LESSON 27

ENGLISH IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Topics:

 English in Australia and New Zealand: Origin and Development I & II

 English in Australia and New Zealand: Linguistic Features
 English in Australia and New Zealand: Sociolinguistic Variations
 Varieties of Australian English
 Varieties of New Zealand English

New Zealand
New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant[2] of the English language spoken and written by
most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-
NZ.[3] English is one of New Zealand's three official languages (along with New Zealand Sign
Language and the Māori language)[4] and is the first language of the majority of the population.
The English language was established in New Zealand by colonists during the 19th century. It is
one of "the newest native-speaker variet[ies] of the English language in existence, a variety
which has developed and become distinctive only in the last 150 years". [5] The most distinctive
influences on New Zealand English have come from Australian English, English in southern
England, Irish English, Scottish English, the prestige Received Pronunciation (RP), and Māori.
[6]
 New Zealand English is most similar to Australian English in pronunciation, with some key
differences.

New Zealand vs Australia English Language

1. By Tom Wotherspoon
2. Colonisation of New Zealand began in the 1840’s after a treaty was signed with the Maori
leaders giving the British government control of the islands. The colonisation was conducted
from Australia, this meaning many of the first settlers were indeed Australian. It wasn’t until
1907 that New Zealand became a dominion of the British Empire.
3. Even now, Australia shares a strong bond with New Zealand. Tourism plays a major part in
modern language development and Australia and New Zealand are no exception. More tourists
go to NZ from Australia than any other country and visa versa every year by more double. This
helps make Australian English and NZ English very similar.(Statistics New Zealand:
www.stats.govt.nz/infoshare, accessed 23/10/11 )
4. The most noticeable difference between AE (Australian English) and NZE (New Zealand
English) is the accents. AE speakers tend to position their tongue higher and more forward than
their close neighbours when producing the sound /ɪ/. Also NZE speakers have a higher tongue
position when producing /e/ or /æ/ sounds. (An acoustic comparison of Australian and New
Zealand English vowel change, Zoë Evans.† & Catherine I. Watson.‡.)
5. In New Zealand they:• Lengthen the ‘e’ or /i/ sound in words. Eg, AU=check /t͡ʃɛk/,
NZE=cheeck /t͡ʃik/• Substitute ‘I’ or /ɪ/ for an ‘a’ or /ə/ within words. Eg. AU=fish /fɪʃ/,
NZE=fush /fəʃ/
6. We say: Peck the pack of picklesThey say: Pick the peck of puckles.
(www.dialectblog.com/2011/04/19/new-zealand-accents, accessed on 23/10/11)Word Australian
New ZealandieLamb /læm/ /lɛm/Milk /mɪlk/ /məʊk/Liver /lɪvɜ/ /ləvə/Wind /wɪnd/ /wənd/Six
/sɪks/ /səks/(http://www.soundcomparisons.com/, accessed on 23/10/11)
7. Australian and New Zealand syntax are identical. No record of syntactical differences have
been made.
8. There are also only a few lexical differences between NZE and AE. Many of the AE slang
word have been transported over to New Zealand and are now very common.Eg. woop woop,
bugger, bloody hell, taters, ta, dinkum, g’day, mate ...
9. Word Meaning Boy racer A young hoon Cuz cousin Flag Cant be botheredBoat person From
the South Island JAFA Derogatory for Aucklander; Just Another F**king Aucklander Hangum
Slang greeting Hari Maori for George, Used in a derogatory manner towards Maori people Hamu
Scavenge, scrounge sometimes in sport a ball hog manus Idiot, imbecile halfpai A half done job,
from ‘pai’ meaning ‘good’ in MaoriMaori Shower To only use deodorant; not washing Kai food
Chch Christchurch Aotearoa New Zealand Pakeha Of non-Maori background
Variation in Australian English
Australian English is relatively homogeneous when compared
with British and American English. The major varieties of Australian English are sociocultural
rather than regional, being general, broad and cultivated Australian.
There exist a number of Australian English-based creole languages. Differing significantly from
English, these are not considered dialects of English; rather, they are considered separate
languages. Notable examples are Torres Strait Creole, spoken on the Torres Strait Islands,
Northern Cape York and South-Western Coastal Papua; the Norfuk language, spoken by some
inhabitants of Norfolk Island and Australian Kriol language, which developed in and around the
Sydney region in the days of early settlement, now exists only in rural areas of the Northern
Territory.
Are there different varieties of the Australian English accent?
There are three major subgroups of the Australian accent: Standard Australian English,
Aboriginal Australian English, and Ethnocultural Australian English. Standard Australian
English is spoken by the majority. Aboriginal Australian English is spoken by the majority of
Indigenous Australians. Ethnocultural varieties may be spoken by people as an expression of
ethnic, cultural or non-mainstream identity. Speakers often switch between the different
subtypes. Within each of these subtypes there is a continuum of variation.

New Zealand English

Like other national and regional forms of English, the New Zealand variety is most distinctive in
its oral rather than in its written and printed realisations. New Zealanders, just as Australians,
South Africans and so on, are recognised above all by their speech, by features of accent
inevitably present in every spoken New Zealand utterance.

