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Specially written by Khalilah (left) and Yasmin (right) 

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We hope that this reading would be as enjoyable for the readers of this page, as how much it was for us writing it!

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(c) SYNTACTIC VARIATION: EXCLAMATION

Sentence 4: Jared bought a loaf of bread from the baker down the street with the bad breath.

Based on the sample sentence above, if the text was altered with the slangs of Australian speakers who may have bequeathed a Cockney accent -certain exclamations might be included to add emphasis for the expression of the context. For instance, the phrase "bad breath" would have the addition of the phrase "Bloody" or "Blimey!" or "Crikey!" at the front.

These exclamations are commonly used by Australian speakers especially of the Broad and General dialect groups. The word "blimey" is an altered form that originated in the late 19th century from the words "[God], blind, [blame, Me!]" (Wiktionary, 2021). Australian speakers use "blimey" to show expressions of shock, excitement, and even frustration.

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(b) SYNTACTIC VARIATION: PRONOUNS

Sentence 3: Me and my friends got up and checked ourselves in the mirror before leaving in a hurry.

Although the phrase "me and my friends" may be spoken by some English speakers, the slang might vary with other native speakers of the language. For instance, the given sample sentence "me and my friends" if spoken by using the standard Australian accent would be annunciated as "me and my mate" or "my mate and I" -this is in order to add familiarity with the group of Aussie speakers as it is more universally used by the group and thus the pronoun changes.

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(b) PROSODIC VARIATION: RHYTHM

Sentence 2: A sheep is being shipped with its herd to its new owner across the Indian Ocean.

Sentence 3: Me and my friends got up and checked ourselves in the mirror before leaving in a hurry.

The Australian speaker's rhythm of pronouncing /ˈɪndiən ˈəʊʃən/ in the second sentence and /miː/ in the third sentence are slightly elongated. This is due to his native-like English accent, as the rhythm or the string of sounds behaves as a prosodic unit for his phonological process in which judging by this example is from his cultivated accent.

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(c) PHONEMIC VARIATION: RHOTIC VS NON-RHOTIC

Sentence 1: The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

Based on the pronunciation of both speakers, Australian and New Zealand -the rhoticity variation differs from one another. This is because the Cultivated Australian speaker possesses a rhotic accent while the New Zealand speaker does not. The term Rhoticity refers to the sounds of the letter "r". As in non-rhotic speakers, the letter is dropped or could also be known as "r" dropping (Nordquist, 2019).

For instance, the /ər/ pronounced in the word /ˈwɔːtər/ by the Australian speaker is clearly heard. In comparison, the /ər/ is omitted by the New Zealand speaker when he is pronouncing the word /ˈwɔːtər/ and the letter is then replaced with /də/ instead which makes the New Zealand pronunciation as /ˈwɔːdə/ due to the "r" dropping.

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(C) PROSODIC VARIATION: STRESS PLACEMENT (tone & pitch)

Sentence 2: A sheep is being shipped with its herd to its new owner across the Indian Ocean.

Moving on, the Australian speaker's tone on words such as /ʃɪpt'/ and /hɜːd'/ also sounded more pitched when compared to the New Zealand speaker. This can be influenced by his accent, rhythm of speech, and stress placement on certain words.

The word "shipped" pronounced by the speaker is an example of minor penultimate stress on the first syllable, meaning that the word is uttered as "SHIPPed". This is because if the penultimate syllable is stressed -the accent is present in his speech and only if the word ends in any other letter rather than the vowel, n, or s -which then stresses on the penult instead.

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(b) PHONEMIC VARIATION: VOWELS

Sentence 1: The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

If compared the pronunciations of the Australian speaker to the New Zealand speaker, it changes very intensely. For example, because the Aussie speaker uses Cultivated speech dialect -his pronunciations would be identical to that of the British as words such as /'rɛstrɒnt/ is pronounced the same way but in comparison to the NZ speaker's pronunciation, the vowel /ɛ/ is switched to /i/.

The difference in vowel sounds from both Australian and New Zealand speakers also vary in the part of the tongue involved. For instance, the /ɛ/ vowel is palatal and the part of the tongue involved is front and mid in height placement. Whereas the /i/ vowel is placed at the front alveolar ridge -it varies in height as the /i/ vowel's placement of the tongue height is high from the /ɛ/.

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How did the Australian English (de facto national) variation come about? 

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How did the Australian English (de facto national) variation come about? 

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Around 200 years ago, the English language had arrived in Australia and since then the language has been leveled, reformed, and adapted in order to give Australians the unique dialect that they are known by today. The history of the English language in Australia can be traced back to 1788 and it further grew at the end of the 18th century when more British people arrived in the southern hemisphere.

