Story: Speech and accent

Vowel phonemes of New Zealand English (1st of 3)

Phonemes are the small units of sound used in speech. They are either vowel or consonant sounds. Linguists use phonetic symbols to represent speech sounds, distinguishing them from variations in spelling. Phonemes are represented by symbols between two slashes.

These are the vowel phonemes of New Zealand English. The keywords in capital letters are the agreed way of describing particular phonemes. The descriptive words under 'tongue' and 'lips' show where the tongue is placed in the mouth when saying these vowel phonemes and how the lips are shaped. 'Length' refers to the length of the vowel sounds. Examples of words including each vowel phoneme are given at the end of the table.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

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Source: Jennifer Hay, Margaret Maclagan and Elizabeth Gordon, New Zealand English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008, p. 22.

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How to cite this page:

Elizabeth Gordon, 'Speech and accent - Features of the New Zealand accent', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/interactive/40129/vowel-phonemes-of-new-zealand-english (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Elizabeth Gordon, published 5 Sep 2013