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Lexical variety denotes the diverse terms and expressions employed to denote same things or concepts (Lexical Variables | Our Dialects, 2021).

1. Spelling

Spelling variation refers to the differences in how certain words are written in various English varieties, most notably between British and American English. One clear example observed is the word "favourite", which appears in the sentence:

"We are going to the car boot sales at the park after having breakfast together at our favourite cafe tomorrow."

This spelling, using "-our," is standard in British English. However, in Western American English, the same word is typically spelled "favorite" dropping the "u" to reflect the American preference for simplified spelling.

2. Word choice

"We are going to the car boot sales at the park after having breakfast together at our favourite cafe tomorrow."

In this sentence, "Car boot sale" is a British term referring to an informal market where people sell items from the back of their cars. In Western American English, the equivalent would be "garage sale" or "yard sale."

⁠"Sarah drove her car to the pharmacy to buy plasters before heading home to work on her project about tomatoes."

In this sentence, the word "plasters" refers to small medical dressings for cuts in British English, while the equivalent term in American English is "band-aids."

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1. Spelling

New Zealand English is similar to British English. Therefore, there are many same spellings that are used for both written words and different from American English. For example, the word "favourite", which can be taken from the audio saying;

"We are going to the car boot sales at the park after having breakfast together at our favourite cafe tomorrow."

-The word "favourite" is spelled with a u. Same goes for the British English.

Another example is the word "colour".

2. Word Choice

Other than that, we can also hear our speaker use the phrase "car boot sale", which is common for New Zealanders and British speakers, which is different from American speakers, most of them are more familiar with the phrase "garage sale".

In the different sentence, our speaker has used the word "pharmacy" in;

"Sarah drove her car to the pharmacy to buy plasters before heading home to work on her project about tomatoes."

New Zealand english speakers also understand the word "chemist" as pharmacy. The term is widely understood and still used till these days, just like how the British speaker would do.

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Prosody is the melodic line of speech created by variations in basic frequency, intensity (loudness), and duration (length) (Campbell, 2006).

1. Intonation

Intonation of a language can be described as patterns of pitch change or tones that people use in their utterance (Dash, 2022).

When we speak to each other, our voices tend to ‘rise’ or ‘fall’ in pitch over a part of an utterance. This rise or fall in pitch is known as intonation.

Intonation plays a primary role in showing the expression of attitudes and emotions or highlighting aspects of grammatical structure.

The audio sent by the Western American Speakers has a rising and falling intonation in a certain part of sentences. For example:

Sentence 1:

"I tried a new restaurant last night, and I can tell you, it was not a good one."

In that sentence, American English speakers use a rising intonation on the phrase “and I can tell you” to emphasize their personal experience or opinion. This rising intonation creates a sense of anticipation, as if they are about to reveal something important or surprising.

"....it was not a good one."

After that, the intonation falls on “it was not a good one,” indicating the conclusion or final point of their statement.

2. Stress Patters

In Western American English, stress patterns play a crucial role in the rhythm and emphasis of speech. Stress refers to the emphasis placed on certain syllables or words within a sentence (Dash, 2022). These stressed elements tend to stand out in terms of volume, pitch, and duration.

They tend to rely on word stress to communicate quickly and clearly, where the listener is still able to understand the word even if they do not hear properly because of the position of the stress. For example:

Sentence 3

"Sarah drove her car to the pharmacy to buy plasters before heading home to work on her project about tomatoes."

From how our speaker of Western American English read this sentence, we can identify that the stresses fall on key content words like:

drove, pharmacy and project

These were used to highlight actions and purpose. This pattern helps organize speech clearly and naturally, allowing listeners to easily follow meaning, especially in longer sentences with multiple actions or objectives.

Sentence 4

"The cat jumped over the fence and ran across the yard, chasing a small bird that flew near the garden and landed on the soft grass."

From this sentence, our Western American English speaker placed stress on key action and descriptive words like:

jumped, fence, yard, bird, garden, and grass

These were used to create a clear, vivid image. This stress pattern supports storytelling by emphasizing motion and setting, which helps listeners visualize the scene more easily.