In consequence, migration and colonization had brought tons of impact on the English language that was used back then by the people in Australia. This is because the dialects of different Englishmen and women resulted in linguistic diversity or "koineization" since a majority of the settlers are from London and Ireland who possess a Cockney accent and the brogue of Irish. According to (Richards, 2015, as cited in Wilson, 2015) the spreading of the English language in Australia is used from a process called 'leveling down', as the number of people who came aboard the ship came from different areas, backgrounds, and posses different dialects from all over England.

Hence, this is why multiple speech patterns can be traced back to modern-day Australian speakers as the features of the Cockney accent of London and the Brogue of Irish English are primarily present. Not to mention, variations of Englishes that originated in the region also contain some expressions of the historical aboriginal languages. In recent times, the impact of America's influence has also changed the linguistic character due to the immigration of people in Australia's region (Khan, 2016).

Besides that, during the First Fleet that happened around 100 years ago, the appearance of the elocution movement during the 1880s and 1890s -changed the Australian language entirely due to the ambuscade. At the beginning of this sudden language change, it first started on how one should pronounce and utter their speech clearly but then a particular dialect was chosen which is the standard southern English. Thus, this reason made the chosen southern English dialect the standard accent or known to be the "Received Pronunciation" (RP).

The RP became the most accurate dialect for Australians to use and everything else was considered wrong. According to Richards (2015), prior to the elocution -the middle Australian accents were predominantly adopted before the arrival of a more cultivated and broad Australian accent that arrived soon after. The author's statement can be supported by a piece of evidence that was recorded from a research group back in the late 1950s. This research group carried an investigation on several elderly in their 80s and 90s who were born in the far west of New South Wales and some are from Tasmania.

Based on the tape recordings, the majority of these elderly Australian speakers possessed middle Australian accents as they were born during the 1880s and 1890s back when the broad and cultivated accents were not formed as of yet. Moreover, due to the early military colony, stock industry, migration, gold rushes, and other factors had unquestionably made changes on the variations of accents across the mainland.

Overall, moving forward to present-day Australia, modern linguists believe that there are three forms of the Australian accent which are: Broad, General, and Cultivated (Eriksson, 2018). All of these reformed Australian-English accents differ from the original British accent. However, the closest sounding accent to the British would be the "Cultivated" Australian English as it sounds similar to the "posh" kind of British accent.

Meanwhile, the "rougher" Australian accent would be the "Broad" form as these dialects vary from region. Although there are still Australian speakers who speak using the Broad and Cultivated form, the numbers are diminishing in size as many Aussies now prefer to adopt the "General" form of Australian English instead which is a mix of the two forms.

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From the Origins and development of New Zealand English (Warren, 2012).

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(b) SYNTACTIC VARIATION: PRONOUNS

Sentence 3: Me and my friends got up and checked ourselves in the mirror before leaving in a hurry.

Though the phrase “Me and my friends” is common in everyday speech in New Zealand, it is not part of the standard (Bauer, 2007). Instead of “me and my friends”, it is more common to phrase it as “My friends and I”. This is because this choice of pronouns is more expected from speakers of a more standard variety. In the speaker’s (Alex) case, it is natural to assume the standard from him as he was born and raised in the largest urban area in the North Island of New Zealand. Hence, it is presumed that if he were to adjust the sentence, he would’ve adapted it to the standard variety instead.

Sentence 5: Susan's friend, Mary has a pet dog and his eyes matches with the same colour as her pet frog.

According to Warren (2012), it is common to see several non-standard pronominal uses in NZE. As an example, speakers of the NZE to use a neutral singular third-person pronoun to replace the ‘his/her’ pronouns. In this case, it is most likely that the sentence would’ve been reiterated as “Susan’s friend, Mary, has a pet dog and their eyes matches with the same colour as her pet frog.” The act of replacing the ‘his/her’ pronoun with the third-person pronoun is to avoid the act of assuming the gender of someone/something.

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(c) PHONEMIC VARIATION: VOWEL

Sentence 2: A sheep is being shipped with its herd to its new owner across the Indian Ocean.

The factor which distinguishes NZE from AusE is the pronunciation of the /ɪ/ phoneme such as in the word ‘kit’ (Warren, 2012). Hence, instead of the word sounding such as /kɪt/, it is more heard as /kət/ as the pronunciation is more centralized, fronted and raised. In the provided sentence, the speaker pronounces the word 'the’ as /ðə/, instead of the AusE variety /ði/.

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(b) PHONEMIC VARIATION: RHOTICITY

Sentence 1: The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

NZE is a variety which is generally non-rhotic. This means that they tend to not put emphasis or pronounce the letter ‘r’ in certain words. Hence, instead of pronouncing ‘water’ as /’wɔːtər/, the speaker pronounces it as /ˈwɔːdə/.

