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New Zealand English

New Zealand English (NZE) is the variant of the English language spoken and written by most English-speaking New Zealanders. Its language code in ISO and Internet standards is en-NZ. It is the first language of the majority of the population.

The English language was established in New Zealand by colonists during the 19th century. It is one of "the newest native-speaker variet[ies] of the English language in existence, a variety which has developed and become distinctive only in the last 150 years". The variety of English that had the biggest influence on the development of New Zealand English was Australian English, itself derived from Southeastern England English, with considerable influence from Scottish and Hiberno-English, and with lesser influences the British prestige accent Received Pronunciation (RP) and American English. An important source of vocabulary is the Māori language of the indigenous people of New Zealand, whose contribution distinguishes New Zealand English from other varieties.

Non-rhotic New Zealand English is most similar to Australian English in pronunciation, but has key differences. A prominent difference is the realisation of /ɪ/ (the KIT vowel): in New Zealand English this is pronounced as a schwa. New Zealand English has several increasingly distinct varieties, and while most New Zealanders speak non-rhotic English, rhoticity is increasing quickly, especially among Pasifika and Māori in Auckland and the upper North Island.[failed verification]

The first dictionary with entries documenting New Zealand English was probably the Heinemann New Zealand Dictionary published in 1979. Edited by Harry Orsman (1928–2002), it is a 1,337-page book with information relating to the usage and pronunciation of terms that were widely accepted throughout the English-speaking world, and those peculiar to New Zealand. It includes a one-page list of the approximate date of entry into common parlance of the many terms found in New Zealand English but not elsewhere, such as "haka" (1827), "boohai" (1920), and "bach" (1905). A second edition was published in 1989 with the cover subtitle "The first dictionary of New Zealand English and New Zealand pronunciation". A third edition, edited by Nelson Wattie, was published as The Reed Dictionary of New Zealand English by Reed Publishing in 2001.

The first dictionary fully dedicated to the New Zealand variety of English was The New Zealand Dictionary published by New House Publishers in 1994 and edited by Elizabeth and Harry Orsman. A second edition was published in 1995.

In 1997, Oxford University Press produced the Harry Orsman-edited The Dictionary of New Zealand English: A Dictionary of New Zealandisms on Historical Principles, a 981-page book, which it claimed was based on over 40 years of research. This research started with Orsman's 1951 thesis and continued with his editing this dictionary. To assist with and maintain this work, the New Zealand Dictionary Centre was founded in 1997 by Victoria University of Wellington and Oxford University Press. This was followed by The New Zealand Oxford Paperback Dictionary in 1998, edited by New Zealand lexicographer Tony Deverson. It is based on The Oxford Paperback Dictionary, fourth edition, and The Australian Oxford Paperback Dictionary, second edition.

Further lexicographical work culminated in the 1,374-page The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary published in 2004, by Tony Deverson and Graeme Kennedy. The dictionary contains over 100,000 definitions, including over 12,000 New Zealand entries and a wide range of encyclopedic information. A second, revised edition of The New Zealand Oxford Paperback Dictionary was published in 2006, this time using standard lexicographical regional markers to identify the New Zealand content, which were absent from the first edition.[citation needed] The NZ Dictionary Centre ceased active operations after the retirement of its second Director, Dianne Bardsley, in 2012.

Another source of well-cited New Zealand words and phrases is the Collins English Dictionary, first published in 1979 by HarperCollins.[citation needed] Though this dictionary primarily draws from the Bank of English, a corpus of English literature maintained by the University of Birmingham with HarperCollins' support since 1980, a New Zealand advisor informs the content of each edition.[citation needed] The first advisor to perform this role was Professor Ian Gordon of Victoria University, who was succeeded by Professor Elizabeth Gordon (no relation) of the University of Canterbury in 2003. Elizabeth Gordon has since stepped down from the role.

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