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Hello! My name is Fatinie binti Abd Hadi, a student from the Bachelor of Applied Language Studies (Hons) English for Intercultural Communication (LG243). I'm really excited to share with you the interesting information my partner and I gathered on the New Zealand and Western American accents for our English Global assignment. Hope you enjoy it!

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Demographic of New Zealand Speaker

Demographic of Western American Speaker

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History of New Zealand English

History of Western American English

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Lexical Variation

Prosodic Variation

Phonemic Variation

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4.0 Analysis of Western American English

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4.0 Analysis of Western American English

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Lexical Variation

Prosodic Variation

Phonemic Variation

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Name: Brennan McKenzie

Age: 29 years old

Country of Origin: Auckland, New Zealand

Occupation: Consultant

Reason for Selection: Chosen for his native New Zealand accent

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Name: Jessika Castillo

Age: 26 years old

Country of Origin: Washington, USA

Occupation: Studying

Reason for Selection: Chosen for her Western USA accent

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Phonemic variation is the phenomenon where a phoneme or word is pronounced differently by different speakers or in different dialects, without altering the meaning of the word (Nordquist, 2020).

1. Rhoticity

Rhoticity in English refers to pronouncing the consonant /r/ in all word positions, whether at the beginning, middle, or end of the word. (Costa & Serra, 2022).

The characteristic distinguishes American English, where the /r/ sound is pronounced in every word where it occurs, from most British English varieties, where the /r/ is mostly silent.

Example can be seen from the Western American speaker where she pronounces:

Tried - /tɹaɪd/

Car - /kɑɹ/

Before - /bɪˈfɔɹ/

Yard - /jɑɹd/

Garden- ɡɑɹdən

In these examples, the /r/ is clearly articulated, even at the end of words such as "car" or "yard," which is typical of rhotic accents.

This constant pronunciation of /r/ plays a role in distinguishing Western American English from non-rhotic accents, where the /r/ sound would typically be dropped, especially in words like "car" or "garden."

2. Dipthongs

A diphthong occurs when there are two separate vowel sounds within the same syllable (Watson, 2024). The use of diphthongs in pronouncing words is noticeable in Western American English. For example:

Diphthongs /oʊ/

before – /oʊ/

over – /oʊ/

before – /oʊ/

drove – /oʊ/

In these examples, the /oʊ/ diphthong begins with a sound similar to the vowel /o/ and glides toward the /ʊ/ sound, creating a shift that is characteristic of Western American English. This diphthong is prevalent in many words in this accent, contributing to its distinctive sound.

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KHAIRUN SAFFIAH BINTI MOHD SALLEHUDIN (2024272242)

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KHAIRUN SAFFIAH BINTI MOHD SALLEHUDIN (2024272242)

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Kia ora or hi, everybody! This is Khairun. So, my patner and I basically have collected lots of native English information for the first assignment of English Global. Here is where we can see the comparison between New Zealand or also known as Kiwi accent and Western American accent in details. We hope you guys can enjoy reading our finding.

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Here is an infographic made to show how the history begins and how it makes up the NEW ZEALAND ENGLISH variation that we can listen today.

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NEW ZEALAND SLANG: 110 Words in 5 minutes! Speak like a kiwi (w/ SUBTITLES) 🇳🇿🇳🇿

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1. Pausing

According Coaching and Coaching (2023), pausing is an important part of structuring spoken material into comprehensible pieces when speaking.

Why do we pause?

It is to help us distinguish between distinct linguistic units, such as syllables, sentences, and intonation units.

Just like how our speaker conveyed a story;

"The cat jumped over the fence // and ran across the yard, // chasing a small bird // that flew near the garden // and landed on the soft grass."

The speaker has paused in several clauses to emphasis each actions in the story, marked as "//". This is because there are sequential events that need to grab the listener's focus.

