Kiwi accent broadens in battle against globalisation

NZPA Thursday, 24 May 2007
Despite the pressures of globalisation, the New Zealand accent is becoming broader, an Auckland University of Technology (AUT) study has shown.
AUT professor of language and communication Allan Bell studied recordings of more than 300 voices over a 30-year period, from ordinary New Zealanders to well-known broadcasting personalities.
Battling the pressures of globalisation and homogenisation of language, New Zealand English was "becoming ever more distinctively itself", Dr Bell said.
"Everybody thought it would end up sounding even more Australian or more American or whatever, but in fact the things that make New Zealand English different from other dialects are increasing rather than diminishing," Dr Bell told the New Zealand Herald today.
The change in the New Zealand accent over the last 30 years was obvious, particularly in some of the vowel sounds.
"There's no doubt we've moved beyond using Queen's English to adopt a broader Kiwi accent," he said.
Dr Bell said New Zealand's indigenous languages were still marginalised, with mainstream media needing to use more te reo Maori and Pacific Island voices."
"We have to give a place for the country's threatened languages such as te reo Maori and other languages such as Niuean and Cook Islands Maori. It affirms the place of the English of New Zealand," he said.