Sentence 2: A sheep is being shipped with its herd to its new owner across the Indian Ocean.

Similar to the previous example in the first sentence, NZE is a language with a non-rhotic pronunciation. In the provided example, the speaker omits the consonant ‘r’ from the word ‘herd’ which leads him to pronounce it as /həːd/.

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(a) PHONEMIC VARIATION: DIPHTHONGS

Sentence 1: The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

Instead of the /aɪ/ diphthong as heard in "standard" English, the speaker is heard to pronounce the word ‘fine’ as /faen/ instead. Speakers of the NZE may round the first phoneme of the diphthong, pronouncing something like [e] instead (Bauer & Warren, 2020).

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(a) PROSODIC: RHYTHM

Sentence 4: Jared bought a loaf of bread from the baker down the street with the bad breath.

NZE has a distinct rhythm that is less “stress-timed” as compared to other varieties (Warren, 2012). Instead, NZE practices a rhythm of speech that is more syllable-timed, making them have a rhythm like that of a newscaster.

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(a) PHONEMIC VARIATION:
INFLUENCE

Sentence 1: The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

The speaker's Australian accent is of the "Cultivated" form which means that it is very similar to standard British English. Hence why he sounds fairly "posh" compared to the perceived speech of other Australians. Based on his cultivated pronunciation, the difference between that from UK English is only slightly.

Moreover, due to the influence of the British accent in Cultivated-Australian, the changes can be viewed from pauses and stresses only. Thus, the analysis is carried out on the different variations between the Australian and New Zealand speakers.

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(a) PROSODIC VARIATION: SYLLABIFICATION

Sentence 1: The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

According to (Willem J.M. Levelt & Peter Indefrey, 2001 as cited in Nordquist, 2019) phonological words are the section of syllabification that does not concur with lexical words. For example, when the Australian speaker uttered the phrase "a gum", his utterance had blended into a single phonological word and he pauses slightly when pronouncing the word "gum". The Australian speaker had cliticize the word /gʌm/ to /ə/ which leads to the syllabification of /hæd-əgʌm/ (had-agum). Hence the last syllable /gʌm/ bestride between the article and noun.

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(a) SYNTACTIC VARIATION: NOUNS

Sentence 1: The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

The syntactic variation of Australian speakers could also be analyzed by their perceptions of nouns. As an example, the word "waiter" if altered by the Australian slang might be changed to "bloke" instead. In addition, the choice of nouns spoken by the Australian speaker might also indicate their dialect category: Broad, General, or Cultivated -as the term "bloke" is commonly used by Broad-Australian speakers.

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According to Nordquist (2020), in phonetics and phonology, "free variation" is known as an alternative pronunciation of a word or of a phoneme in a word that does not affect the meaning of the word. In short, a free variation does not affect the word or meaning due to a slight change in pronunciation.

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In a language, a phonological word is a prosodic unit that can be preceded and followed by a pause. This unit is also known by many names such as a prosodic word, a pword, or a mot (Nordquist, 2020).

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(a) SYNTACTIC VARIATION: VERBS

Sentence 1: The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

The use of ‘got’ and ‘have got’ increased in NZE at the expense of 'have' (Quinn, 2004 as cited in Warren, 2012). Thus, it is more common to hear “the waiter who got a gum in his mouth...” rather than “the waiter who had a gum in his mouth...”. This is because, in Quinn’s research, it is found that the use of ‘got’ and ‘have got’ is more common and are used in all contexts, especially within non-professionals. Therefore, it would've been possible for the speaker to alter the sentence to “the waiter who got a gum in his mouth...” instead.

Sentence 5: Susan's friend, Mary has a pet dog and his eyes matches with the same colour as her pet frog.

Similar to that of the first (1) sentence, NZ speakers have the tendency to replace the possessive verb ‘have’ with ‘have got’ or ‘got’. Hence, instead of “Susan’s friend, Mary, has a pet dog”, it would most likely be “Susan’s friend, Mary, has got a pet dog.”

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In linguistic term, syntactic variation can be defined as a grammatical or syntax variation that concerns the method of which sentences are structured and constructed.

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Sentence
Susan's friend, Mary has a pet dog and his eyes matches with the same colour as her pet frog.

Transcription
/ˈsuːz(ə)nz frɛnd, ˈmeəri hæz ə pɛt dɒg ænd hɪz aɪz ˈmæʧɪz wɪð ðə seɪm ˈkʌlər æz hɜː pɛt frɒg./

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Sentence
Jared bought a loaf of bread from the baker down the street with the bad breath.

