Story: Speech and accent

The Southland 'rolling R'

The only regional variant of New Zealand English is found in Southland and parts of Otago, where many of the original settlers came from Scotland. In most parts of New Zealand /r/ is not pronounced in words like 'care' and 'pour', but many older Southlanders pronounce it. These days, younger Southlanders tend to pronounce the /r/ only with the NURSE vowel. Listen to them speaking to journalist Jim Mora.

Using this item

Bright Spark Television
Reference: NewZild: the story of New Zealand English [videorecording]. Director and producer, John Milligan. Auckland: Bright Spark Television, 2005

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How to cite this page:

Elizabeth Gordon, 'Speech and accent - Variation within New Zealand English', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/video/40141/the-southland-rolling-r (accessed 26 April 2024)

Story by Elizabeth Gordon, published 5 Sep 2013