Cover not available

Article published In: English World-Wide
Vol. 46:1 (2025) ► pp.52–92

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Vowel variation in a segregated and isolated religious community

ORCiD logo with link | University of Canterbury
ORCiD logo with link | University of Canterbury
Published online: 20 March 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.24013.hur
Abstract
While New Zealand English (NZE) is a highly researched variety of English due to its variable monophthongal system, one community in New Zealand remains greatly under-researched — the Gloriavale Christian Community. This community gives us a laboratory insight into how new dialect formation (NDF) and isolation interplay in the formation of a new accent. Furthermore, we investigate how this accent may differ by gender as the community exhibits high levels of sex segregation. We investigate vocalic variation of eight NZE monophthongs in 24 Gloriavale speakers and compare their findings to a less isolated New Zealand community. We find that Gloriavale vowels show greater rates of change compared to the less isolated community, with most of these changes following the majority settler dialect (i.e. NZE). When we look at gender differences, the Gloriavale women exhibit monotonic sound change towards a broad NZE dialect with innovative GOOSE and NURSE vowels, while the Gloriavale men exhibit age-graded variation. We discuss the former findings considering the NDF and isolation literature, while the gender findings require understanding of Communities of Practice research and general principles of sound change.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1New dialect formation and isolation
    • 2.2Gender
    • 2.3Research questions
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Focus on vowels in New Zealand English
    • 3.2Gloriavale data and speakers
    • 3.3Formant extraction and a comparative corpus
    • 3.4Data filtering
    • 3.5Data modelling
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Analysis 1: Variation and change within the Gloriavale speech community
    • 4.2Analysis 2: Comparing Gloriavale (isolated) to North Canterbury (less isolated)
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1RQ1 — How are NDF and isolation interacting over time to create a new Gloriavale accent?
    • 5.2RQ2 — How is accent variation and change affected by the sex-based social structure found in this community?
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Sources
  • References
References (86)
Sources
Baayen, Harald R., Richard Piepenbrock, and Leon Gulikers, Leon. 1995. The CELEX Lexical Database. Release 2. Distributed by the Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed December 1, 2020).
Boersma, Paul, and David Weenink. 2020. Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer. Version 6.4.04. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed January 10, 2024).
ELAN (Version 5.9). 2020. Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Language Archive. 〈[URL]〉.
Evans, Amanda, dir. 2014. Gloriavale: A World Apart. [Documentary]. ETV. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed September 5, 2020).
, dir. 2016. Gloriavale: A Woman’s Place. [Documentary]. TVNZ OnDemand. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed September 5, 2020).
Fromont, Robert, and Jen Hay. 2012. “LaBB-CAT: An Annotation Store.” Proceedings of Australasian Language Technology Association Workshop: 113–117. 〈[URL]〉.
McIntyre, Janet. 2007. Watch the First and Only TV Interview with Gloriavale Leader Hopeful Christian, Where He Revealed Inner-Workings of Secretive Religious Sect. [Video file]. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed July 13, 2020).
“Money.” 2018, June 26. [Docuseries episode]. TVNZ. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed July 14, 2020).
“QandA.” 2018, May 22. [Docuseries episode]. TVNZ. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed July 14, 2020).
“Self-Sufficiency.” 2014, December 1. [Docuseries episode]. TVNZ. 〈[URL]〉. (accessed July 15 2020).
“Seven Sharp Series 2015.” 2015, April 30. [Current affairs video episode]. ETV. 〈[URL]〉.
Smyth, Noel, and Fergua Grady, dirs. 2022. Gloriavale. [Documentary; Online video]. Eden. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed December 7, 2023).
Tarawa, Lilia. 2017, November 20. Finding Lilia. [Video file]. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed August 3, 2020).
References
Al-Harahsheh, Ahmad Mohammad Ahmad. 2014. “Language and gender differences in Jordanian spoken Arabic: a sociolinguistics perspective.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 41, 872–882. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Allan, Scott W., and Donna Starks. 2000. “‘No-one Sounds Like Us?’ A Comparison of New Zealand and Other Southern Hemisphere Englishes.” In Allan Bell and Koenraad Kuiper, eds. New Zealand English. Victoria University Press, 53–83. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baechler, Raffaela. 2017. “Complexity, Isolation, and Language Change”. Zeitschrift Für Dialektologie Und Linguistik, 841: 178–201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bailey, Guy, Tom Wikle, Jan Tillery, and Lori Sand. 1991. ‘The apparent time construct’. Language Variation and Change 31: 241–264. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barker, Eileen. 2015. “The Not-So-New Religious Movements: Changes in ‘the Cult Scene’ Over the Past Forty Years”. Temenos 501: 235–256. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bates, Douglas, Martin Mächler, Benjamin M. Bolker, and Steven C. Walker. 2015. “Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4.” Journal of Statistical Software 671. [URL]
Bauer, Laurie, Paul Warren, Diane Bardsley, Marianna Kennedy, and George Major. 2007. “New Zealand English.” Journal of the International Phonetic Association 371: 97–102. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bermúdez-Otero, Ricardo, and Graeme Trousdale. 2012. “Cycles and Continua: On Unidirectionality and Gradualness in Language Change.” In Terttu Nevalainen and Elizabeth Closs Traugott, eds. The Oxford Handbook of the History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 691–713. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brand, James, Jen Hay, Lynn Clark, Kevin Watson, and Márton Sóskuthy. 2021. “Systematic Co-Variation of Monophthongs Across Speakers of New Zealand English.” Journal of Phonetics 881: 101096. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Britain, David. 1997. “Dialect Contact and Phonological Reallocation: ‘Canadian Raising’ in the English Fens.” Language in Society 261: 15–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
“Campbell Live Series 2015.” 2015, April 27. [Current affairs video episode]. ETV. 〈[URL]〉. (accessed July 17, 2020).