Transcription
/ʤɑːd bɔːt ə ləʊf ɒv brɛd frɒm ðə ˈbeɪkə daʊn ðə striːt wɪð ðə bæd brɛθ./

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Voice recording of Australian Speaker (William Kelly)

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Voice recording of Australian Speaker (William Kelly)

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Sentence
Susan's friend, Mary has a pet dog and his eyes matches with the same colour as her pet frog.

Transcription
/ˈsuːz(ə)nz frɛnd, ˈmeəri hæz ə pɛt dɒg æn hɪz aɪz ˈmæʧəz wɪθ ðə seɪm ˈkʌlə æz hə pɛt frɒg/

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Sentence
Jared bought a loaf of bread from the baker down the street with the bad breath.

Transcription
/ʤɑːd bo:t ə ləʊf əv brɛd frɒm ðə ˈbeɪkə daʊn ðə striːt wɪθ ðə bæd brɛθ/

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Sentence
Me and my friends got up and checked ourselves in the mirror before leaving in a hurry.

Transcription
/miː æn maɪ frɛndz gɒt ʌp ænd ʧɛkd ˌaʊəˈsɛlvz ɪn ðə ˈmɪrə bɪˈfɔː ˈliːvɪŋ ɪn ə ˈhʌri/

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Sentence
A sheep is being shipped with its herd to its new owner across the Indian Ocean.

Transcription
/ə ʃiːp ɪz ˈbiːɪŋ ʃɪpd wɪð ɪts həːd tuː ɪts njuː ˈəʊnə əˈkrɒs ðə ˈɪndiən ˈəʊʃən/

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Sentence
The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

Transcription
/ðə ˈweɪtə huː hæd ə gʌm ɪn hɪz maʊθ pɔːd ˈwɔːdə ˈɪntuː ðə faen glɑːs æt ðə ˈfɛnsi ˈristrɒnt ði ˈʌðə deɪ/

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How did the New Zealand English (NZE) variation come about?

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How did the New Zealand English (NZE) variation come about?

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According to Gordon et al. (2004), the origin of NZE lies in a famous story about a family who moved from Ireland to the South Island of New Zealand. In 1862, Richard Cotter left Country Cork in Ireland and initially moved to Ballarat, Australia. They then later traveled and settled in Arrowtown, New Zealand. However, it was the tale told by Annie Cotter which spoke of the origins of the first European settlers.

Annie Cotter (now Mrs Hamilton) was recorded by the Mobile Disc Recording Unit which was prepared by the New Zealand National Broadcasting Service. During 1948, the then seventy-year-old Annie told of her family’s history and experience as the “first European settlers” throughout her life as a child and a grownup at her place of residency. At last, her recording became one of the most invaluable materials on the origins and development of New Zealand English, which is said to have been brought as early as the 1850s.

On the other hand, there are three major theories of the origins of NZE based on an article by Bauer (1999), which are:

(1) NZE is a version of 19 th century Cockney (lower-class London) speech
There are similar sounding vowels between NZE and Cockney English. However, there are not identical. In fact, the accent is not exactly dominant within the community. Although, the evidence which supports this theory is the similarity when it comes to rhyming slang. In this case, NZE has slang that sounds alike to that of Cockney English. For example, the NZE “let’s have a butcher’s look” is the equivalent of Cockney’s “let’s have a butcher’s hook” (both meaning ‘let me have a look’).

(2) NZE is a version of Australian English
As observed, there are a few words that can be found in both NZE and Australian English which cannot be found anywhere else. Though there are words that are clearly Australian (such as the greeting "coo-ee"), there are words that melded into Australian and New Zealand English from the British dialects.

Another supporting evidence of this theory is the fact that most trade routes to New Zealand went through Sydney. Since the Anglophones settled in Australia earlier than they did in New Zealand, the variety that was shared between the two countries were labelled as 'Australian English'. However, 'Australasian English' may be a better term as it was practised during the early days of the New Zealand settlement.

(3) NZE developed independently from all other varieties from the mixture of accents and dialects that the Anglophone settlers in NZ brought with them
Lastly, this theory came about as New Zealand is known to be a 'mixing-bowl'. This is because New Zealand is a land with people who speak a plethora of varieties of British English, which conclusively lead to an all-new variety of English. This in turn leads to a phenomenon called koineization (mixing of dialects which leads to nativization of local patterns in the language).

This theory exists as there is the belief that the initial settlers of the land will have a greater influence on the end-form of the variety of English, as compared to the settlers who came later. However, the knowledge of who were the initial founders and who were the late-comers is still vague. Thus, it is safe to say that the foundation of the NZE - specifically their accent - existed by the 1890s during the time when a majority of Anglophones in New Zealand were native-born.

