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Volume 38, Issue 3
  • ISSN 0172-8865
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9730
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Abstract

Rhoticity is highly variable across English varieties. Traditionally, descriptions of English have distinguished between “rhotic” and “non-rhotic” varieties. However, Harris’s (2013) recent description of three core rhotic systems (R1, R2 and R3) demonstrates that this dichotomy is overly simplistic. The literature describes New Zealand English (NZE) as “non-rhotic”, with partial rhoticity in the lower South Island. This paper reports on data collected in two semi-rural towns in the North Island where young New Zealanders employ a “mixed” distribution of rhoticity. Alongside /r/ use which is traditionally associated with “non-rhotic” varieties (Harris’s R2 and R3), speakers also exhibit /r/ use which is associated with “rhotic” varieties (Harris’s R1). The findings suggest that dynamic rhoticity in NZE, which also persists historically in Englishes world-wide, can be represented more effectively by dispensing with the notions “rhotic” and “non-rhotic”, and by treating rhoticity as a continuum of /r/ use.

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/content/journals/10.1075/eww.38.3.02mar
2017-12-01
2023-03-20

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Are New Zealanders “rhotic”?
English World-Wide 38, 275 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.38.3.02mar
/content/journals/10.1075/eww.38.3.02mar
/content/journals/10.1075/eww.38.3.02mar
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): New Zealand English; phonological variation; rhoticity

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