Early Predominance of London Type of Speech

The speech of the first settlers in New Zealand was of course that of their homeland in all its varieties, so that standard and provincial English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish forms of the language were all represented. It is clear, however, that one of these various forms so far predominated that, as time went on and a more or less homogeneous speech developed, the resulting general character of the speech was fixed in what was the predominating variant. This was the speech of London and its neighbourhood as it existed in the early or middle nineteenth century, a form of speech called Cockney. In other words, New Zealand speech has a basis of this London character, and although many changes have since appeared in it, the speech of the New Zealander still retains many characteristic pronunciations of early and middle Victorian London English. Some of these will be described presently. In 1886 a visit was paid to New Zealand by James McBurney, a Scottish teacher of music and principal of the Ladies' College at Geelong in Victoria. McBurney was interested in pronunciation and had made himself familiar with the phonetic script invented by Alexander Ellis, the great pioneer in the study of the changes in the pronunciation of English throughout the ages. McBurney made an intensive study of the speech of the younger generation of Australians and New Zealanders and recorded the results of his observations in Ellis's phonetic script. He visited Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Napier, inspected the schools, heard the children sing and read, discussed their speech with their teachers, and finally wrote a detailed report on the whole subject which he sent to Ellis. McBurney found, as was to be expected, that the speech of the younger generation in Australia and New Zealand was predominantly that of the London area and he made this so clear that Ellis, when he printed McBurney's report, as he did in full, included it, rather oddly, in his general account of English speech of the south-eastern region so that it stands, in Volume V of Ellis's monumental Early English Pronunciation (London 1889), between the north-eastern and south-eastern districts of England, being treated as merely a variant form of the speech of those districts. This rather unfortunate arrangement meant that McBurney's report was generally overlooked and ignored in the countries where it should have naturally aroused the greatest interest. McBurney found that the speech of the children was generally that of their parents but already a development toward homogeneity was apparent after barely 50 years of the colony's history. He also perceived the first tendencies towards change in new directions, tendencies which not much later than his time moved forward at an accelerated pace. It may be said that the main difference between standard English and the speech of New Zealand, presently to be discussed in detail, began to appear during the years from 1900 to the present time. McBurney noted, for instance, the pronunciation of final i or y as ee in such words as hasty, safely, quickly, which is now so distinctive a feature of the speech, also the rather curious sound given to the long a in words like farm, barn, and star, now characteristic of the speech of both Australia and New Zealand. He would represent the sound with the phonetic symbol æ which represents the short a in pat or back but of course doubled to signify the length of the sound. He heard the newspaper boys in Auckland calling “stæ” and observes that “it had a strange sound”.

Both these sounds seem to have been spontaneously generated in Australasia though probably the final i and ee may have appeared in some forms of London speech. The predominance of the London type of speech is explicable on the ground that in the capital there was a greater degree of congestion of the population than elsewhere and concentration of the efforts to encourage emigration.

Present Characteristics

The position in New Zealand at present may be thus summarised: a certain number of people, not by any means a majority, speak standard English exactly as if they had been born and brought up in London, or Kent, or Cambridge, but the majority speak more rapidly, more roughly, often with a nasal tendency and with a greater proportion of slang than the average English speaker. There are also certain differences in the pronunciation of certain classes of words and of English place names which have been transplanted to this country, such as Wellesley in three syllables, Mahlborough, Rollëston, in three syllables, for Rolleston, odd variants of Hawarden, Arundel stressed on -run for Arundel, Heethcoat for Heathcote, and so on.

The Maori place names, in spite of the admirable system of perfectly phonetic spelling, are often most gravely mutilated and mispronounced. The pronunciation of the professional announcers on the radio is generally excellent and should serve as a model to the “man in the street” but does not appear to have much, if any, influence in this direction. The speech of persons other than the staff over the radio is of course apt to vary greatly. As a general rule, here as elsewhere, the speech of women is better in every respect than that of men because, it is usually agreed, women appreciate the value, especially the social value, of good speech better than men do. Men often tend to regard “good” speech as effeminate or “cissy” and are apt to cultivate a manner of speech which is sometimes described as “kiwi”. It is often noticed that the speech of English-speaking Maoris is more musical, less nasal and harsh than that of the Pakeha.

