New Zealand English is the dialect of the English language spoken and written by most English-speaking New Zealanders.
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16 Facts About New Zealand English
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New Zealand English is the first language of the majority of the population.
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3.
The varieties of English that had the biggest influence on the development of New Zealand English were Australian English and Southern England English, with lesser influences from American English, Hiberno-English, Scottish English and the British prestige accent Received Pronunciation .
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Non-rhotic New Zealand English is most similar to Australian English in pronunciation, with some key differences.
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Light-hearted look at English as spoken in New Zealand is A Personal Kiwi-Yankee Dictionary, written by the American-born University of Otago psychology lecturer Louis Leland in 1980.
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The first settlers to New Zealand were mainly from Australia, many of them ex-convicts or escaped convicts.
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New Zealand English has no equivalent legal protection, but its widespread use is commonly accepted and generally assumed by common law.
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Justice Minister Amy Adams said "New Zealand English is a de facto official language by virtue of its widespread use, " while Professor Andrew Geddis called Mitchell's bill "legal nonsense".
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10.
An identifiable feature of New Zealand English is its chain shift where the vowel has moved up to the place of the traditional vowel, which in turn has moved up towards the traditional vowel, which in turn is centralised.
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11.
General New Zealand English is non-rhotic, however Southland is semi-rhotic due to the accent's Scottish influence.
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12.
New Zealand adopted decimal currency in 1967 and the metric system in 1974.
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13.
Some examples of such words in New Zealand English are the preferred usage of the American bobby pin over the British hair pin, muffler for silencer, truck for lorry, station wagon for estate car, stove for cooker, creek over brook or stream, eggplant for aubergine, median strip for central reservation, pushup for press-up, and potato chip for potato crisp.
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Similar to Australian New Zealand English are uses such as "she was great car" or "she's a real beauty, this [object]".
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Linguists recognise this as "Maori New Zealand English", and describe it as strongly influenced by syllable-timed Maori speech patterns.
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However, a similar study with American and New Zealand English-speaking children found the opposite, with the speaking and articulation rates of the New Zealand children being slower.
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