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Pre-exploration to Australia
According to Pariona (2019),  Australia was once a land of only the aboriginals or the indigenous people. These "true natives" of the land have created semipermanent settlements of over 500 different indigenous groups that controlled the area. Each had its own language, culture, and belief system. However, due to the British colonization in 1788, these individuals witnessed the loss of their homes due to the arrival of European immigrants.

The history of Australia can be viewed through the early exploration and colonization of the land. Based on the research that has been carried out over the years, the first origin of explorers coming into Australia is the Asians. During the 15th century, China's influence and control over the South Asian routes and waters may have extended their landing to Australian lands due to its vast regions.

Simultaneously, the Arab Muslim voyagers who visited or settled in Southeast Asia may have also stopped by the area as some came within the distance of 300 miles to Australia. Factors such as curiosity, wind, or water current might have also led them on the Australian shore as compassing and charting technology was still being developed at the time. Not only that, there have been records of Chinese and Arab explorers documenting about an unknown Southern land but due to the lack of information, they have clarified such argument.

Early exploration attempts to Australia
The Portuguese:
Moving on, early contact to Australia was made in the year 1528 when Portuguese explorers came to Australia and have traveled to many parts of other lands in their quest for wealth and knowledge. This can be supported by a reference that indicated how the Portuguese may have retrieved slaves from Melville Island, off the northern coast in Australia. The country's origin has also been debated by the Portuguese in the issue of "terra australis incognita" which translates to (unknown southern land) in Latin -back when the Europeans thought in ancient times and resuscitated by the 12th century forward.

The Spanish:
Next came the expansion attempt from the Spanish by Viceroys of Spain's American Empire who also plan to seek out new lands. In 1567, an expedition commanded by Álvaro de Mendaña has discovered a place called the Solomon Islands which is located in the South Pacific, and due to this fruitful conquest he thought he had discovered Australia or it was known at the time as "unknown southern land". However, his attempt to return to Solomon and colonize the area had failed as he was unable to rediscover the island. The further expedition was then made by Mendaña's officer, Pedro Fernández de Quirós in 1605 which landed him in New Hebrides. The officer then named the island group "Australia del Espirítu Santo". Although Quirós had thought that he had already discovered the southern land, it was then discovered that his early jubilance was temporary as future expeditions were rejected by the Spanish officialdom.

Maritime exploration to Australia
The Dutch:
In late 1605 a Dutch seaman named Willem Jansz had sailed a ship in search of a land called New Guinea (Papua New Guinea). His exploration had, later on, discovered a part of the Australian coast called Cape-Keer-Weer, which is located on the western side of Cape York Peninsula. From the year 1611 until 1616, many Dutch ships can be found exploring the sea in hopes of a better future. One of the well-known explorations was by Abel Tasman, who sailed to the Southward -covering from the west coast and anchored off the southeast coast to a land which is now known as "Tasmania". Tasman then furthered his exploration and discovered New Zealand which was formerly known as "New Holland" by the Dutch.

The British:
The discovery of Australia was further executed by the Great Britain of England, by an English buccaneer named William Dampier. In the year 1688, Dampier made a visit to New Holland's (NZ) northwestern coast and on his return to England published his Voyages. As a result, during the mid 18th century many English explorers have become interested in the new possibilities and commercial value of what the southern seas may offer. In 1770, the famous Captain James Cook and his crewman have discovered Southeastern Australia. In continuation, Cook has landed several times majorly in Botany bay and at Possession Island in the north which is later known as "New South Wales". The expedition of Australia's continent was completed by a man named Matthew Flinders from 1801 until 1817. Flinders would later on become appointed to lead an expedition to circumnavigate Australian shores which he then urged that the name current name New Holland be changed to a vast continent called "Australia".

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How did the English language spread in New Zealand?

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How did the English language spread in New Zealand?

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In 1769, New Zealand had its first contact with the English language when Captain James Cook arrived to claim New Zealand for the British. Though, English was not the only European language spoken in New Zealand (due to its status as a trading hotspot) as there were other settlers who came from other countries such as Ireland and Canada. However, the majority of the initial settlers were speakers of the English language.

When the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, it did not only allow for British's colonial rule - it opened the gates to more direct and organized migration of people from Britain. By 1842, there were approximately 10,000 Europeans in New Zealand, which inevitably led to the increase of English speakers. At last, it was during the mid-19th century that the population growth of New Zealand-born Europeans exceeded the numbers of those who immigrated, inevitably leading to the population of English speakers surpassing Māori speakers (Warren, 2012).

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Entire History of New Zealand ll History Quickly

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The national flag of Australia: British Blue Ensign

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A photo of the speaker, William Kelly, and his fiancée.