In two respects the New Zealand pronunciation of English is old fashioned and preserves the sounds of an older generation. WH is pronounced here with its old “sharp” sound which disappeared completely from southern English during the nineteenth century. This is possibly due to the influence of Scottish and Irish settlers but is more probably rather a bit of pedantry initiated and encouraged by the teachers who, as a class, are apt to allow the spelling of a word to determine its pronunciation. Another sound heard here is the sheer for shire in the names of the counties which was formerly sheer in England but which gave way to sher in present-day speech and is so recognised by authorities.

The American Impact

The probable future state of the English language in New Zealand is problematical and he would be a bold man who would attempt to forecast it with any degree of certainty. This is because the forces at work upon it are so conflicting. On the one hand what may be called the natural, even inevitable tendency to change will be encouraged by the growing spirit of nationalism, by the probable weakening of the ties with the old country, the equally possible strengthening of the influence of the United States, and by a certain feeling, not exactly of animosity but of lack of sympathy observable in the New Zealander in his relations with the United Kingdom. On the other hand, the tendency to change is checked or discouraged by tradition, by the continued if diminishing influx of immigrants from the United Kingdom, by the conservative forces at work in the press, in literature, and in the official voice of the radio. The fate of the English language in the U.S. is significant for the New Zealander. Thus we see, as we may possibly see here, a great difference between the written and spoken languages. The written or printed language in the U.S. differs remarkably little from ordinary standard English while the spoken language has diverged so widely and so variously from that standard that it is not always easily intelligible to the English listener, and of course the gulf grows wider as we descend in the social scale. And so it may go in New Zealand. The direct influence of the U.S., already strong, is likely to become even stronger in the future and to encourage certain changes in idiom and in vocabulary and pronunciation. This tendency is encouraged partly by mere proximity and partly by the similarity in social structure between New Zealand and the U.S.

Dialects

It is a question whether regional dialects will develop in New Zealand. What has happened in the U.S. may again serve as a pointer for New Zealand. But the small size of the country and the excellent and ever-improving means of communication within it, make the comparison appear rather dubious. There are, however, certain areas of the country which are so definitely isolated by nature as to encourage regional pronunciations to develop. Such areas are the West Coast of the South Island, Northland, the King Country, and Banks Peninsula. There are indeed at present certain idioms which are peculiar to certain districts. For example, on the West Coast of the South Island people say the boy of Smith instead of “the boy Smith” or “the Smiths' boy” and this, which seems to be a purely local development, is also said to be used in Lyttelton, introduced by workers from “The Coast”. In Otago, too, people say whenever for “when” and a few other such Scotticisms are observed, but these are rather in the nature of vestigial remnants of traditional idioms of the old land than signs of any new provincial speech. Some slang terms seem to be peculiar to certain districts. An example is the Auckland term up the Puhoi or Boohoy (its form varies a good deal) meaning “gone somewhere or other” and this is a genuine local product referring to an old German settlement on the coast north of Auckland and little, if at all, in use elsewhere in New Zealand. These are but trifling variants from standard speech and anything like the dialects of mediaeval England is out of the question.

