NZEPhonology

1 Vowels
Table1giveslexicalsetwords(Wells,1982)forNewZealandEnglish(NZE)
vowels,togetherwithsuggestedtranscriptionsymbols(forfurtherdetailssee
BauerandWarren,2004).NZEhas19stressedvowels,thoughnotall
speakersdistinguishthemall.

Table 1: NZE vowels

Short vowels

Long vowels

Diphthongs

Unstressedvowels

KIT

FLEECE

FACE

happY

DRESS

START

PRICE

treacLE

TRAP

NURSE

CHOICE

oe

commA,horsES

STRUT

THOUGHT

GOAT

LOT

GOOSE

MOUTH

FOOT

NEAR

SQUARE

CURE

1.1 Shortvowels
NZEischaracterizedbyashortfrontvowelshiftTRAP,DRESSandKITare
movedoneplaceclockwisecomparedtotheequivalentvowelsin
conservativeRP(BritishEnglish).ThiscanleadtoconfusionfornonNZE
speakers,whomighthearNZEsacksassex,sexassix.
KITiscentralized.AustralianEnglishhasahighfrontKIT,sothisvowel

isashibbolethfordistinguishingthevarietiescomparefeeshandcheeps
(Australian)andfushandchups(NZE),forfishandchips.

STRUTiscentralfront,i.e.isfurtherforwardthaninRP.Similarly,LOT

ismorecentralised.
FOOTalsohasaninnovativecentralunroundedvariant,asfoundfor

instanceingoodcomparethegreetingwritteninformallyasgidday.Thereis
someoverlapwithKIT.

1.2 Longvowels
FLEECEandGOOSEcanbediphthongized,withashortrelativelyopenfirst

element.AmoreexaggerateddiphthongalGOOSEissometimesheardinthe
phraseThankyou.GOOSEitselfisveryfront,exceptwhenitprecedesa
vocalised/l/,asinschool,whenitbecomesback.
NURSEisalsofront,withsomeoverlapwithGOOSE,thoughthetwoare

stillclearlydistinctformostspeakers.
THOUGHTisalsooftendiphthongized,withamarkedoffglide,

particularlyinopensyllables,asinmore,saw,etc.,whicharesometimeseven
bisyllabic.THOUGHTisprobablythebackestofNZEvowels.
BATHiscentralfront.MostNZershaveBATHinbothpalmanddance,

differinginthisrespectfromsomeAustralianswhohaveaTRAPvowelin
dance.

1.3 Vowellength
Itshouldbeclearfromtheabovedescriptionsthattherearesomeshortand
longvowelsthatarequalitativelyhighlysimilar.ThusthepairingsKITand
NURSE,DRESSandFLEECE,STRUTandSTART,FOOTandTHOUGHTmayformany

speakersdifferonlyinvowellength.

1.4 Diphthongs
RelativetoRP,NZEshowsadiphthongshift,movingFACE,PRICEandCHOICE
anticlockwiseinthevowelsystem.Forexample,thestartingpointforFACEis
moreopenthaninRP,sothatBritishspeakerssometimesperceiveitasPRICE.
NZEPRICEisinturnsimilartoRPCHOICE.
ThestartingpositionofGOATisveryopenandcentral.Thesecond
elementhasthepositionoftheNZEGOOSEvowel,butforsomespeakersis
unrounded.Thisisparticularlynoticeableonemphaticinstancesoftheword
no.
MOUTHhasaclosestartingposition,particularlyinbroaderNZE.
CUREtendstobefoundonlyfollowing/j/.Ithasasimilarstartingpointto
GOOSE,andanopencentralfinaltarget.

ThereisachangeinprogressaffectingthecenteringdiphthongsNEAR
andSQUARE,themajorityofstudiesindicatingamergeronNEAR.

1.5 Unstressedvowels
ThreeunstressedvowelsareindicatedinTable1forNZE.happYisgenerally
takentobeclosertoFLEECEthantoKIT.treacLErepresentsasetofvocalized
realizationsof/l/,variableinroundingandrangingfromcentraltobackand
closetoclosemid.ThethirdunstressedvowelisoftenconfusedwithSTRUT,
particularlywheninfinalposition(e.g.incomma),butalsowithKIT(e.g.in
horses).

