The reduced vowels

In each of the words comma, horses, nothing, happy and letter, the reduced vowel is more peripheral than in the Pakeha New Zealand English recordings. The second syllable of letter may be the result of spelling pronunciation. A peripheral pronunciation is also found in the conversation, in words such as lady (a clear FLEECE vowel at 58 and 72 seconds) and pushing (60 seconds). In disgusting (110 seconds) and driving (123 seconds) the final vowel is FLEECE-like in its quality and also has a brief /ə/ onglide. In all of these cases, the vowel is a more extreme version of the Pakeha New Zealand English one, and may well result from the lessening of the distinction between full and reduced vowels that arises as a consequence of syllable-based timing.