New-dialect formation and Southern Hemisphere English: The New Zealand short front vowels

There are two conflicting hypotheses concerning the nature of the New Zealand English short vowel system. One is that this system is conservative and that it is distinguished from the system of English English by changes which have taken place in the latter. The other hypothesis is that New Zealand English is, on the contrary, innovative, and that it is English English which has remained conservative. Drawing on hitherto unavailable data and on recent empirical studies in New Zealand, this paper concludes that both of these hypotheses are to a certain extent wrong and to a certain extent correct.