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Name: William Kelly

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Toowoomba, Queensland

Age (during the recording session): 23 years old

Currently residing in 106 Cricket Street, Petrie Terrace, Australia

Education: Bachelors degree in Advertising and Marketing

Current occupation: Restaurant host supervisor

Has Irish and English blood from his grandparents

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The national flag of New Zealand: New Zealand Ensign

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(1) Location
New Zealand, or Aotearoa ("The Land of the Long White Cloud" in Māori) is located southeast of Australia. The New Zealand archipelago consists of two main islands - the North and South Islands - which are separated by the Cook Strait (New Zealand Map and Satellite Image, 2021).

(2) Population
As provided by the Worldometer (2021), there is an estimated population of 4.8 million people - making up only 0.06% of the world population.

New Zealand is also home to an extensive range of ethnicities, including Europeans (70%), indigenous Māori (16.5%), Asians (15.1%), and non-Māori Pacific Islanders (8.1%).

(3) Facts
New Zealanders have an intertwined history with the kiwi birds. To begin, the Māori people have considered the kiwi bird to be of great status. The feathers of the bird were often used to craft the 'kahu kiwi', a valuable cloak donned by tribal chiefs.

The New Zealanders were also already associated with the bird as early as the 1900s, where cartoonists began to incorporate the image of the kiwi bird to represent New Zealand as a country.

New Zealand soldiers were also named 'kiwis' back during World War 1, which inevitably led the nickname to stick. However, the New Zealanders proudly adopted the unique moniker, which greatly reflected the personalities of the people themselves (Facts about New Zealand: Travel Information, Culture and History, 2021).

(4) Languages in the region
As New Zealand has a long history that is revolved around the Māori culture, the official languages of the land are both English and Māori, along with New Zealand Sign Language.

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Sentence
Me and my friends got up and checked ourselves in the mirror before leaving in a hurry.

Transcription
/miː ænd maɪ frɛndz gɒt ʌp ænd ʧɛkt ˌaʊəˈsɛlvz ɪn ðə ˈmɪrə bɪˈfɔː ˈliːvɪŋ ɪn ə ˈhʌri./

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Sentence
A sheep is being shipped with its herd to its new owner across the Indian Ocean.

Transcription
/ə ʃiːp ɪz ˈbiːɪŋ ʃɪpt' wɪð ɪts hɜːd' tuː ɪts njuː ˈəʊnər əˈkrɒs ði ˈɪndiən ˈəʊʃən./

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Bauer, L. (1999). On the Origins of the New Zealand English Accent. John Benjamins Publishing Catalog. https://sci-hub.se/https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/eww.20.2.05bau. Accessed on 10 November 2021.

Bauer, L., & Warren, P. (2020). New Zealand English: phonology. A Handbook of Varieties of English. https://sci-hub.se/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110197181-038/html

Bauer, L. (n.d.). Some Grammatical Features of New Zealand. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/resources/publications/nzej-backissues/2007-laurie-bauer.pdf. Accessed on 10 November 2021.

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Gordon, E., Campbell, L., Hay, J., Maclagan, M., Sudbury, A., & Trudgill, P (2004, May 20). New Zealand English: Its Origins and Evolution. Cambridge. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246947903_New_Zealand_English_Its_Origins_and_Evolution

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Name: AINA YASMIN BT AZIZI

Based on my experience of conducting this assignment, I have had a somewhat eye-opening – or mind-opening – experience entirely. As a start, learning about another country's history particularly New Zealand's, made me realize that our Malaysian history is not all too distinct from one another. As the same story goes whereby colonizers came and invade the land with the disguise that they will "introduce" civilization to said land when in the end, their act is mainly driven by their need for power.

This is not to say that times have not changed them – as I have been acquainted with a fair number of these people before, and they have been nothing but the pleasant company. Although, interacting with them made me think about how it is mind-boggling to consider the fact that maybe I too have these 'colonizer' blood or ancestry in me (which leads me to consider getting a DNA test) -for the sake of pure curiosity.

Apart from that, performing the long hours of research had also reminded me of how important it is to familiarize myself with other people's origins. It is because by getting to know a person's background, I will be able to be more aware and more sensitive about how I approach certain topics and to think quadruple times before making a certain comment.

Lastly, I have come to the realization that the supposed standard variety of English which everyone around me once preached is nothing more than a false idea. Instead, the so-called standard variety of English is merely a variety within itself. Thus, I believe that it is safe to say that there is no singular "standard" by which everyone should abide by.

This is because, as someone wise once told me, the fact whether the message is intelligible to the audience is what matters the most in communication regardless of the language being used.