1.6 Neutralizationsandmergers
ManyofthecontrastsinTable1arevariablyneutralizedbefore/r/and/l/.

Before/r/wefindneutralizationofFLEECEandNEAR,DRESSandSQUARE,
GOOSEandCURE,ineachcasetowardsthemonophthong.Suchneutralizations

resultforinstanceinferryandfairybeinghomophones.
Before/l/,neutralizationsarefoundinvolvingFLEECEandNEAR,DRESSand
TRAP,FOOTandGOOSE,KITandFOOT,KITandGOOSE,KITandSTRUT,LOTand
GOAT,THOUGHTandGOAT,FOOTandTHOUGHT.Theseneutralizationscan

resultinmultiplehomophony,e.g.ofpoll,pole,pull,Paul.
TheneutralizationofDRESSandTRAPbefore/l/isincreasinglyfound
amongyoungerspeakers,forwhomAlanandEllenarehomophones.
ThecentralizationofKITresultsinoverlapwiththeunstressedvowels,so
thatmattedandmatteredcanbehomophonous.
Asmentionedabove,NEARandSQUAREaremergedonNEARformany,
especiallyyoungerspeakers.

2 Consonants
TheconsonantsofNZEshowninTable2areuncontroversial.Some
conservativespeakersalsohaveavoicelesslabialvelarfricative//inwords
withwh,sothatwhalesandwalesaredistinct.

2.1 Plosives
/k/isusuallyaffricated,i.e.hasaudiblefriction./t/isaffricatedatthe
beginningofstressedsyllables,butisfrequentlyavoicedtapbetweenvowels
inwordssuchasbetterandevenacrosswordboundariesasinbeton.
Glottalisationofwordfinal/p/and/k/isincreasing.Thevoicedplosiveshave
verylittlevoicing.

Table2:NZEconsonants

Plosive

Bilabial
p
b

Labio
dental

Dental

Alveolar
t
d

Affricate
f

Fricative
Nasal
Lateral
approximant
Approximant

Post
alveolar

Palatal

Velar
k

Glottal

l
w

2.2 Fricatives
VoicedfricativesinNZEarefrequentlydevoicedpresidentandprecedentcan
behomophones.
Socalled/s/retractionisfrequentlyheard,inparticularin/stj/and/str/
clusters,sothat/s/ismore//like(somorelikesh).Wordslikestudentare
oftenheardwith//.
Thethsoundsareusuallyinterdentalfricativesratherthanpostdental
inNZE,andthereissomefrontingof//to/f/.

2.3 Approximants and lateral approximants

WiththeexceptionoftheSouthlandOtagoarea,whichhasnonpre
vocalic/r/,NZEismainlynonrhotic.However,eveninSouthlandrhoticityis
variable,beingmorelikelyaftertheNURSEvowel.Inotherareas,rhoticityis
foundforspecificwordssuchasthenameoftheconsonantR,orexpressions
pickedupfromAmericanTVandmovies.NewZealandhiphopmusichas
beenshowntohavefairlyconsistentnonprevocalic/r/afterNURSE.
/l/ and /r/ tend to be devoiced in initial clusters after a voiceless plosive
(e.g. in please, cry, etc.). /r/ is a fricative after both /t/ and /d/ with voicing
matching that of the plosive (try, dry).

Coda/l/hasanotabledarkquality,andisfrequentlyvocalised,sothat
theremaybeno/l/atallinmilk,pronounced[mk],andthisvocalised/l/
mayevenmergewiththeprecedingvowel,giving[mk].
Droppingof/j/isvariable,butisfrequentinnew(especiallyinNew
Zealand).

3 Prosodicfeatures
A few words show different lexical stress from RP. For instance, spectator,
dictator and frustrate are sometimes stressed on the first syllable.
NZE rhythm is more syllable-timed than other varieties (though not
nearly as marked as some varieties such as Singapore English). This is
reflected in a more equal weight given to stressed and unstressed syllables,
e.g. with full vowels in unstressed syllables.
NZEiswellnotedforitsHighRisingTerminal,arisingnucleushighin
thespeakerspitchrange,onstatements.Thisfeatureisapositivepoliteness
marker,drawingthehearerintothediscourse.NZEalsotendstohavea
relativelyflatbuthighintonationpattern,withextremeandquitesudden
nuclearpitchmovements.

BAUER, L. & WARREN, P. (2004). New Zealand English: phonology. In Kortmann,

B., Schneider, E.W., Burridge, K., Mesthrie, R., & Upton, C. (editors), A

Handbook of Varieties of English, 580-602. Berlin and New York: Mouton

de Gruyter.
WELLS, J.C. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.