> We Don’t Own Our Culture, It Owns Us There has been an ongoing debate on ownership and even the introduction of copyright ideas towards elements of traditional NZ culture, however it appears the debate is off the mark as you can’t own a language > read on

> Words Of Ours info sheet PDF  Words of Ours explores some of the many linguistic and cultural cross-overs from te reo Maori into mainstream English which enrich our everyday language and define us as Kiwis. New Zealand English is very distinctive, largely because of these borrowings from te reo  > download and read

further great reading relating to the subject (by other authors):

Introduction from > A Dictionary of Maori Words In New Zealand English  Excellent text by John Macalister.  It’s 11 pages long and looks like the sample thumbnail here. “At least six of every thousand words in New Zealand English are borrowed from Maori. John’s introduction provides a lively and valuable social and linguistic history of this aspect of New Zealand English that makes it unique among the world’s varieties of English. (…) There are many examples of words and concepts borrowed from Maori culture and society, many of which have become more widely familiar to New Zealanders in the last 20 years or so, such as aroha, hikoi, hongi, hui, kapai, karakia, kaumatua, koha, kohanga reo, koru, kuia, panui, powhiri, rahui, tangata whenua, whanau, and whangai.” > download and read the PDF

> Buy the Dicitonary Better yet purchase the whole dictionary and add it to your personal library!  Ask your local bookstore or > order it online here. (A dictionary of Maori words in New Zealand English / edited by John Macalister, Oxford University Press, first published in 2005, ISBN 0-19-5584953)

> Cultural Borrowing And Adaptation (Māori from Pākehā, and Pākehā from Māori) //Wikipeadia

> Māori Influence On New Zealand English //Wikipeadia

> Our Kiwiness Helps Keep The Couch-Fires Burning //Dominion Post, Opinion