Australian English and New Zealand English

Main differences

Pronunciation

In New Zealand English the short-i of KIT /ɪ/ is a central vowel not phonologically distinct from
schwa /ə/, the vowel in unstressed "the", both of which are a close-mid central unrounded vowel /ɘ/. It
thus contrasts sharply with the /i/ vowel heard in Australia. Recent acoustic studies featuring both
Australian and New Zealand voices show the accents were more similar before the Second World War
and the KIT vowel has undergone rapid centralisation in New Zealand English.[8] Because of this
difference in pronunciation, some New Zealanders claim Australians say "feesh and cheeps" for fish and
chips while some Australians counter that New Zealanders say "fush and chups".

Like Australian and South African English, the short-e /ɛ/ of YES has moved to become a close-
mid vowel /e/, although the New Zealand /e/ is moving closer to /ɪ/.

The vowel /ɔː/ (as in thought and yawn) is a close-mid back rounded vowel /oː/, as is in Australian
and South African English. In some American Englishdialects use /oː/ for the diphthong /oʊ/ (as in "goat"),
causing New Zealand English Auckland and American English Oakland to become near homophones.

New Zealand English has the trap–bath split: words like dance, chance, plantand grant have /ɑː/,
as in Southern England and South Australia.

As in Australian English, some New Zealanders pronounce past participles such

as grown, thrown and mown with two syllables, inserting an additional schwa /-oʊ.ən/. By
contrast, groan, throne and moan are all unaffected, meaning these word pairs can be distinguished by
ear.

Lexical differences

NZ Australia Explanation

New Zealand English uses the terms

'mobile' and "cell" (and their full
Mobile phone
Cellphone / mobile / mobile phone (cell)/phone(mobile) forms) interchangeably, compared
(mobile)
with preferring a single term (as
occurs in the UK and US).

A cooler or cool-box. Esky is

Chilly bin Esky
agenericised trademark.
 A small, often very modest holiday
Crib / Bach Shack[28]
property, often at the seaside

Convenience store. In larger cities in

New Zealand convenience store is
used due to immigration (and to
current NZ law forbidding a "dairy"
Milk bar from selling alcohol[29]), though "dairy"
Dairy
Deli is used commonly in conversation. In
New Zealand in the 1950s and 1960s
"milk bar" referred to a soda shop. In
some states of Australia "milk bar" is
used; other states use "deli".

A continental quilt. The Australian

Duvet Doona term doona is a genericised
trademark.

A frozen, water-based frozen snack,

Ice block Icy pole
anice pop, popsicle or ice lolly

Outdoor footwear, consisting of a flat

Jandals Thongs sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-
shaped strap - flip-flops.

Candy floss Fairy floss Candy floss or cotton candy.

Speed bump
Judder bar[30] Speed bump.
Speed humpa

Jumper or sweater. In New Zealand

and Australia "jersey" is also used for
Jersey Jumper
top part of sports uniform (e.g.
forrugby) - another term for a sports
jersey, guernsey, is frequently used in
 Australia but only rarely heard in New
Zealand

Signage for a road with a dead end,

No exit No through road
acul-de-sac.

Bathers
Swimmers
Swimwear / swimming costumes
Togs Speedos
(seeAustralian words for swimwear)
Togs
budgie smugglerb

Liquid Paper
Twink Liquid Pen Ink Correction Fluid.
White Out

Texta a felt-tip pen filled with permanent

Vivid
Highlighter marker ink. Sharpie Highlighter

In reference to syntactical peculiarities, no evident records of significant differences were

registered during the research.