Carroll, Joanne. 2019, October 4. “Gloriavale Expands Property Portfolio with Lake Brunner Station Purchase.” Stuff. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed February 1, 2021).
Chambers, Jack K. 2003. Sociolinguistic Theory. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheshire, Jenny. 2004. “Sex and Gender in Variationist Research.” In Jack K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill, and Natalie Schilling-Estes, eds. The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Wiley, 423–443. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, Lynn, Helen MacGougan, Jen Hay, and Liam Walsh. 2016. “‘Kia Ora. This Is My Earthquake Story’: Multiple Applications of a Sociolinguistic Corpus.” Ampersand 31: 13–20. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coates, Jennifer. 2015. Women, Men and Language: A Sociolinguistic Account of Gender Differences in Language. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cukor-Avila, Patricia, and Guy Bailey. 2013. “Real Time and Apparent Time.” In Jack K. Chambers and Natalie Schilling, eds. The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. John Wiley & Sons, 398–399. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope. 1997. “Age as a Sociolinguistic Variable.” In Florian Coulmas, ed. The Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell, 51–67.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope, and Etienne Wenger. 2005. What is the role of power in sociolinguistic variation. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 9(4), 582–589. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope, and Sally McConnell-Ginet. 1992. “Think Practically and Look Locally: Language and Gender as Community-Based Practice.” Annual Review of Anthropology 211: 461–488. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ehrlich, Susan, Miriam Meyerhoff, and Janet Holmes, eds. 2017. The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
El Laithy, Heba. 2016. “Gender Inequality in Arab Countries: Opportunities and Challenges.” Interim Report for Household Expenditure Patterns in Egypt during the 2000s. IDE-JETRO: 21–49.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fox, John, and Sanford Weisberg. 2018. “Visualizing Fit and Lack of Fit in Complex Regression Models with Predictor Effect Plots and Partial Residuals.” Journal of Statistical Software 871: 1–27. (accessed October 16, 2020).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
“Gloriavale Christian Community.” 2020. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed February 28, 2020).
Gordon, Elizabeth, Lyle Campbell, Jen Hay, Margaret Maclagan, Andrea Sudbury, and Peter Trudgill. 2004. New Zealand English: Its Origins and Evolution. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hall, Kira, Rodrigo Borba, and Mie Hiramoto. 2021. “Language and Gender.” The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology: 892–912.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hansen, Beke. 2018. “Apparent-Time Developments.” Corpus Linguistics and Sociolinguistics. Boston: Brill Rodopi, 267–286. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hay, Jen, Margaret Maclagan, and Elizabeth Gordon. 2008. “Phonetics and Phonology.” In New Zealand English. Edinburgh University Press, 14–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hay, Jen, Janet B. Pierrehumbert, Abby J. Walker, and Patrick LaShell. 2015. “Tracking Word Frequency Effects Through 130 Years of Sound Change.” Cognition 1391: 83–91. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hostetler, John A. 1987. “New Zealand’s ‘New’.” Christian Living. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed August 1, 2020).
Hurring, Gia. 2021. “Isolation, Identity, and Gender: An Investigation of Vowel Variation in the Gloriavale Christian Community.” [Master’s Thesis]. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed January 27, 2024).
Hurring, Gia, Joshua Wilson-Black, Jen Hay, and Lynn Clark. Under review. “How Stable Are Patterns of Covariation Across Time?” Language Variation and Change.
Jones, Lucy. 2016. “Language and Gender Identities.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity. Oxford: Routledge, 210–224.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kerswill, Paul. 2010. “Contact and New Varieties.” In R. Hickey, ed. The Handbook of Language Contact, 230–251. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. “Koineization.” In J. K. Chambers and Natalie Schilling, eds. The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 20–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kerswill, Paul, and Ann Williams. 2000. “Creating a New Town Koine: Children and Language Change in Milton Keynes.” Language in Society 291: 65–115. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuiper, Koenraad, and Allan Bell. 2000. New Zealand and New Zealand English. Victoria University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, William. 2001. Principles of Linguistic Change, vol. 2: Social Factors. Malden: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. “Transmission and Diffusion.” Language 831: 344–387. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. Principles of Linguistic Change, vol. 3: Cognitive and Cultural Factors. Oxford: Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. “The Regularity of Regular Sound Change.” Language 961: 42–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Langstrof, Christian. 2006. Vowel Change in New Zealand English — Patterns and Implications. [PhD Thesis]. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed January 27, 2024).
