SPEECH IN NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21707, 14 February 1936, Page 17

SPEECH IN NEW ZEALAND

OPINIONS OF ENGLISH VISITOR

“NATIONAL VOWEL SOUND 1 EVOLVING”

Accents which an English visitor notices in New Zealand vary with towns and cities and' with the type of person met, but, generally speaking, there is a certain way of sounding some vowels, particularly such as that in such' a word as “cow” which would justify supposition that there is a distinct New Zealand accent. That is the opinion held by Mr W. Grierson, a tourist from London, formerly of the staff of the Bank of England, who is visiting the Dominion, ' With very many of the better educated people in the cities of New Zealand there was scarcely anything of an accent, Mr Grierson said, but with others there were certain ways of pronouncing vowels —some might consider it a distortion of vowels—which remotely approached the Cockney dialect. Some New Zealand parents he had met recognised the prevalence of this distinct New Zealand accent, and were trying arrange that their children should not be subjected to its influence. But the “New Zealand accent,” if it could be called one, was infinitely preferable to the Oxford accent. That was a perversion of the English that had been spoken in England for generations and seemed the outcome of an attempt to get as far, away as possible from Cockney tones. Unfortunately, Mr Grierson thought,, those who used it had gone too far in the opposite direction, and went against English, usage. The “New Zealand accent” Was quite apart from the Australian accent. Almost all Australians he had met called their country “Austrylia.” “That seems to typify the Austrylian accent,” said Mr Grierson. He preferred New Zealand speech a thousand times to the Oxford accent, “Lithping” When he had left England, said! Mr Grierson, there had been one disturbing speech tendency. One actress Whp had achieved much success and popularity spoke with a distinct and rather pretty lisp. Unfortunately she had been copied by rfiany other actresses, and by a big number of ordinary girls, with the result, said Mr Grierson, in imitation, that “half the lineth one hearth on the thtaffe cannot be underthood, and it ith the thame with the everyday thpeech of many girlth.” One other speech tendency which Mr Grierson deprecated, was the, use by radio announcers of the slow Oxford accent way of talking. It was obvious to listeners, he said, that what they announced was read from a paper in front of the announcer and there seemed no reason for their halting speech.Mr Grierson likes New Zealand and its people very much. His principal attraction in the Dominion was fishing, and although he might not have had much success, and had caught more eels than fish, he had thoroughly* enjoyed his trip, a good part of which *was spent in the south of the South Island.