Prosodic features

Studies of the rhythm of New Zealand English have observed that Maori English in particular strongly reflects a tendency towards syllable-based timing found more generally in New Zealand varieties. Syllable-based timing is where there is a near-equal interval between the beginnings of adjacent syllables, regardless of the type of syllable. This contrasts with stress-based timing, typically attested for most main varieties of English, where the unit of rhythm is the stress foot. In stress-based timing the intervals between the beginnings of stressed syllables are near-equal, regardless of the number of unstressed syllables between the stressed syllables. The tendency towards syllable-based timing has been demonstrated both in acoustic comparison of the timing patterns with those of Received Pronunciation, and in the greater incidence of full vowels for weak vowels in unstressed syllables (Warren 1999). As with other varieties, such as Singapore English, differences in timing patterns may be the influence of contact, in this case with Maori. Maori itself is mora-timed, as mentioned above, but it has been observed that the influence of mora-based timing on a stress-timed language such as English is comparable to that of syllable-based timing (Grabe and Low 2002).

It seems likely that the most distinctive feature of stereotypical Maori English is the voice quality, with, however, men’s and women’s voice qualities being different. For male speech some of the following features seem to characterize Maori English: lowered larynx, greater lingual tension, a degree of pharyngealization (constriction of the pharynx during speaking, resulting in a “dark” voice quality), possibly greater nasalization than is used in Pakeha English.

According to Robertson (1994) speech rate may correlate with Maori English, speakers who are identified as Maori speaking rather more slowly in reading and rather faster in conversation than speakers who are identified as Pakeha. This has not been confirmed on a wider sample of speakers.