 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
New Zealand English is the dialect of English spoken in New Zealand.
New Zealand English is close to Australian English in pronunciation. Possibly the only difference between New Zealand and British spelling is in the ending "-ise" or "-ize". New Zealanders use the "-ise" ending exclusively, whereas Britons use either ending, and some British dictionaries and style manuals prefer the "-ize" ending.
Many local words, largely borrowed from the indigenous Maori population, have arisen to describe the local flora, fauna, and the natural environment, and some other Maori words have made their way into the language.
In 1998, Oxford University Press produced a Dictionary of New Zealand English that it claimed was based on over 40 years of research. This research started with Harry Orsman's 1951 thesis and continued with his publishing this dictionary as the editor. To assist with and maintain this work, the New Zealand Dictionary Centre was founded in 1997.
Most of the names for native flora and fauna come directly from the Maori names. Examples of native birds are of course the kiwi, as well as the kea, kakapo, tui and pukeko, the extinct giant moa, and the kotuku or white heron. There are also fish such as hoki, kahawai and terakihi, and shellfish like toheroa and paua, plus the fierce mako which is a violent shark that gamefishermen treat with great respect.
Most of the native trees also have names from Maori, such as the kauri, rimu, totara, kowhai, matagouri and pohutukawa. Other vegetation with Maori names includes the kumara, a type of sweet potato.
The word kiwi has acquired other meanings, most commonly as an informal term for New Zealander, or as an adjective instead of New Zealand. The use of kiwi to refer to kiwifruit is not part of New Zealand English.
Many Maori words or phrases that describe Maori culture have become part of New Zealand English. Some of these are:
Other Maori words may be recognised by most New Zealanders, but generally not used in everyday speech:
New Zealanders also refer to Maori people, in the plural as Maori, not as 'Maoris', and this is often pronounced as 'maw-rri' with a trilled 'r'.
Many Maori 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 Maori 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
The use of Maori words is increasing, particularly in the North Island, although there is regional variation. Thus "Kia Ora", literally "be healthy", is now a standard New Zealand greeting. In Maori situations it is often used after someone has spoken meaning "Have you got that?" or possibly "Do you agree with me?" but this has not extended to general use.
Other Maori 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".
Greetings between people meeting on a cold morning is sometimes "Makariri nei?", (cold isn't it?), this phrase is changing to a bastard Maori-English word "Maka-Chilly" It probably started as a joke, but has now become a permanent feature of New Zealand English.
"Buggered" is a word that quickly entered the Maori language as "Pakaru or Pakaruru" and is now returning to NZ English in its new form or as "Pakaru-ed"
There are also many non-Maori words that are unique to New Zealand English, or shared with Australia.
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:
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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 whilst disappearing from Australia is a mystery.
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".
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.
"More" and "sure" are pronounced mua and shua, whereas in Australia they would be pronounced as maw and shaw.
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.
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) |
| Gidday | G'day | Hello! |
| 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.
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 Maori, 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.
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.
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
