2 Pronunciation of Māori place names

Many Māori place names suffered from a fairly ungainly anglicisation for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, but since the 1980s increased consciousness of te reo Māori has led to a shift back to correct pronunciations. The anglicisations have persisted most among natives of the towns in question, so it has become something of a shibboleth, with correct pronunciation marking someone as non-local.

Examples

• Paraparaumu - para-pram
• Oakura - okra
• Kawarau (river) - kuh-woh-ruh

3 Māori influence

The dominant influence of the Māori language (Te Reo Māori) upon New Zealand English is lexical. An 1999 estimate based on the Wellington corpora of written and spoken New Zealand English put the proportion of words of Māori origin at approximately 0.6%; mostly place and personal names.

The use of Māori words is increasing, particularly in the North Island, although there are regional variations. For instance, in most of the country the native wood pigeon is called " kereru", but in Northland it is called "kukupa" and sometime "kuku", and on the Chatham Islands the "parea"

"Kia ora" literally means "be healthy" but it has also become a standard term of greeting, meaning "hello" or "welcome". It also signifies agreement with a speaker at a meeting. Other Māori greetings, "Tena koe" {one person} or "Tena koutou" {three or more people} are also widely used. Similarly the phrase for goodbye, "Haere Ra", which may also be the origin of the once much widely used NZ phrase for goodbye "Hooray".

Greeting someone on a cold morning is sometimes expressed as "Makariri nei?", (cold isn't it?). This phrase may have spawned the bastard Māori-English word "maka-chilly" which probably started as a joke and is not widely used. The slang word "buggered" is often equated with the Māori word for "broken", "Pakaru", and is synonymous with "Pakarued"

4 Unique New Zealand English vocabulary

There are also many non-Māori words that are unique to New Zealand English, or shared with Australia.

• bach a small holiday home, usually near the beach, often with only one or two rooms and of simple construction. Pronounced "batch".
• chip, punnet or pottle, depending on the region, the unit by which strawberries and certain other fruit are sold.
• crib, another word for bach, more commonly used in the south of the South Island.
• The Ditch, the Tasman Sea, the "ditch" separating New Zealand and Australia.
• eh!, used for emphasis at the end of a sentence, eh! (also common in Canadian English)
• flatting, sharing a flat ( apartment) or rented house ,
• footpath, pavement or sidewalk, shared by many countries outside US.
• footy, football (usually Rugby Union or League, never soccer).
• good as gold, great, just right
• Jafa, a derogatory description of Aucklanders used by non-Aucklanders.
• OE or Big OE, Overseas Experience, time spent travelling and working overseas, usually in Europe.
• onya, short for "Good On Yer" (You).
• Pavlova, favourite meringue-like dessert made from egg whites, frequently served with cream and kiwifruit.
• pom, British person, usually English (mildy derogatory).
• smoko, rest break during work (especially as smoking will soon be totally banned in public/workplaces)
• super, old age pension scheme (from superannuation)
• togs, swimming costume
• WOF/Warrant, (Warrant Of Fitness), vehicle roadworthiness test, similar to British MoT and Australian rego.

5 Differences from British English

The most noticeable difference in pronunciation is probably the flat "i", so that "six" is pronounced in a way sounding like "sucks". This is a part of the vowel shift that has occurred in New Zealand.

Below, the latter word is how the former word sounds to the ears of a non-New Zealander:

• pan → pen
• pen → pin
• pin → pun
• peek → peck

Note that many of the differences listed below are avoided by New Zealanders speaking "properly", as in public speaking for example, in which case the main differences are the shifted vowel sounds listed here.

5.1 Additional Schwa

Typically, a New Zealander will insert the schwa to words such as grown, thrown and mown, resulting in grow-en, throw-en and mo-wen. However, groan, throne and moan are all unaffected meaning these word pairs can be distinguished by ear, unlike in British English.

This has also been seen (rarely) in the pronunciation of the word three, where the schwa appears between the 'th' and the 'r', creating a two-syllable word.

5.2 Distinction between /E@/ and /I@/

In thicker New Zealand accents, words like "chair" and "cheer", (/tSE@/, /tSI@/) are pronounced the same way (/tSI@/, i.e. as "cheer" in British, American or Australian English). The same occurs with "shared" and "sheared", both are pronounced /SI@d/. This pronunciation is not universal, many New Zealanders do in fact distinguish these words. ( SAMPA used for phonetic transcriptions.)
Younger speakers tend to merge toward /I@/, while middle-aged speakers tend to merge toward /E@/. This merging has been seen in some other varieties of English, but notably not in Australian English.

5.3 Rising Inflection

New Zealanders will often reply to a question with a statement spoken with a rising inflection on the last couple of words (known in linguistics as a high rising terminal). This often has the effect of making their statement sound like another question. There is enough awareness of this that it is seen in exaggerated form in comedy parody of working class/uneducated new Zealanders.

6 Differences from Australian English

Although foreigners can find it hard to distinguish the New Zealand dialect from the Australian, there are differences in the pronunciation of vowel sounds, which are considerably more clipped in New Zealand English. ( Canadians face a similar problem, frequently being mistaken for U.S. Americans by non-North Americans.) The main distinguishing sounds are the short 'i' and 'e', as well as words like "chance", as described below.

