Was Auckland the cradle of the Kiwi accent? An old theory gets a new hearing

By Brooke Ross of

Did the New Zealand accent originate in Auckland?

If you're a New Zealander who has spent time overseas, you've probably had someone comment on the way you speak: that swallowed e and flat i, the whole fush and chups thing … the rest of the world thinks we pronounce our vowels a bit funny.

Even as a researcher of the Kiwi accent, it took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that "here" and "hair" aren't supposed to rhyme.

So where did this local form of spoken English originate, and how did we come to pronounce our vowels in such a unique way?