Sounding JAFA: young Aucklanders impacting the Kiwi accent
The most distinctive features of a New Zealand English accent are the vowels: ‘pen’ sounds like ‘pin’, ‘bed’ like ‘bid’ and ‘here’, ‘hair’ and ‘hear’ rhyme, when they don’t in other accents. And, of course, there is the famous ‘fush and chups’. But is our accent changing? And if so, where is the change coming from?
International research shows that accent change begins in large cities – meaning we must look to New Zealand’s largest and most linguistically diverse city: Auckland.
Dr Brooke Ross will take you on a phonetic trip from the origins of New Zealand’s English accent and its development over the past 100 years to influences bringing change today. She will talk about young Aucklanders, how they sound and how their vowels are shaping the accent nationwide, and about retaining distinctive speech sounds that are part of a Kiwi identity.
Bio
Dr Brooke Ross is a postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Engineering and Design. With a PhD in Speech Science and background in linguistics, her interdisciplinary research focuses on how and why the New Zealand accent is changing over time. Her work mainly focuses on the vowel space, and uses acoustic analysis to track sound changes over time, as well as exploring social factors that shape the way we speak.
Event
Tuesday, 25 August 2026, 7:30pm – 8:30pm @Mr Murdoch’s, Level 1/16 Fort Street, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010
The other talk at this location is From patient to petri dish: growing tumours to fight cancer at 6:00pm – 7:00pm