London Sounds Retained

Australian and New Zealand popular speech still keeps certain marks of its origin in the metropolitan area, “Cockney” speech, as it is generally called. These diverge more widely from standard speech in Australia than in New Zealand. Three of these characteristic Cockney sounds are represented in the words type for tape, raound (or reound) for round, owld for old. Of these the most persistent, the hardest to eradicate, is the ao in raound which holds its graound in spite of heroic efforts on the part of educational experts. It was formerly known in the U.S., perhaps still is, and appears in the writings of O. W. Holmes and others of his generation. Type for tape, Austrylia and Adelyde became proverbial in Australia and, though not unknown in New Zealand, are far less generally to be heard. When they are, the sound diverges much less widely from the standard than it does in Australia. Owld for old is also far less prevalent in New Zealand than in Australia. The New Zealander is not often heard to complain that it is “sow cowld” as Australians are. It is remarkable that the dropped h, which is so characteristic of mid-Victorian Cockney, has never become a feature of respectable New Zealand speech though not of course entirely absent from “uneducated speech” here. The three Cockney sounds mentioned were all particularly noted by McBurney on his visit to New Zealand in 1886. Two others may be mentioned. In words like me and see the sound of the vowel becomes a diphthong which cannot be represented by conventional symbols. In phonetic script it is mei, the obscure vowel followed by i. In words like beer and fear the emphasis is laid on the first element in the diphthong instead of the second so that it may be spelt as bee-er, fee-er. These pronunciations are common to Australia and New Zealand. Both are characteristic of London speech.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of New Zealand English has been influenced by changes in the usage of traditional English words which have acquired new meanings and by the adoption of Maori words and phrases; by infiltration of words and idioms from the U.S., and by contact with Australia. Familiar examples of the first group are mob, creek, paddock, and bush, all of which acquired their new meaning first in Australia. Examples of the native words now in general use are the names of birds, fish, plants, and trees: kea, tui, hapuku, tarakihi, koromiko, raupo, and kauri. It is not likely that this element in the vocabulary will ever increase much. Under the heading of Vocabulary may be included the preferences shown for certain English words in ordinary use such as village for the shopping centre in suburbs and the very frequent use of the playful wee for “little” as in “a wee while” for “a little time” or “a short time”. The back-country runs have quite a vocabulary of their own which was studied and put on record by L. G. D. Acland as an appendix to his Early Canterbury Runs. Among these are the terms run or station, terms which the New Zealanders took over from Australia, terms like cow paddock and horse paddock and tea-oh and township which, like most of these terms, took on their special use in Australia. Perhaps the most useful and expressive of our loans from the Maori is mana, reputation, honour, etc.; another is haka, now becoming well known wherever our football teams go.

Some of our specially New Zealand words have curious and quite unexpected histories. For example, shanghai, a catapult, imported from Australia, proves to be a Highland Scottish word shangie for a forked stick used to keep a dog's tail down. Rikka, the bushman's word for a young kauri, long supposed to be a Maori word, turns out to be an English dialect word for a pole, apparently introduced by workers from England in the kauri timber trade as long ago as the 1790s.

Distinctive Pronunciations

Changes in certain large groups of words foreshadow the possible emergence of a distinct form of English. Among these the most important and striking are: the peculiar sound given to long a as in star, already mentioned, the final y or i as ee, citee, historee, also mentioned before; a large number of words in which an English long o, open or closed, becomes a short o, as in jolt, toll, oral, auction (oction), hydrollic, swollen, revolt, controller, trolling (for trout), bolster, knoll, Rolleston.

A large group of words which are pronounced in standard English with the stress on the second syllable or a later syllable are here stressed on the first; examples are LUcerne, ARmagh, MAGazine, ARM-chair, NARRator, MANkind, MIgraine, REsearch, FInance.

In a few words this tendency is reversed and the stress is placed later than in the standard; examples are cuckOO, jubilEE, vaccINE, GeraldINE.

Faults in Speech

Certain general tendencies in New Zealand speech may be classed as faults, mispronunciations, or vulgarisms, such as occur wherever the language is spoken, especially of course among the comparatively uneducated, though some of these occur among speakers of all grades, including the teachers and even the university staffs. One of the most widely spread and insidious is the obscure pronunciation of short unstressed i, ut uz (it's), wickut, hatud, and so on. I and e are dulled before l, shulling, Phullup (Phillip), Wullington, Nulson, and so on. The letter H is called “haich” in all schools of a certain denomination both here and in Australia. Dais is frequently pronounced as dias; misled as if it were a participle of a verb to misle. Ate, as in other English-speaking countries, is frequently ayt. Maroon is very commonly marone, especially in the shops. New Zealand (alas!) is all too often New Zilnd. Deity and spontaneity become dayity and spontanayity.

