A History of the New Zealand Accent

Being mistaken for a Kiwi is one of the most annoying things for Australians when they're travelling overseas.

Gorgeous!!!!! Thank you. I'm an Aussie. I LOVE New Zealanders. They're gorgeous people. Warm, friendly and very funny.

I find that we tend to under pronunciate our “L” at the end of words. Eg. Milk: Mih iwk. Tail: Tay iew. The same habit can be found with the letter “R” but it is not as prominent. Eg. Car: Kah, Rather: Rah the.

OMG. I remember this every morning waiting for the station to start. This and kiwi good night

The best part of this video was seeing our sadly missed Billy T James. As a mixed Maori/European ageing NZ'er, I loved Billy T's confidence in who he was and learned a lot from his ability to laugh and share humour based on the failings on both sides. imo not all of the examples in the video portray authentic HZ accents. ie.while greatly entertained with Ginette McDonald's portrayal of "Lyn of Tawa" in 70+ years of life I don't recall anyone else actually speaking like her and let's be honest, Billy T often exaggerated to extremes 😂

God!! I miss Billy T James

Thanks for mentioning the Māori accent

I’m thinking bloody hell, thick as a plank and dull as dishwater are sayings said in my family which are also said in SE England. However playing in a school pipe band and going to Highland Games was pretty normal in the South. When I moved away people used to laugh whe I said ‘wee’ purple, girl, birthday, “curtain”, “burger” and “church.

The NZ accent is the most grating accent in the English speaking world.

There was even Scandinavian Settlement from Norsewood to Eketahuna

Interestingly, there are regional differences in the Maori language, which naturally developed over time. For example, many kiwis know Wanganui will be pronounced Whanganui if you are not from Taranaki.

Linguistic difference around the country are more about the words and expressions we use than accent, eg crib v batch, etc. A lot of that comes from the predominant culture of the settlers in any particular area. Otago/Southland residents use more language with its roots in Scotland and the North of England.

Billy T was joking.

I do think there is a distinct difference between the north island and the main land in the modern area, especially the rural south, most prominent in pronouncing Maori place names etc, seems to be a trend to pronounce them them in te Reo where in the south they are pronounced in our regular accent.

I’m from Southland, and we definitely have a strong connection to our Scottish roots. Obviously rolling our R’s like you said, but we say “wee” and “aye” and other “Scottish” words and phrases are common too. We’re a bit more rugged down here, so our speech is a little less refined

So it's basically exactly what it's always sounded like to me - 55% Aus, 35% Scot, 10% ???

I find their pronunciation of E in words the biggest difference. First time I remember recognising the Kiwi accent was when this chick said bin/been when she was trying to say Ben

1:17 You can't convince me that that man didn't say "sex minutes"

Why have a pic of Seabiscuit?

Interesting, I didn't realise there was a big influx of Australians immigrating here bc all my Grandparents are from the UK. Makes me realise I've only learnt indigenous history