The GOAT vowel in Māori English: An analysis of contextual intraspeaker variation

This study investigates contextual intraspeaker variation in the realisation of the GOAT vowel in Māori English, focusing on speech produced by New Zealand content creator Broxh across two contrasting interactional settings: a Māori-related woodcarving livestream and a gaming livestream. Drawing on acoustic analysis of 200 tokens, the study examines differences in fronting and monophthongisation using formant measurements and linear regression modelling. The results show a significant effect of context on F2 values, with more fronted realisations occurring in the Māori-related setting, while no significant contextual effect is found for monophthongisation. GOAT fronting is indicated to function as a context-sensitive sociolinguistic resource, indexing both immediate interactional frames and broader macro- social meanings such as Māoriness and cultural authenticity. Broxh’s GOAT vowel does not fully align with established descriptions of either Māori English or Pākehā English but instead reflects the fluid and evolving nature of the New Zealand English vowel system. Overall, the study highlights how fine-grained phonetic variation operates as a socially meaningful resource through which speakers negotiate identity, context, and interaction, and illustrates how macro- social linguistic structures emerge from micro-level stylistic practice.