Some Remarkable Habits of Speech

Both in New Zealand and in Australia the names of the days, also holiday, and yesterday are given the full sound of -day instead of the standard English Mondi, etc. This is not a relic of traditional usage, like the sharp wh-, but a pedantic following of the spelling. Asia, Persia, version are given the flat zh sound, Azhia, verzhion, etc. This, though it does occur in Scotland, is rather an Americanism as used in New Zealand.

In sporting language (hardly at all elsewhere) in New Zealand and Australia may is often used for might. The commentator will say that “the fieldsman may have stopped the ball before it reached the boundary”, meaning that he might have stopped it but did not…. The word basic is frequently bassic with a short a in both countries and this pronunciation seems to be confined to Australasia.

Slang and Colloquialisms

The colloquial idioms or slang of New Zealand may be divided into four main classes: traditional English, Australian, American, and indigenous. Some of the special vocabularies of certain occupations provide sub-classes in which it is not possible to draw a clear boundary line between technical usage and slang. A few examples of such groups must suffice; the field is very rich except, perhaps, in the indigenous class. Brought from England by the early settlers or flowing thence in later days are: quid for a pound sterling, larrikin and hooligan for roughs, getting the wind up, for donkey's years, and quod for prison. Australian importations include John Hop for a policeman (rhyming slang on cop), cobber for friend or mate, beaut and super, terms of approval, to shout, to pay for another's drink, plonk for wine, and bodgies and widgies for young male and female delinquents.

The United States gives us pop for father, getting people's goat, pulling legs, sheila, joint for a restaurant, and gimmick. Examples of slang and colloquial expressions of local origin are old identity, on which hangs a tale, Kathleen Mavourneen, a witty name for an indefinite sentence, Captain Cooker for a wild pig, kiwi for a New Zealand man, they're off Mr Cutts for “the performance is about to start”, up the boohai (and other forms) for “off in some unknown locality”, an Aucklander's idiom. English names of animals and plants are sometimes mistakenly applied. The native beech, Nothofagus, has been called birch since the early days and is still often so called by bushmen; the great buttercup of the alps, Ranunculus lyalli, is called the mountain lily; the indigenous black nightshade, Solanum nigrum is often called deadly nightshade which is a very different species. The field mouse of England is a vole, not a true mouse, but here the common house mouse is called a field mouse when it occurs out of doors. So also any rat occurring in streams is called a water rat but the English water rat is a vole, not a true rat. A term peculiar to early Canterbury is shagroon, for Australian squatters invading that province. The placer sheep is one spending its life in one spot. The bobby calf is a term of the stock trade. Dairy farmers are (or were) cowspankers. An English immigrant is choom. The west coast of the South Island is The Coast and residents there are Coasters. Many native plants have Maori names more or less mutilated such as matagowri, goai (kowhai), and biddy bid (piri piri). Bullocky has been used to describe the language supposed to be characteristic of bullock-drivers. Bach, known elsewhere as a verb, to live as a bachelor, here came into use as a noun, a hut or whare. A south-west storm is a southerly buster. Plunket for the Plunket Society has developed a verbal use “to plunket (or plunk) a baby”. The national game, rugby football, has given All Blacks and certain terms relating to the game itself such as lock and hooker. Slang is by its very nature ephemeral and many of these examples, chosen at random, will probably be obsolete in the not very distant future.

by Arnold Wall, C.B.E., B.A.(CAMB.), M.A.(LOND.), D.LITT(N.Z.), F.R.S.TAS. (1869–1966), Professor Emeritus, University of Canterbury, and Author.

Early English Pronunciation, Vol. V, Ellis, A. (1889) (containing): “Report on Australasian Speech”, McBurney, J.; Austral English, Morris, E. A., 1898; Slang Today and Yesterday, Partridge, E. (1959); New Zealand Slang, Baker, S. J. (1941); Early Canterbury Runs, Acland, L. G. D. (1946) (with glossary of sheep-station terms); Wool Away, Bowen, G. (1955) (with a glossary of shearing terms); New Zealand Speech, Wall, Arnold (1959); Popular Names of New Zealand Plants, Andersen, J. C. (1926); Nomenclature in New Zealand, Andersen, J. C. (1934); Colonial Experiences, Bathgate, A. (1874).