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Story: Linguistics

Changing vowels

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The New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour at the University of Canterbury has developed new approaches to studying language, using sociophonetics and psycholinguistics. Its director in 2014 was Jen Hay. In a 2009 interview with radio journalist Kim Hill she describes a recent DRESS vowel change in New Zealand English, which means that 'best' sounds like 'beast' and 'bed' like 'bead'.

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by Julián

Sound courtesy of Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

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How to cite this page

Janet Holmes, Linguistics – Social dialects and sociolinguistics, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/speech/43846/changing-vowels (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Janet Holmes, published 16 December 2013.