The yod is sometimes also dropped in ''debut'', hence .

Other features

* Some New Zealanders pronounce past participles such as ''grown'' , ''thrown'' and ''mown'' with two syllables, the latter containing a schwa not found in other accents. By contrast, ''groan'' , ''throne'' and ''moan'' are all unaffected, meaning these word pairs can be distinguished by ear.
* The ''trans-'' prefix is usually pronounced ; this produces mixed pronunciation of the letter A in words like ''transplant'' . However, is also heard, typically in older New Zealanders.
* The name of the letter '' H'' is almost always , as in North American, and is almost never aspirated ().
* The name of the letter '' Z'' is usually the British, Canadian and Australian ''zed'' . However the alphabet song for children is sometimes sung ending with in accordance with the rhyme. Where Z is universally pronounced ''zee'' in places, names, terms, or titles, such as ZZ Top, LZ ( landing zone), Jay Z (celebrity), or Z Nation (TV show) New Zealanders follow universal pronunciation.
* The word ''foyer'' is usually pronounced , as in Australian and American English, rather than as in British English.
* The word and combining form ''graph'' is pronounced both and .
* The word ''data'' is commonly pronounced , with being the second most common, and being very rare.

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.

Some anglicised names are colloquially shortened, for example, ''Coke'' for Kohukohu, ''the Rapa'' for the Wairarapa, ''Kura'' for Papakura, ''Papatoe'' for Papatoetoe, ''Otahu'' for Otahuhu, ''Paraparam'' or ''Pram'' for Paraparaumu, ''the Naki'' for Taranaki, ''Cow-cop'' for Kaukapakapa and ''Pie-cock'' 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'' , Oamaru as ''Om-a-roo'' and Waiwera South as ''Wy-vra'' , 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 , the name of which is cognate with the standard Māori ''Kirimoko''.Goodall, M., & Griffiths, G. (1980) ''Maori Dunedin.'' Dunedin: Otago Heritage Books. p. 45: "''This hill he Kilmog/nowiki>...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.''"

See also

* Australian English phonology
* South African English phonology
* Regional accents of English

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

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{{DEFAULTSORT:New Zealand English Phonology
English phonology
New Zealand English