The written form of English around the world is more uniform (apart from spelling variants) than
the spoken form and has changed little since standard written English was established by 15th-
and 16th-century printers and subsequently enshrined in the earliest English grammars and
dictionaries.

A New Zealand scientific paper, company report or love poem, for example, may well contain no
linguistic markers at all of its New Zealand origin or authorship. This is because the grammar of
English (especially formal English) in New Zealand, including spelling, is virtually
indistinguishable from that of British English. Such differences as do exist are matters of relative
frequency of certain forms and constructions—greater preference in New Zealand for singular
verbs with collective nouns like 'committee', for example—and are revealed only by detailed
sociolinguistic analysis.

Thus no separate grammar of New Zealand English has yet been written, since grammars of
British English have hitherto been considered adequate to describe (and prescribe) New Zealand
usage also. This state of affairs was for the greater part of this century encouraged by educators
and authorities (such as Professor Arnold Wall) who were highly critical of any deviation in New
Zealand from British English linguistic models.

Where New Zealand English in print does differ from its equivalent elsewhere the major
indicators of that difference are lexical, not grammatical. Lexis or vocabulary is the other level
besides accent at which New Zealand English is distinctive, in both words and meanings. There
are many words found only in New Zealand English ('marae', 'morepork'), while other words
('mainland', 'mufti') have acquired individual meanings here which are either additional to or
substitutions for those used in general English. New Zealand words and meanings may or may
not have specific reference to New Zealand itself ('mānuka' versus 'mocker' = 'clothes', 'gear').
Also, many are shared with Australian English ('mob' (of sheep etc.), 'mullock'), largely as a
consequence of the common colonial experience of the two countries.

Unlike accent features which pervade all spoken discourse, lexical features are occasional,
sporadic, and very much a product of subject and purpose. If the writing in question deals with
specifically New Zealand themes and topics, the use of New Zealandisms is natural enough. We
will expect vocabulary drawn from te reo Māori in writing on Māori subjects, New Zealand
agricultural terms in farming publications, words relating to our distinctive social institutions and
practices in political journalism, and so on. Proper names also play a significant part in
identifying writing that originates in this country.

Literary artists wishing to represent the unselfconscious, colloquial speech of New Zealanders in
print must also rely largely on lexical features. Critics sometimes claim to detect New Zealand
'accents' in novels and other fiction, but with occasional exceptions (usually comic and satiric)
what is reproduced on the page—indeed all that can satisfactorily be reproduced—is New
Zealand vocabulary and idiom. Slang often acquires a printed form in this way. The accent may
be projected onto the text by the reader, but it is rarely indicated overtly.

Most New Zealand words and usages, like most new elements in all vocabularies everywhere,
are initially coined or borrowed in the spoken language and only subsequently set down in
writing. The earliest examples of this process here are traceable to the first English speakers to
visit Aotearoa and their encounters with an unfamiliar natural environment and indigenous
culture. Words borrowed from Māori, various compounds for flora and fauna, etc., first acquire a
printed form in the works associated with Cook's voyages. More appear in the early 19th-century
accounts of Savage, Nicholas and all subsequent travellers and colonists whose observations
about this faraway land were written down and set before a fascinated British readership.

This New Zealand vocabulary was not at first part of New Zealand English, since that did not yet
exist. It circulated at first (ephemerally) in Britain, but its longer-term survival was to be as part
of a written New Zealand English that eventually developed (alongside a spoken New Zealand
English) in the decades following 1840. The rapid development of a range of printed materials
for a steadily growing colonial readership and use gave New Zealandisms, old and new, a
permanent home. Some terms had (and have) a limited lifespan, but no word once printed is ever
lost from the language entirely, and shortlived expressions are often significant markers of a
particular historical era ('swaggie', 'six o'clock swill', 'Rogernomics').

By the end of the 19th century, the English vocabulary in Australia and New Zealand had
assumed a sufficiently different character from that in Britainor North America to prompt the
first lexicographical accounts of its distinctive usages. The Australian Edward Morris's Austral
English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases and Usages (1898), using dated citations
in the style of the Oxford English Dictionary, was the first work to record at least some of the
Māori words and other New Zealand forms found in 18th- and 19th-century publications. Also in
1898, a supplement of 700 Australian and New Zealand words prepared by Joshua Lake was
published in an Australasian edition of the massive Webster's International Dictionary. After this
initial flourish, Australasian lexicography virtually ground to a halt for nearly two-thirds of the
20th century. Dictionaries compiled in England, especially those of the Oxford 'family' including
the Concise and Pocket Oxfords (first editions 1911 and 1924 respectively) became standard
reference works in New Zealand also, though they contained almost no Australasian usage. The
educational climate in particular did not encourage recognition of linguistic difference in New
Zealand, though at least one school dictionary in the 1930s had a short supplement of Australian
and New Zealand vocabulary.

One or two substantial specialist accounts of the local vocabulary also appeared, for example 'A
sheep station glossary' by L.G.D. Acland (1933, reprinted in The Early Canterbury Runs, 1951),
and Andersen's 'Maori words incorporated into the English language' (Journal of the Polynesian
Society, 1946). Eric Partridge also gave some space to New Zealand expressions in his Slang
Today and Yesterday (3rd ed. 1950).

