New Zealand English: Its Origins and Evolution

by Elizabeth Gordon, Lyle Campbell, Jennifer Hay, Margaret Maclagan, Andrea Sudbury

Overview

New Zealand English—at only 150 years old—is one of the newest varieties of English, and is unique in that its full history and development are documented in extensive audio-recordings. This book examines and analyzes the extensive linguistic changes New Zealand English has undergone over the past 150 years on the basis of these recordings. The authors, experts in phonetics and sociolinguistics, use the data to test previous explanations for new dialect formation, and to challenge current claims about the nature of language change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521642927
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/20/2004
Series:	Studies in English Language
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.34(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.14(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Gordon is an Associate Professor in the department of Linguistics at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Lyle Campbell is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Jennifer Hay is a lecturer in the department of Linguistics at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Margaret Maclagan is a Senior Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Andrea Sudbury is a research administrator at the Management Centre, King's College London.

Peter Trudgill is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and is a Fellow of the British Academy.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Overview and background; 3. The historical background; 4. Previous attempts to explain the origins of New Zealand English; 5. Methodology; 6. The variables of early New Zealand English; 7. The origins of New Zealand English: reflections from the ONZE data; 8. Implications for language change; Appendices.

Editorial Reviews

"an excellently grounded theory on the origins of NZE" Isabel Moskowich-Spiegel Fandino

From the Publisher