2. Intonation

Kiwi accent tends to use a rising intonation as we can hear in the audio provided. The speaker uses different pitch at the end of the non-final clauses.

Take the example;

- “The cat jumped over the fence ↗”

- “...and ran across the yard ↗”

During these stops, we can hear how the speaker uses a subtle rising intonation. It is a part of the story telling technique that speakers usually do. While there is also a final falling tone right before ending a story as we can hear;

“...and landed on the soft grass ↘” (final fall)

Therefore, New Zealand speakers usually use pausing and intonation just like how we explained above.

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a) Audio text from Brennan McKenzie from Auckland, New Zealand

1. /ɒɪ ˈtraɪd ə ˈnjuː ˈrɛstɹɒnt ˈlɑːst naɪt ənd aɪ kɪn ˈtɪl juː ət wəz nɒt ə ɡuːd wən/

= I tried a new restaurant last night and I can tell you it was not a good one.

2. /wiː ɒ ˈɡɒʊɪŋ tə ðə ˈkɑː ˈbuːt sɛɪlz ət ðə ˈpɑːk ˈɑːftə ˈhævən ˈbɹɛkfəst tɘˈɡɛðə ət ɒ ˈfeɪvrət ˈkæfeɪ təˈmɒɹə/

= ⁠We are going to the car boot sales at the park after having breakfast together at our favourite cafe tomorrow.

3. /ˈsɪrə ˈdrəʊv hə ˈkɑː tə ðə ˈfɑːməsi tə ˈbaɪ ˈplɑːstəz bəˈfɔː ˈhɪdɪŋ həʊm tə ˈwɜːk ɒn hə ˈprɒdʒɪkt əˈbaʊt təˈmɑːtɘʉz/

= Sarah drove her car to the pharmacy to buy plasters before heading home to work on her project about tomatoes.

4. /ðə kæt dʒʌmpt ˈəʊvɘ ðə fɪns ænd ræn əˈkrɒs ðə jɑːd ˈtʃɛɪsɪŋ ə smɔːl bɜːd ðæt fluː nɪə ðə ˈɡɑːdən ænd ˈlændɘd ɒn ðə sɒft ɡɹɑːs/

= ⁠The cat jumped over the fence and ran across the yard, chasing a small bird that flew near the garden and landed on the soft grass.

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The Transcription Texts of Western American English 

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The Transcription Texts of Western American English 

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1. I tried a new restaurant last night and I can tell you it was not a good one.

/ˌaɪ ˈtɹaɪd ə ˈnu ˈɹɛstɚˌɑnt ˈlæst ˌnaɪt ənd ˈaɪ kən ˈtɛl ju ɪt wəz ˈnɑt ə ˈɡʊd wən/

2. We are going to the car boot sales at the park after having breakfast together at our favourite cafe tomorrow.

/wi ɑɹ ˈɡoʊɪŋ tə ðə ˈkɑɹ ˈbuːt ˌseɪlz æt ðə ˈpɑɹk ˈæftɚ ˈhævɪŋ ˈbɹɛkfəst təˈɡɛðɚ æt aʊɹ ˈfeɪvɚɪt ˌkæˈfeɪ təˈmɑɹoʊ/

3. Sarah drove her car to the pharmacy to buy plasters before heading home to work on her project about tomatoes.”

/ˈsɛɹə ˈdɹoʊv hɚ ˈkɑɹ tə ðə ˈfɑɹməsi tə ˈbaɪ ˈbænˌdeɪdz bɪˈfɔɹ ˈhɛdɪŋ hoʊm tə ˈwɝk ɑn hɚ ˈpɹɑʒɛkt əˈbaʊt təˈmeɪɾoʊz/

4. The cat jumped over the fence and ran across the yard, chasing a small bird that flew near the garden and landed on the soft grass.”