Colloquialism and slang were felt to be the main (and therefore somewhat disreputable) way in
which New Zealand usage was distinctive from English elsewhere, a view evidently reflected in
the title of Sidney Baker's New Zealand Slang: A Dictionary of Colloquialisms (1941). This
valuable study of New Zealand words is neither a dictionary in the alphabetical manner, nor
confined to slang and colloquialism.

Australasian supplements to British dictionaries reappeared in the 1960s, one appended to the
local edition of the Collins Contemporary Dictionary(1965), and another (ed. Robert Burchfield)
to the 5th edition of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary (1969). Attitudes were changing, and the
weakening of ties with Britain was to have linguistic as well as other repercussions. New
Zealand English became more 'respectable' and general English dictionaries catering for New
Zealanders' needs became possible. The Heinemann New Zealand Dictionary, ed. Harry
Orsman (1979, 2nd ed. 1989), was a landmark publication, the first work to integrate New
Zealandisms with the main body of English words to create a general purpose New Zealand
dictionary.

This was followed by a New Zealand edition of the New Collins Concise English Dictionary, and
the Collins New Zealand Compact English Dictionary(both editions by Ian Gordon, 1982 and
1985), and by Burchfield's New Zealand Pocket Oxford Dictionary (1986, 2nd ed. Deverson,
1997). In recent years New Zealand dictionaries have come thick and fast, including New
Zealand adaptations of some Oxford school dictionaries, and popular collections of slang,
notably those of David McGill (1988 and 1989).

A further lexicographical landmark was the first substantial publication consisting solely of New
Zealand usage, Elizabeth and Harry Orsman's New Zealand Dictionary (1994, 2nd ed. 1995).
This contains a concise selection of the rich materials assiduously compiled by Harry
Orsman over more than 40 years. It has since been followed by Orsman's major work, the
historical Dictionary of New Zealand English (1997), a work of almost 8,000 headwords
supported by some 47,000 quotations drawn from a reading of over 4,000 printed sources. The
dictionary itself, and the much larger body of material it derives from (less than a third of
Orsman's total collection of citations is used), will provide an immensely valuable research base
for future lexicographers and historians of New Zealand English. Without Orsman's efforts New
Zealand lexicography would be a flimsy thing indeed (see his '"The Dictionary of New Zealand
English": a beginning and (almost) an end', 1995).

Aside from lexicography, most of the published work on New Zealand English to date has
centred on pronunciation rather than printed uses, but notable general accounts include J.A.W.
Bennett's article, 'English as it is spoken in New Zealand' (1943), George Turner's The English
Language in Australia and New Zealand (1966), and Laurie Bauer's chapter on 'English in New
Zealand' in vol.5 of The Cambridge History of the English Language(1995).

Since the early 1980s there has been a rapid growth in teaching and research activity in the field
of New Zealand English in the country's universities, particularly those of the four main centres.
New Zealand English has become the subject of intense scrutiny in the context of a world wide
surge of interest in all varieties of English. A periodical devoted exclusively to New Zealand
English studies, the New Zealand English Journal(formerly Newsletter), published annually by
the Department of English at the University of Canterbury since 1987, includes regular
bibliographies of published work in the subject.

New Zealand is unusual among English-speaking countries in making its own form of the
language a topic for study in schools; textbooks written by Elizabeth Gordon and Tony
Deverson (New Zealand English, 1985, Finding a New Zealand Voice, 1989, New Zealand
English and English in New Zealand, 1997) have provided resources for the teaching of New
Zealand English in the senior secondary school curriculum.

Corpus studies are a further element in the New Zealand English research picture. Victoria
University is home to the one-million-word Wellington Corpus of Written New Zealand English,
completed in 1993 under the direction of Laurie Bauer, as well as a spoken corpus of the same
size. The written corpus, based for the most part on the year 1986, offers a substantial and
consolidated insight into contemporary New Zealand English in print. It is of inestimable value
to those investigating the lexical and grammatical features of our variety of English as it nears
the end of the 20th century.

1. NEW ZEALAND ENGLISH MªCamí Testagorda Aldomà

2. Contents:1. Introduction2. Socio-Historical Background3. Current situation of English and
other languages4. Phonological, grammatical and lexical traits5. 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 andother 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 andother 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 andother 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 andother 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 andlexical 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 andlexical 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 andlexical 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 andlexical 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 andlexical 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 andlexical 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 andlexical 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 ofNew 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 ofNew Zealand English  Actors:  New Zealand Theatre 
Bruce Mason’s ‘The Pohutukawa Tree’  It deals with New Zealand issues.

References:

Compiled from

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93New_Zealand_relations
 https://www.slideshare.net/wot0001/new-zealand-vs-australia-eng-lang
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variation_in_Australian_English
 http://clas.mq.edu.au/australian-voices/faq/are-there-different-varieties-australian-
english-accent
 http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-GriBook-_div2-N1097E.html
 https://www.slideshare.net/mctestagorda/new-zealand-english-13618215