The short vowels GOOSE

The GOOSE vowel is very front, and should probably be considered a front rather than a central vowel. It is, for example, much fronter than the RP GOOSE vowel, and comparable to the Australian and South African qualities. When it is followed by /l/ as in school, the /l/ vanishes and the quality of the vowel becomes genuinely back. Consequently, spoon and spool sound extremely different. This contrasts with the situation in, say, New South Wales or Victoria, and acts as a shibboleth in distinguishing Australian and New Zealand varieties of English.

The GOOSE vowel may be diphthongized. When it is, it is a rising diphthong, with a very short first element, which may nevertheless be quite open, starting from near [ə]. However, this is changing. In the phrase thank you, shop assistants regularly use an extremely wide diphthong, which almost sounds like the GOAT vowel. This may be a sign of an impending change in New Zealand English: not long ago it was a pronunciation heard only in the speech of children.