English has been used in New Zealand for over 200
years, since the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1769.
Together with Maori, it is the co-official language. It is
estimated that Maori is spoken by only 10 percent of the
population and is now thought to be an endangered language.
'New Zealand English' has gained increased recognition in
recent years, particularly with the publication of the Dictionary of New Zealand English (Orsman 1998). Population: 3.9 million.
Reading Bell, A. & K. Kuiper (eds) (1999) New
Zealand English. Amsterdam:
Benjamins. Bauer, L. (1994) English in
New Zealand. In Burchfield, R.W. (ed.) The
Cambridge History of the English Language. Vol. 5.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
pp.382-429. Eagleson, R.D. (1984)
English in Australia and New Zealand. In Bailey, R.W. and M.
Görlach (eds) English as a World Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
pp.415-438.
