Kiwi Spoken Here
SEIZING the timely topic on* the wing, the National Women’s Discussion Panel, heard in Feminine Viewpoint last week (from Dunedin this time) set themselves to talk about New Zealand speech, and to try to answer the question: Is there anything wrong with the New Zealand accent? This was a very friendly, even matey, session, with a good deal of cross-talk and innocent merriment. Several solid commonsensical things came out of it-an exploding of the fallacy that New Zealanders speak "better" English than the English. The distinction between a dialect and slovenly speech, comments on the self-consciousness of the Kiwi
about individuality in speech, and his instinct for conformity. I felt, however, that the discussion was to some extent hampered by the absence of an academic phonetician to give an-accurate definition of Standard English. Modified Standard and dialects, and thus save the beating about the bush that followed upon one member’s "What’s wrong with the New Zealand dialect, anyhow?" But this session will remain memorable for one of the most ingenious explanations I have heard for New Zealand speech -that so many have dentures that they are afraid to open their mouths lest they lose them! You know, there might be something in it.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19561102.2.33.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 900, 2 November 1956, Page 18
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Tapeke kupu
206Kiwi Spoken Here New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 900, 2 November 1956, Page 18
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