Southlanders could be getting some answers into why they roll their ‘R’s with new research looking into the region’s distinctive accent.
The government has awarded $530,000 to the University of Canterbury for the three-year long project.
Researchers would be looking at the history and development of the region’s accent.
They will take voice recordings, mainly in Invercargill and Gore between the late 1800s and the 1990s.
Researcher say they are expecting to find that Scottish immigrants who moved to Southland would have partly influenced how locals talked today.
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt said, generally, people in the region were proud of their accents and the research project was exciting news.
“We’re the only region in the whole of New Zealand that does have a different dialect, and I have always thought it is something that we should try and expand upon and find out more about, and I think it’s great.”
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