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Name: NURKHALILAH BT MD FADLI

Based on the event of carrying out this task, I have come to further realize why the English language is dubbed as the lingua franca of the world. Nowadays, the English language could not only be viewed as 'one language' since it is universally accepted there are bound to be different variations and dialects that may have altered the "originality" of the language.

Hence, why I believe that each variety of the English language should be celebrated as it contains its own specialty especially to the particular speakers of a specific region since it contributes to the speech history, familiarity, and sentimental aspects that have built the dialect or accent. For example, how the Australian accent is rich in history and is made up of various dialects that mainly originated from the British and Irish speakers who initially came to colonize the land but have unknowingly contributed to the development of Australian English as well.

In comparison, in Malaysia, we have the Manglish accent that is also formed based on the merging of various dialects and accents in the country due to the multitude of races. One of the primary examples is the addition of the suffix "-lah" at the end of sentences or phrases that is used as an expression or exclamation similar to the Australian's "blimey". Although the suffix is widely adopted by many Malaysian speakers it does not carry a standard meaning as it is up to the speaker's own version of the meaning.

Therefore, language in itself is a unique treasure that should be practiced by their respective speakers so that it does not go extinct -just as how some of the Aboriginal languages in Australia have. This is because by learning a language one may discover other aspects that may come into correlation with the language of one's own mother tongue. For instance, how some of the Australian phrases are partly derived from old Aboriginal languages -words such as kangaroo and boomerang.

To conclude, I firmly believe that in the present-day speakers of the English language, it is very difficult to pinpoint a "standard" form of English. As even the "native" speakers of the inner circle (British, Australia, New Zealand, and America) have also faced a form of koineization or dialect mixing over centuries ago and it is still currently developing as of now due to the influence of other languages and new slangs from the younger generation of English speakers. Thus, to make a claim that a specific dialect or accent is the "standard form" of the English language that one must abide by is purely inaccurate and unsophisticated.

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Based on the analysis and research conducted on the New Zealand English, I can conclude that subjecting a certain "standard" or form of variety to a specific region is not as simple as what was once presumed. This is because within a region, there is a plethora of backgrounds to take consideration of before classifying a certain "way of speech" to a domain of speakers.

Furthermore, the idea that there is a "standard variety of English" which must be followed in the first place is essentially a fallacy, as English does not belong to a singular region and ethnicity. The variety of each English should be preserved as is to protect the uniqueness and identity of a specific region. Thus, it can be concluded that the New Zealand English is not a variety of the "standard English", but an English of its own.

By: Aina Yasmin Binti Azizi

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All in all, after reading through various materials and analyzing the data collected from this research, it has become an eye-opening and mindful journey on how many types of Englishes or available dialects of the English language that exist; not only from Australian variety but of varieties all across the globe. Based on the research, it can be concluded that each region of Australian English speakers possesses its own uniqueness -from the Southern, West, and all the way to the Northern parts of Australia.

The distinctive accents, slangs, and dialects help to differentiate one from the other. Not to mention, how even though Australians are speakers of English, their linguistic variety is enriched with the complex merging of dialects and has since developed drastically over the years considering the first time the Aussie accent was introduced back in 1788. In consequence, the Australian English that is known by speakers of today is due to the leveling down of linguistic knowledge in order to make a more 'standardized' version of the Broad, General, and Cultivated dialects of the Englishmen and women back during the day.

By: Nurkhalilah Binti Md Fadli

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Sentence
The waiter who had a gum in his mouth poured water into the fine glass at the fancy restaurant the other day.

Transcription
/ðə ˈweɪtə huː hæd-əgʌm ɪn hɪz maʊθ pɔːd ˈwɔːtər ˈɪntuː ðə faɪn glɑːs æt ðə ˈfænsi ˈrɛstrɒnt ði ˈʌðə deɪ./

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Name: Alex Lamb

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Auckland, New Zealand

Age (during the recording session): 21 years old

Resided in Auckland, New Zealand since birth

Currently pursuing a degree in Engineering at Auckland University of Technology

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The history of New Zealand dates back as early as 1000 years ago. The Māori had close ties to the eastern Polynesians, however, they had their own unique arts, crafts, and language.  In the 1380s, they travelled across seas by canoes from Hawaiki and eventually settled in tribes at what is now known as New Zealand.

Recorded back in 1642, the first known 'outsider' to enter the land is a Dutchman named Abel Tasman. Although he was the first known European to arrive, he did not bring about a heavy cultural influence on the land as not soon after, Tasman's expedition was driven off by the Māori.

It was not until 1769 did New Zealand's history began to heavily change course. James Cook, a British sailor, made three voyages and completed the first circumnavigation of New Zealand. Not only did this voyage contribute to geographical studies, but it also paved way for colonization.

