This text is an account of all the major aspects of New Zealand English, by both established and younger scholars. It considers what Lass calls the internal and external histories of this branch of English, discussing the origins and evolution of the language as it was and is used in New Zealand.

1. Map; 2. Abbreviations & Glossary; 3. Phonetic symbols; 4. 1. New Zealand and New Zealand English (by Kuiper, Koenraad); 5. 2. andling New Zealand English lexis (by Deverson, Tony); 6. 3. The dialectal origins of New Zealand English (by Bauer, Laurie); 7. 4. 'No-one sounds like us?' A comparison of New Zealand and other southern hemiphere Englishes (by Allan, W. Scott); 8. 5. New Zealand English across the generations: an analysis of selected vowel and consonant variables (by Woods, Nicola J.); 9. 6. The apparent merger of the front centring diphthongs - EAR and AIR - in New Zealand English (by Batterham, Margaret); 10. 7. Intonation and prosody in New Zealand English (by Warren, Paul); 11. 8. Variation in New Zealand English syntax and morphology (by Quinn, Heidi); 12. 9. As far as analysing grammatical variation and change in New Zealand English with very few tokens is concerned/o (by Britain, David); 13. 10. Maori and Pakeha English: a case study (by Bell, Allan); 14. 11. Talking Maori or Pakeha in English: signalling identity in discourse (by Stubbe, Maria); 15. 12. 'A deep depression covers the South Tasman Sea': New Zealand Meteorological Office weather forecasts (by Hickey, Francesca); 16. 13. The cultural cringe revisited: changes through time in Kiwi attitudes toward accents (by Bayard, Donn); 17. Bibliography; 18. Notes on the contributors; 19. Index

This latest collection on NZE manages to strike the balance between providing an overview of previous studies on the one hand — what we know and still need to learn about NZE — and original research on the other hand. It was the editors' aim "that the book should serve the interests of students of NZE and scholars of English varieties world wide" (p.22). The articles collected in this volume succeed in doing this: they give an excellent overview of the state of the art in studies on NZE; at the same time, the inclusion of papers which provide a more general theoretical and methodological perspective will not fail to attract the second type of intended speaker.