New Zealand English
Explore LALS research on the distinctive New Zealand variety of English.
Kia ora!
The distinctive nature of the New Zealand English (NZE), one of the major varieties of English in the world, has been a prominent area of research within the School for many years.
Databases of New Zealand lexis have been developed in the School’s New Zealand Dictionary Centre, and the New Zealand Spoken English Database is held in the School.
The School of Linguistics and Language Studies (LALS) is host to the Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English, the New Zealand component of the International Corpus of English and the Written Corpus of New Zealand English. See also the research area Vocabulary and Corpora. LALS was also the location of a major study on Language in the Playground in New Zealand.
In addition, the School has supported the development of a Research Bank for NCEA level 3 studies on NZE, as well as a student workbook and a teachers' guide.
Interesting facts
Did you know that ...
- approximately 6 in every 1,000 words in New Zealand English are of Māori origin?
- women usually lead sound change in New Zealand English?
- there are at least 15 synonyms in New Zealand English for wild pig?
- grub ground was an early term for a vegetable garden in New Zealand English?
- yeah right often means quite the opposite in New Zealand English?
Research projects in this area
- Workplace language in NZ workplaces
- Quantity vs. quality in NZE vowels
- The merger of the NEAR and SQUARE diphthongs
- /s/-retraction in NZE
- The incidence of words of Māori origin in NZE
Researchers able to supervise in this area
Find out more
Find information about our various research themes and see bibliographies and links to various sources and events.