Since then, New Zealand became a polestar for sailing and trading. With the arrival of many other voyages, the Māori became eager to acquire European technology - specifically metal tools and weapons such as the musket. Unfortunately, this led to wars between tribes which led to the decrease of the Māori population by 60%.

Eventually, the British and the Māori signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 which is considered as New Zealand's founding document. Although, there were misunderstandings in the treaty which regrettably led to wars on ownership of the land - leading to an extensive decrease of the Māori population.

In due course, the people of New Zealand established a representative parliament in 1868 which was heavily influenced by what the UK had at that moment. The Kiwis then largely governed themselves, and in a short duration of 30 years, they became the first country to allow women to vote.

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How did the English language spread in Australia?

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How did the English language spread in Australia?

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The English language arrived in Australia due to convicts and free settlers that came and visited the land -most of them came from England and other parts of Europe. One of the famously known colonizers is Captain James Cook of the British empire who came in 1770. He then proceeded to claim the mainland under England's rule and his voyage resulted in the emergence of new voyages from many European settlers in 1788.

In addition, because the British wanted to take over Australia's land -they have started to populate the area at different levels, starting from the immigration of English prisoners to Australia. Thus, within just 50 years, a number of 130,000 prisoners had been transported to Australia and were reinstated as free settlers (Khan, 2016). By the year 1850, the Australian population had risen up to 400,000, and by 1900 approximately 4 million and in 2002 nearly 19 million in total.

Richard added that due to the large number of settlers who came from 11 ships -it had resulted in these speakers spoke differently and exchange a variety of words in order to communicate with each other and provide comprehension so that their dialect variations are brought down to a minimum.

The author also stated that around the time that the British started to expand their influence in Australia -around 50 years after the colony had been established in Sydney-the Englishmen further claimed that Australians 'version' of English is the "purest English on Earth". This is because the Aussie accent is viewed as the version of an original form of English but without the dialect variations as it was leveled down by early speakers to create a more standardized version.

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(1) Location

Australia, or "Commonwealth of Australia" is known to be amongst the largest countries and smallest continent in the world due to its vast mainlands that even cover the Pacific & Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere.

The recognized capital of Australia is named "Canberra", which is located in the southeast part of the country in between other influential regions of Australia such as Sydney and Melbourne having steadfast economic growth and cultural diversity (Twidale et. al, 2021).

(2) Population
According to the data provided by (Worldometer, 2021), the country's estimated population is 25,906,249 as of during recent November 17, 2021. The Australian population amounts to 0.33% of the world's entire population.

In addition, due to factors such as colonization and immigration, Australia's number of ethnic groups have become diverse with nationalities from all around the globe. For instance, British (67.4%), Irish (8.7%), Italian (3.8%), German (3.7%), Chinese (3.6%), Aboriginal Australian (3.0 %), Indian (1.7%), Greek (1.6%), Dutch (1.2%) and others (5.3%) - which are from Europe and Asian countries (Pariona, 2019).

(3) Facts
Along with being the world's smallest, driest and flattest continent, Australia possesses many interesting facts due to its long history as well as landscape. The country is known by several names such as "The Oldest Continent", "Last of Lands", and "Last Frontier". It is known to be the last continent apart from Antarctica that has been explored by the Europeans.

However, the first recorded settlers of the mainland are the Aboriginal explorers who have sailed into the South Pacific around 60,000 years prior as some are originally from Asia. Most of the Aboriginals come from a background of nomadic collectors and hunters who have developed and transformed the area with their well-versed accumulated knowledge. Some of them have even advanced to create semipermanent settlements and formed a civilized way of life contrary to common European perceptions of the Aboriginal community.

Besides that, due to the country's wide region, it comes with unique trademarks that can only be found on Australia's mainlands. For example, its low relief, global isolation, and drylands. Thus, making this country popularly known for its wildlife and flora as most of its green nature is isolated and protected from the likes of humans. Not to mention, Australia is the home of special habitats such as the platypus and echidna - the only egg-laying mammals in the world hence why the land is so riched in nature.

(4) Languages in the region
The language that many Australians speak daily is the English language or (Australian-English) to be exact. However, the English language is not considered the official language of the nation since Australia does not have an official language or religion.

According to Jeffrey G. Heath (2017), even though English is universally spoken by Australians, the country's Aboriginal population does record hundreds of native Aboriginal languages but most of these languages have either become extinct since the 1950s or have few remaining native speakers. Moreover, the increasing number of immigrants coming into the country has also resulted in the practice of other languages from immigrant groups such as Chinese, Italian, and Greek language amongst many others.