The Kiwi accent

Exploring the peculiarities of New Zealand pronunciation.

Why do we say it like that? Almost every day RNZ receives emails or letters, questioning the way a staff member has pronounced a word or place name.

Hewitt Humphries has the answers

Collection items

  • Professor Elizabeth Gordon - speaking Kiwi

    6 Feb 2009

    Retired Professor of Linguistics at the University of Canterbury discusses the origins of the New Zealand accent. Audio

  • New Zealanders Sound Like Neanderthals - Study

    18 Apr 2008

    Neanderthals have spoken out for the first time in 30,000 years, and - in a New Zealand accent. Audio

  • Kiwi English

    12 Oct 2009

    The New Zealand accent has been rated the most attractive and prestigious form of English outside of the UK, in a survey conducted by the BBC. Audio

  • NZ singing accent

    5 Aug 2010

    Andy Gibson, musician and sociolinguist, Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication at the Auckland University of Technology,is the author of a thesis exploring the variety of singing accents… Audio

  • Macmillan Brown lecture 1, 2005

    1 Jan 2005

    The New Zealand accent was first noticed around 1900 when it was called a 'colonial twang'. Recordings of old New Zealanders collected in the 1940's by the New Zealand National Broadcasting Service… Audio

  • Macmillan Brown lecture 2, 2005

    1 Jan 2005

    'Afghans' and 'cheerios', 'kiwi' and 'iwi': the words we use. The beginnings of New Zealand English go back to the time when Captain Cook borrowed Maori words into English. In this lecture Elizabeth… Audio

  • Macmillan Brown lecture 3, 2005

    1 Jan 2005

    'A whirlpool of impure vocalisation': attitudes to New Zealand English. When the New Zealand accent was first noticed it was roundly condemned. Critics said it was the product of poor homes and… Audio

Jermaine Clement
Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords. Photograph by Kim Melso