6.1 Short i

The short 'i' in New Zealand English is pronounced as a schwa (SAMPA /@/). In Australian English, the short 'u' is the vowel closest to the New Zealand pronunciation, so an Australian hears "fush and chups" when a New Zealander is saying " fish and chips". Conversely, the closest sound in New Zealand English to the Australian short 'i' (SAMPA /I/) is 'ee' (SAMPA /i/), so New Zealanders may hear Australians talking about the " Seedney Harbour Breedge".

Recent linguistic research has suggested that this trait is sourced from dialects of English spoken by lower-class English people in the late 19th century, though why it persisted in New Zealand while disappearing from Australia is a mystery.

6.2 Short e

The short 'e' in New Zealand English has moved to fill in the space left by 'i', and sounds like a short 'i' itself to other English speakers. For example, you may hear New Zealanders talk about having "iggs for brickfast".

6.3 Chance, dance, etc.

The New Zealand pronunciation of words like "dance" uses the same vowel sound as the "a" in "car", i.e. /dAnts/, resembling the broad A of British English. The common Australian pronunciation rhymes with "ants", i.e. /d{nts/. However, either form may be used in Australia, with the former usually used in South Australia, and common in New South Wales.

6.4 More/sure

"More" and "sure" are pronounced mua and shua, whereas in Australia they would be pronounced as maw and shaw.

6.5 Letter 'h'

Pronunication of the letter 'h' is 'aitch', as in Britain and North America, as opposed to the aspirated 'haitch', found in Australian English, in turn of Hiberno-English origin.

6.6 Letter 'l'

Pronunication of the letter 'l' at the end of a word such as kill, is sometimes voiced as a 'w'. This is further found in lower class areas. Some speakers will not differentiate the sound of the word 'bill' from 'bull', and both will have the final 'l' sound changed to a 'w'. Even words such as 'build' will be affected and will sound like 'buwd'. A common use of this is the word 'milk' usually said 'muwk' (rhyming with 'bull' to a speaker outside of New Zealand). Although this varies greatly in different areas and between different socio-economic groups within New Zealand itself. This seems to be most commonly found in the southern suburbs of Auckland City.

6.7 Other differences

Other differences in the dialects relate to words used to refer to common items, often based on major brands:

NZ	Australia	Explanation
jandals	thongs	backless sandals (or flip-flops in other English dialects)
chilly bin	Esky	insulated container for keeping drinks and food cool
Swanndri	Driza-Bone	The quintessential back-country farmer's jacket of each country, a woollen shirt and oilskin jacket respectively.
dairy	milk bar	A kind of convenience store.
duvet	doona	A padded blanket

In New Zealand, the word "milk bar" refers only to the milk bar of the 1950s and 1960s, a place that served non-alcoholic drinks, primarily milkshakes, tea and sometimes coffee. Ice creams were also served.

7 Dialects within New Zealand English

Most Kiwis speak Newzild "as she is spoke": geographical variations appear slight, and mainly confined to individual special local words. One group of speakers, however, hold a recognised place as "talking differently": the South of the South Island (Murihiku) harbours a "Celtic fringe" of people speaking with a " Southland burr" in which a back-trilled 'r' appears prominently. The area formed a traditional repository of immigration from Scotland.

The trilled 'r' is also used by some Māori, who may also pronounce 't' and 'k' sounds almost as 'd' and 'g'. This is also encountered in South African English, especially among Afrikaans speakers.

8 Unique phrases

It is in metaphorical phrases that NZ English has made most progress or divergence. Often they reflect significant differences in culture, for example:

Ladies, a plate is often seen as part of the advertisement for social functions. It means that the function is self catering; people attending are meant to bring a plate full of food. Many new arrivals in New Zealand have mistaken this and turned up with an empty plate, but only once.

Up the Puhoi without a paddle meaning to be in difficulties without an obvious solution. The Puhoi is a river just north of Auckland. Over the years the phrase has evolved and is now often heard as "Up the Boo-eye without a paddle". It is also sometimes attributed to other New Zealand rivers. It will be interesting if the phrase can withstand competition from the modern and very colourful variant "Up shit creek without a Paddle".

A variant of the latter is up the boohai shooting pukeko with a long-handled shovel, meaning a fictitious place.

Wide enough for an Ox team to do a U-ie Said of very wide roads.

Sticky Beak meaning someone unduly curious about other people's affairs, ie nosey parker. Sticky beak is used in both New Zealand and Australia with the same meaning but slightly different emphasis. In Australia "sticky beak" is quite pejorative, to be called sticky beak is definitely a criticism whereas in New Zealand it is used with more affection, it is often used as a tease.

Box of Birds or even more colloqially "Box of Fluffies" meaning to feel very good. "How are you feeling? Oh, a Box of Birds"

Rattle yer Dags an instruction to hurry up. Sheep running through gates and yards often make a curious rattling noise caused by their 'dags' (dried faeces) clattering together. Similarly "He's a bit of a Dag" describes someone as a comedian. The word "dagg" possibly derives from the regional English word, "daglock" meaning the same thing. See also Fred Dagg, Footrot Flats.

The Half Gallon Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise was an affectionate term for NZ, back in the 1970s.

9 External links

• Origins of New Zealand English
• New Zealand Dictionary Centre
• Kiwi Words & Phrases

English dialects New Zealand New Zealand culture

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