Kōrero: Speech and accent

Bottle of bear

In the past New Zealand speakers usually made a clear distinction between the diphthongs (a speech sound that begins with one vowel and glides to another) in NEAR and SQUARE. In the 2000s for many younger speakers there is no distinction between them. This 2013 Pak 'n' Save supermarket advertisement makes the point very clearly – 'beer' sounds just like 'bear' and 'cheers' just like 'chairs'.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Foodstuffs

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Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Elizabeth Gordon, 'Speech and accent - Sound changes in speech', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/video/40137/bottle-of-bear (accessed 29 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Elizabeth Gordon, i tāngia i te 5 Sep 2013