Lee, Anne. 2011. “Disciple and Work Reward Faith-Based Community.” On-Farm. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed November 20, 2020).
Maclagan, Margaret, Catherine I. Watson, Ray Harlow, Jeanette King, and Peter Keegan. 2017. “Investigating the Sound Change in the New Zealand English Nurse Vowel /ɜ:/.” Australian Journal of Linguistics 371: 465–485. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meyerhoff, Miriam. 2018. Introducing Sociolinguistics. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milroy, Lesley. 1980. Language and Social Networks. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1982. “Social Networks and Linguistic Focusing.” In Suzanne Romaine, ed. Sociolinguistic Variation in Speech Communities. London: Edward Arnold, 141–152.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milroy, James, and Lesley Milroy. 1985. “Linguistic Change, Social Network, and Speaker Innovation.” Journal of Linguistics 211: 339–384. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morsi, Wesam. 2020. Gender and Phonological Variation in Cairene Arabic 91: 197–231.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muslah, Alham Fadhl. 2019. “Language Usages by Arabic Women in the Arabic Society.” International Journal of ELT, Linguistics and Comparative Literature 71: 9–15.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
NZ On Screen. n.d. Amanda Evans. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed May 14, 2024).
Omari, Osama, and Aziz Jaber. 2019. “Variation in the Acoustic Correlates of Emphasis in Jordanian Arabic: Gender and Social Class.” Folia Linguistica 531: 169–200. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richter, Anke. n.d. Departures. New Zealand Geographic. 〈[URL]〉 (accessed July 29, 2024).
Sargisson, Lucy, and Lyman Tower Sargent. 2004. Living in Utopia: New Zealand’s Intentional Communities. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Company.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “Lived Utopianism: Everyday Life and Intentional Communities.” Communal Societies 371: 1.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schilling-Estes, Natalie. 1997. “Accommodation Versus Concentration: Dialect Death in Two Post-Insular Island Communities.” American Speech 721: 12–32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. “On the Nature of Isolated and Post-Isolated Dialects: Innovation, Variation, and Differentiation.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 61: 64–85. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schreier, Daniel. 2003. Isolation and language change: Contemporary and sociohistorical evidence from Tristan da Cunha English. New York: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “Language in Isolation, and Its Implications for Variation and Change.” Language and Linguistics Compass 31: 682–699. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. “A True Split? Typological and Sociolinguistic Considerations on Contact Intensity Effects.” In Raffaela Baechler and Guido Seiler, eds. Complexity, Isolation, and Variation, 139–158. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “Dialect Formation in Isolated Communities.” Annual Review of Linguistics 31: 347–362. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Solheim, Randi. 2009. “Dialect Development in a Melting Pot: The Formation of a New Culture and a New Dialect in the Industrial Town of Høyanger.” Nordic Journal of Linguistics 32(2): 191–206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stats NZ. 2020. “Statistical Area 1 Dataset for 2018 Census — Updated March 2020.” 〈[URL]〉 (accessed July 20, 2024).
Thomas, Brynmor, and Jen Hay. 2005. “A Pleasant Malady: The Ellen/Allan Merger in New Zealand English.” Te Reo 481: 1–49.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter. 2004. New-Dialect Formation: The Inevitability of Colonial Englishes. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter, Elizabeth Gordon, Gillian Lewis, and Margaret Maclagan. 2000. “Determinism in New-Dialect Formation and the Genesis of New Zealand English.” Journal of Linguistics 361: 299–318. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vicente, Ángeles. 2011. “Gender and Language Boundaries in the Arab World: Current Issues and Perspectives.” Estudios de Dialectología Norteafricana y Andalusí 131: 7–30.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Villarreal, Dan, Lynn Clark, Jen Hay, and Kevin Watson. 2021. “Gender Separation and the Speech Community: Rhoticity in Early 20th Century Southland New Zealand English.” Language Variation and Change: 1–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wagner, Suzanne Evans. 2012. “Age Grading in Sociolinguistic Theory.” Language and Linguistics Compass 61: 371–382. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Walsh, Liam, Jen Hay, Derek Bent, Jeanette King, Paul Millar, Viktoria Papp, and Kevin Watson. 2013. “The UC QuakeBox Project: Creation of a Community-Focused Research Archive.” 〈[URL]〉 (accessed November 30, 2020).
Warren, Paul. 2018. “Quality and Quantity in New Zealand English Vowel Contrasts.” Journal of the International Phonetic Association 481: 305–330. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wells, John C. 1982. Accents of English. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue