A History of /s/-retraction in New Zealand English

Description

/s/-retraction refers to a sound change whereby /s/ becomes more /esch/-like in certain phonetic contexts, most notably /str/ clusters (e.g. ‘Aushtralia’).

In this talk, Reuben Sanderson and Paul Warren make use of Reuben's recent Master's project to show how this sound change has developed over time in New Zealand English. Using data drawn from the Origins of New Zealand English corpus Ruben and Paul consider the linguistic and social factors that have influenced its spread through New Zealand English.