Languages of New Zealand

Description

This collection of essays by noted linguistic specialists is an invaluable addition to the scholarship and study of New Zealand language and linguistics. Distinguished by the use of Maori words such as kia ora (hello) and grammatical features such as "at the weekend," New Zealand English is a relatively recent variety of English that is currently gaining in local prestige and is something that many younger New Zealanders claim as part of their identity.

Allan Bell is professor of language and communication and director of the Centre for Communication Research at Auckland University of Technology. He has authored or coedited four books, including New Zealand English and New Zealand Ways of Speaking English. He is the cofounder and editor of the international quarterly Journal of Sociolinguistics. Ray Harlow is an associate professor in linguistics at the University of Waikato whose main areas of research are the Maori and Polynesian languages. Donna Starks is a senior lecturer in the department of applied language studies and linguistics at the University of Auckland whose research interests include language maintenance in New Zealand's recent immigrant communities and the development of English ethnolects in these communities.