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I was going to ask if New Zealand was big enough to develop its own regional accents, but I just realized that it's significantly bigger and less densely popula
by ashtonkem 6y ago
I was going to ask if New Zealand was big enough to develop its own regional accents, but I just realized that it's significantly bigger and less densely populated that England. And since England managed to develop a lot of distinct regional accents, I assume that given a century or two there might be a lot of New Zealand accents.
- oh_sigh 6y agoDoubtful considering internet and television access.
- EdwardDiego 6y agoStudies seem to indicate that the Southland accent is strengthening and spreading, which is interesting. Perhaps people cling to the local in the face of the global?
- ithkuil 6y agoOr could it be there is another global rhotic variety of english that everybody consumes via media?
- dbspin 6y agoIreland has literally hundreds of accents with a population of less than 7 million. And that's not an exaggeration. Many Irish people can identify the specific town another Irish person is from based on their accent. I went to school in the largest town that hasn't achieved city status, Drogheda, and I could identify individual estates.
- arethuza 6y agoWhen I was growing up in Scotland I could easily tell if someone was from one of the coastal fishing villages or lived on a farm inland - the latter would have distinctly different accent even though though they might only be a couple of kilometres from where I grew up.