Faults in Speech

Certain general tendencies in New Zealand speech may be classed as faults, mispronunciations, or vulgarisms, such as occur wherever the language is spoken, especially of course among the comparatively uneducated, though some of these occur among speakers of all grades, including the teachers and even the university staffs. One of the most widely spread and insidious is the obscure pronunciation of short unstressed i, ut uz (it's), wickut, hatud, and so on. I and e are dulled before l, shulling, Phullup (Phillip), Wullington, Nulson, and so on. The letter H is called “haich” in all schools of a certain denomination both here and in Australia. Dais is frequently pronounced as dias; misled as if it were a participle of a verb to misle. Ate, as in other English-speaking countries, is frequently ayt. Maroon is very commonly marone, especially in the shops. New Zealand (alas!) is all too often New Zilnd. Deity and spontaneity become dayity and spontanayity.