/ðə ˈkæt dʒʌmpt ˈoʊvɚ ðə ˈfɛns ənd ˈɹæn əˈkɹɑs ðə ˈjɑɹd ˈtʃeɪsɪŋ ə ˈsmɑl ˈbɝd ðæt flu ˈnɪɹ ðə ˈɡɑɹdən ənd ˈlændəd ɑn ðə ˈsɑft ˈɡɹæs/

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1. Non-rhoticity

According to the definition:

Non-rhotic means referring to, possessing, or being an English accent or dialect in which a /r/ sound is not maintained before consonants and at the end of a word (“Non-rhotic,” n.d.).

Let us hear again how our New Zealand speaker speak again.

The cat jumped over the fence and ran across the yard, chasing a small bird that flew near the garden and landed on the soft grass.

The word "yard" is the example how the /r/ sound is silent and rather pronounced as /jɑːd/ as the /r/ sound is right before a consonant.

Other than than, the word "over" is the example of how the /r/ sound is silent at the end of a word and it is pronounced like "ˈəʊvɘ".

These examples show how the /r/ is dropped in non-rhotic environments.

2. Diphthongs

New Zealand english has this unique way of pronouncing the diphthongs.

Diphthongs centralizaion

According to the definition:

Centering diphthongs start with a vowel sound and travel to a centralized position, often towards [ə] (the schwa sound), as in the Received Pronunciation (RP) British English pronunciation of "near" ([ɪə]) and "poor" ([ʊə]) (Verbalplanet, 2024).

When pronouncing /aɪ/, it sounds more like [ɐɪ], same goes for /oʊ/, and it becomes [ɐʉ]. It is such a subtle difference than New Zealand speakers do that is rather different from American english speaker.

For example;

-/ˈtraɪd/ = /tɹɐɪd/

-/əˈbaʊt/ = /ɐˈbæʉt/

This characteristic brings the tongue back to the center of the mouth, providing a unique sound that is necessary in languages with a rich vowel inventory (Verbalplanet, 2024).

It is also more common in New Zealand as the speakers less exaggerate and use more centered articulatory movement

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Videography of how Western American accent sounds like

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Videography of how Western American accent sounds like

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4:50–6:05 demonstrates how speakers from California, a region of Western American English, typically sound.

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How to Speak with Different AMERICAN ACCENTS

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Videography of how the Kiwi accent sounds like

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Videography of how the Kiwi accent sounds like

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The New Zealand (Kiwi) Accent & New Zealand English Pronunciation

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Here is an infographic that we have prepared to show how English came to the west part of what we call today as the United States.

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Spain was the first European nation to establish itself in the land that would later be known as the American West (Exploration of the American West | Exploration | Articles and Essays | Meeting of Frontiers | Digital Collections | Library of Congress, n.d.). Therefore, the Western dialects that we hear today are influenced by Spanish, Native American languages, and other immigrant groups.

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Khairun Saffiah binti Mohd Sallehudin (2024272242)

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Khairun Saffiah binti Mohd Sallehudin (2024272242)

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Videography of West American English History

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Videography of West American English History

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Here is how the expedition of Lewis and Clark from 1804 till 1806.

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Videography of New Zealand English History

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Videography of New Zealand English History

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Here is the more in depth videography talking about the Maori people who was the original settler in New Zealand.

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Who Are The Māori People Of New Zealand?

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In conclusion, from this assignment, we managed to uncover the distinctive traits of Western American English and New Zealand English, as well as how intricately geography, culture and history intertwine with the way these varieties are spoken and comprehended.

Western American English, commonly referred to as neutral or ‘mainstream’, particularly in media and popular culture, has an informal and fluid form of tone. Due to its application for broadcasting, this variety is frequently seen as a universal standard, which provides it with a broad, easy to understand availability. The identity of New Zealand English is, however, characterized by a unique combination of British English roots and Māori language attributes, which left the identity of New Zealand English strong in the sense of cultural and national identity.

Their unique traits show how English, having been spoken around the world, is drawn upon by the local histories and cultural context in different places in shaping their language differently. By conducting this project, we have seen the complexity of accent diversity more clearly and have also become more aware of how the nature of linguistic practices shapes individual cultures.