Powerpoint about New Zealand accent.

1. NEW ZEALAND ENGLISH
MªCamí Testagorda Aldomà

2. Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Socio-Historical Background
3. Current situation of English and other
languages
4. Phonological, grammatical and lexical traits
5. Main well-known promoters of NZ English

3. 1. Introduction
 New Zealand lies in the South Pacific over 1000km
southeast of Australia
 It is about twice the size of England and smaller in area
than Australia
 It consists of two islands (the North and South)
 Its population is around three million people.
 The 90 % of the New Zealanders are of British origin
 New Zealand has 4 major cities:
 Wellington
 Auckland
 Christchurch
 Dunedin

4. 1. Introduction

5. 2. Socio-Historical Background
 The history of New Zealand dates back 700 years
 Around 1250-1300 AD NZ was occupied by
Polynesian people from Eastern Polynesia: Maori
 Before that, there is evidence of previous indigenous
people: Moriori
 Maori developed their own culture with their
language, mythology and traditions.
 In 1642 the Dutch sailor Abel Tasman and his crew
tried to land in New Zealand

6. 2. Socio-Historical Background
 Tasman is the first European to sight New Zealand
and he called it “Nieuw Zeeland” after a Dutch
province.
 The British navigator, James Cook sailed around the
two islands in 1769-70.
 First time English arrived in New Zealand.
 Following Cook, the country was constantly visited
by European sailors, explorers, adventurers, etc.
 In the early 19th Century English speaking migrants
arrived in New Zealand
 English became the second language spoken in New
Zealand

7. 2. Socio-Historical Background
 The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840:
 Marked the beginning of a new nation.
 The Maori ceded sovereignty to Britain but retaining much
of their land.
 created the foundation for British colonial rule in New
Zealand.
 English passed to be the first language spoken.
 Britain dominated New Zealand in the 19th Century.
 New Zealand began to prosper and by the first half of
the 20th Century it was a small but wealthy country
tied to Britain by trade, family connections and
loyalty to the British Crown.

8. 3. Current situation of English and
other languages
 New Zealand English is the major language spoken in
New Zealand
 3 official languages in NZ: English, Maori and New
Zealand Sign Language.
 English is almost the only language spoken in public
domains.
 English is spoken by 95.9 percent of people.
 English language was established by the British
colonists during the 19th Century.

9. 3. Current situation of English and
other languages
 Where did this accent come from?
 It is a version of 19th Century Cockney (lower-
class London) speech
 It is a version of Australian English
 It has developed independently from all the other
varieties and it is a mixture of accents and dialects
that the British settlers brought with them.

10. 3. Current situation of English and
other languages
 Maori was present in New Zealand before the
European settlement.
 Maori Language Act in 1987
 Nowadays, Maori is rarely spoken in general public
communication
 It is only spoken by the 4.1 percent of the people in
New Zealand.
 there has been revitalization initiatives since 1980.

11. 3. Current situation of English and
other languages
 New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) it is the main
language of the deft community in New Zealand.
 NZ the first country in the world to adopt a sign
language as official in April 2006.
 It has its roots in British Sign Language (BSL)
 Other languages being spoken in New Zealand with
often relatively small speech communities. Samoan,
Northern Chinese (Mandarin) and Yue (Cantonese)

12. 4. Phonological, grammatical and
lexical traits
 Phonology:
 New Zealand English is very like Australian English
 Non-rothic
 Shifted (diphthongised) long vowels
 Raised front vowels
 Vowels:
 NZE centralized pronunciation /ɪ/ of as the phoneme schwa
/ə/
 e.g., : “finish” [f ə n ə sh]
 front vowels are raised as in Australian English
 /ɛ/ even higher to [ɪ] not just [e] e.g., “neck” as [nɪk]
 The short -a /æ/ of TRAP is approximately /ɛ/, which sounds like
the short -e of YES to other English speakers.

13. 4. Phonological, grammatical and
lexical traits
 extreme rounding of /3:/ (NURSE) to [œ:]
 E.g., “turn” as [thœ:n]
 The diphthongs /ɪə/ as in ”near” and /eə/ as
in ”square” are merged, so that ”here” rhymes
with ”there”.
 /i:/ and /u:/ not diphthongized, instead centralized to [ɨ] and
[ʉ ]
 Consonants:
 NZE is mostly non-rothic
 The /l/ is dark in all positions [ɫ]
 l-vocalization can be accompanied by phonemic merges of
vowels before the vocalized /l/
 E.g.: (“tool” as [thu:ɫ], “real” as [ɹɪw] )

14. 4. Phonological, grammatical and
lexical traits
 Grammar:
 generally similar to Australian English
 avoidance of “shall” / “should” almost as in Scottish
English (“Will I close the window”)
 The form of “He usedn’t to go” is common.
 The auxiliary do is not used in tag questions instead should
or ought are used (“shouldn’t he?, oughtn’t he?”)
 The use of have in expressing possession as in “I have a
new car” is less usual than the use of got “I have got new
car”

15. 4. Phonological, grammatical and
lexical traits
 New Zealand has a non‐standard second‐person
plural form youse (alternatively spelled <yous>)
 She’ll
be right is easily recognized as a central part
of New Zealand philosophy, but who is she?

16. 4. Phonological, grammatical and
lexical traits
 Characteristic vocabulary
 distinctive English vocabulary:
 “tramping” (hiking)
 “to farewell” (to say good-bye to),
 “to jack up” (arrange),
 “joker” (guy, bloke)
 “domain” (recreation area)
 “to uplift” (to collect, to pick up)
 “to go crook at” (be angry with)
 “bach” (cabin, cottage)

17. 4. Phonological, grammatical and
lexical traits
 shared with Australian English:
 “barrack for” (give support to)
 “crook” (bad)
 “dill” (fool)
 “chook” (chicken)
 “dunny” (lavatory)
 “informal vote” (invalid vote)

18. 4. Phonological, grammatical and
lexical traits
 adoptions from Maori and other Polynesian languages:
 “mana” (prestige, power)
 “aue” (expression of astonishment)
 “haere mai” ( a greeting)
 “haka” (posture dance)
 “pakeha” (white New Zealander”)
 “tapu” (sacred)
 “aiga” (Samoan “extended family”)

19. 5. Main well-known promoters of
New Zealand English
 How can we promote a language?
 Singers:
 New Zealand Music Month
 A promotion to encourage radio to play more local
tune
 A 31 day celebration of homegrown talent across
the length and breadth of the county
 Tono & The Finance Company
 Sing in New Zealand accent

20. 5. Main well-known promoters of
New Zealand English
 Actors:
 New Zealand Theatre
 Bruce Mason’s ‘The Pohutukawa Tree’
 It deals with New Zealand issues.

21. Thank You For Your Attention!!