History
Despite being one of the last landmasses settled by humans, New Zealand was inhabited for hundreds of years by an indigenous people called the Māori before it was discovered by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642 (New Zealand, wikipedia.org). In 1840 it became part of the British Empire and now the population is mostly people of European descent, with the Māori being the largest minority. Because of the large amount of European immigrants and the nature of British colonialism, English is now one of the official languages alongside Māori and New Zealand Sign Language (New Zealand English, wikipedia.org). With the British Empire being as powerful as it was in the 19th century, their English language held more prestige than that of the Māori people. However, the New Zealand English Wiki page states that lexical borrowing occurred when the Europeans used Māori words for the flora and fauna found in New Zealand that they had no words for. Because the English language was held in higher esteem than that of the Māoir, this lexical borrowing was substratal.
Of the earliest European immigrants, the vast majority of them were British, Irish, or Australian because of a similar immigration restriction to the White Australia Policy. This policy was set in place to limit immigration to Australia to British citizens in order to keep Chinese people as well as Pacific Islanders from affecting their aim for a British economy and culture (White Australia Policy, wikipedia.org).
It is important to note that 20-30% of the British-born immigrants to New Zealand in the 19th century were from Scotland, for their dialect impacted the one which eventually developed in NZ (Trudgill, Maclagan, and Lewis). Primarily in Otago, where Scottish immigrants thrived and their culture had the most impact (Harper). The Wiki page for New Zealand English states that audio recordings from the 1940s of old New Zealanders allow us to hear the origins of the dialect, such as "97 year-old Hannah Cross, who was born in New Zealand in 1851 and lived there her whole life" who spoke with a Scottish accent. Trudgill argues that the phonology of New Zealand and Scotland is vastly different, except for the Southland burr heard in Otago and other parts of the South Island.
The first generation of children born in New Zealand to immigrant parents picked up on parts of the accents they were exposed to but a unified New Zealand dialect was not developed until the second generation children (New Zealand English, wikipedia.org). Much like the process pidgins undergo to become creoles, the language acquisition device in children allows them to create a language, or dialect, with rules. This innate ability resulted in second generation children born in New Zealand developing a distinct, structured New Zealand way of speaking. This New Zealand dialect has undergone much accentuation and vowel shifting since its origins, which is discussed in detail on the Phonology page of this website.
Of the earliest European immigrants, the vast majority of them were British, Irish, or Australian because of a similar immigration restriction to the White Australia Policy. This policy was set in place to limit immigration to Australia to British citizens in order to keep Chinese people as well as Pacific Islanders from affecting their aim for a British economy and culture (White Australia Policy, wikipedia.org).
It is important to note that 20-30% of the British-born immigrants to New Zealand in the 19th century were from Scotland, for their dialect impacted the one which eventually developed in NZ (Trudgill, Maclagan, and Lewis). Primarily in Otago, where Scottish immigrants thrived and their culture had the most impact (Harper). The Wiki page for New Zealand English states that audio recordings from the 1940s of old New Zealanders allow us to hear the origins of the dialect, such as "97 year-old Hannah Cross, who was born in New Zealand in 1851 and lived there her whole life" who spoke with a Scottish accent. Trudgill argues that the phonology of New Zealand and Scotland is vastly different, except for the Southland burr heard in Otago and other parts of the South Island.
The first generation of children born in New Zealand to immigrant parents picked up on parts of the accents they were exposed to but a unified New Zealand dialect was not developed until the second generation children (New Zealand English, wikipedia.org). Much like the process pidgins undergo to become creoles, the language acquisition device in children allows them to create a language, or dialect, with rules. This innate ability resulted in second generation children born in New Zealand developing a distinct, structured New Zealand way of speaking. This New Zealand dialect has undergone much accentuation and vowel shifting since its origins, which is discussed in detail on the Phonology page of this website.