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The settlement of peoples from various foreign countries and the intermingling of the people with the indigenous Māori brought about what would eventually evolve into a "New Zealand accent" and a unique regional English lexicon.
The differences between New Zealand and Australian English mainly hail from the differing production of the short front vowels, some of which have reached the status of being stereotyped in the two countries.
The Australia accent is believed to have originated from native-born children who spoke a new dialect combining dialects from the British Isles. The Kiwi dialect, on the other hand, came with immigrants who entered New Zealand from Britain.
The five-year study confirms that the dialect came from the mother country, Britain. Dr Richard Blythe, a physicist from Edinburgh University, said: "Most of the immigrants to New Zealand came from the British Isles in the 1850s, and they all landed with British regional dialects."
Although Australians and Kiwis might sound comparatively similar to the untrained ear, research has shown there is a distinct contrast in the pronunciation of vowels. Australians tend to pronounce their vowels with more emphasis on the sound [ee], whereas New Zealanders make more prominent [u] sounds.
Australian English can be described as a new dialect that developed as a result of contact between people who spoke different, mutually intelligible, varieties of English. The very early form of Australian English would have been first spoken by the children of the colonists born into the early colony in Sydney.
Early European settlers to Australia — many of whom were convicts — were from all over Great Britain and Ireland, and their speech patterns blended to form the new Australian accent.
Australian English is most similar to British English in spelling and sentence construction, although its accent and vocabulary are very distinct from the UK.
While indigenous Australians had developed over 250 different languages at the time of European colonisation, non-indigenous Australians simply haven't been around long enough to develop regional accents. And as an English-speaking immigrant population, it was their common language that bound them together.
While Australians have a reputation of being friendly, New Zealand "does it even better", the report says. New Zealand was named one of the easiest places in the world to settle in, coming in fifth place, while Australia ranked 20th.
What does it mean? Another word for friend. Common in Britain as well, but used even more enthusiastically by Aussies, who pepper the ends of their sentences with a longer, stretched out “maaaaate” that conveys friendliness and establishes a relaxed bond between the speakers.
The New Zealand accent is one of the most distinctive English accents — and it's also one of the trickiest. Here's everything you wanted to know about the kiwi accent. Illustration by Victoria Fernandez. The funny thing about accents is, it can be really hard to hear your own.
Pace: New Zealanders speak English at a very quick pace compared to most English-speaking countries. They generally know this and don't mind being asked to speak more slowly. Self-Deprecation: New Zealanders tend to be quite self-deprecating both in their conversation style and humour.
The English accent is the one that is victorious, with the latest survey showing that 17 per cent of people have it at the top of their list. French came in next at 13 per cent, which is unsurprising considering that this is the language spoken in the city of love.
Strine, also spelled Stryne /ˈstraɪn/, describes a broad accent of Australian English.
According to linguists, there are three main kinds of Aussie accent: broad (think former Prime Minister Bob Hawke), general (closer to Kevin Rudd) and cultivated (like Malcolm Fraser).
New Zealand. The New Zealand accent is most similar to Australian accents (particularly those of Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia) but is distinguished from these accents by the presence of three "clipped" vowels, slightly resembling South African English.
The distinctive Australian accent is the result of a “drunken slur” caused by the heavy drinking of the early settlers, according to a communication expert from the country. "It's not just about pronunciation; vocal quality or timbre matters, as does intonation – the way the pitch of the voice rises and falls."
Generally speaking though, it can be said that the Welsh accent is probably closest to an Australian one. This is due to their similarities in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary choices – both Welsh and Australians tend to end words on a 'v' sound rather than an 'r' sound like other English speakers do.
Australia was colonised two centuries later, which explains why the accent of Australian English is more similar to British English compared to American English.
G'day (guh-day) / Hello.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island languages
Over 250 Australian Aboriginal languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact.