New Zealand is a multi-cultural society and you may hear many other languages spoken, including Maori, which is also an official language of New Zealand.
In April 2006, New Zealand became the first country to declare sign language ad an official language, alongside Maori and English.
New Zealand English (NZE)- one of the younger varieties of English, is the product of this region’s particular colonial experience and history as an independent commonwealth nation.
Immigration to NZ from Australia and different parts of Britain has had a significant bearing on the way NZE developed; this variety evidences the linguistic influences of both British English and Australian English.
A new dialect arises when speakers of various dialects of English are thrown together, as in these colonial situations”.
From the beginning of the British settlement on the islands, a new dialect began to form by adopting Māori words to describe the different flora and fauna of New Zealand, for which English did not have any words of its own.
Vowels
In New Zealand English the short-i of KIT is a central vowel not phonologically distinct from schwa /ə/, the vowel in unstressed "the". It thus contrasts sharply with the [i] vowel heard in Australia. Recent acoustic studies featuring both Australian and New Zealand voices show the accents were more similar before the Second World War and the KIT vowel has undergone rapid centralisation in New Zealand English. Because of this difference in pronunciation, some New Zealanders claim Australians say "feesh and cheeps" for fish and chips while some Australians counter that New Zealanders say "fush and chups.…
