A researcher and computational linguist says the government’s push to make English an official language raises a question of “what exactly is English being protected from?”.
But that invites another question: why should English have to be protected from something to be entrenched as an official language?
English is spoken by more than 96 percent of New Zealanders and dominates public life, media, schools, government institutions and workplaces across the country. To suggest this should disqualify it from being made an official language is absurd.
How much urgency should be given to the issue is a different matter.
Whether or not it is among the most burning issues on the legislative agenda, Parliament is considering the English Language Bill, a five-line piece of legislation introduced as part of New Zealand First’s coalition agreement with National and ACT.
Its simple purpose is to formally recognise English as an official language alongside te reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language.
Te reo Māori was made an official language in 1987, followed by New Zealand Sign Language in 2006.
The RNZ report is headed:
How much urgency should be given to the issue is a different matter.
Whether or not it is among the most burning issues on the legislative agenda, Parliament is considering the English Language Bill, a five-line piece of legislation introduced as part of New Zealand First’s coalition agreement with National and ACT.
Its simple purpose is to formally recognise English as an official language alongside te reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language.
Te reo Māori was made an official language in 1987, followed by New Zealand Sign Language in 2006.
The RNZ report is headed:
‘What needs protecting?’: Researcher questions purpose of English Language Bill
Dr Sidney Wong, a post-doctoral researcher at Te Pūnaha Matatini and computational linguist based at the University of Otago, has raised the question.
“English is already the de facto language, it’s already the dominant language,” Wong told RNZ.
Then he said official language status was historically used to support or revitalise languages at risk.
“So particularly within an official language context, that provides legislative protection. So that’s funding,” he said.
“We think about te reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, the reason why there was a push was because there’s this need for language revitalisation that wouldn’t happen without legislative backing.
“That’s when we say English doesn’t need protecting. It means that it is not endangered in any sense.”
Wong further said the bill did not clearly identify what practical issue it was attempting to solve.
“But also, they have not identified what needs protecting,” he said.
He seems narrowly focused on the need – or lack of it – for protecting the language.
What the Bill does say (we would like to think) is easily comprehended.
The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows:
1 Title
This Act is the English Language Act 2025.
2 Commencement
This Act comes into force on the day after Royal assent.
3 Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to provide legislative recognition of the status of English as an official language of New Zealand.
4 Act binds the Crown
This Act binds the Crown.
5 English is an official language of New Zealand
English is an official language of New Zealand.
Clause Three of the Bill – if you go back to check – spells out the purpose in 22 words.
PoO consulted Google AI Mode about official languages and what they are about.
Google replied:
The primary objective of an official language is to establish a standardized medium for government administration, legal proceedings, and public education. By conferring this legal status, a state guarantees its citizens the right to access services and communicate with public institutions in that specific language.
The Government’s Bill can’ t be ruled out on those grounds, surely.
Google went on:
Official languages serve several core functions in society:
1. Government and Legal Operations
- Operational Efficiency: They allow state apparatuses, the judicial system, and legislatures to function efficiently without constant translation.
- Equal Access: They ensure laws, ballots, and public notices are accessible and understood by the populace.
2. Social Cohesion and Communication
- Unity: A shared, standardized language provides a common tool for millions of people from different backgrounds to function as one society.
- Integration: They assist newcomers and minority groups in functioning within the broader community.
3. Cultural Preservation and Protection
- Revitalization: Many nations (such as New Zealand with Te Reo Māori or Canada with French) use official language status to actively protect and revitalize endangered or historically suppressed native languages.
- Representation: This status legitimizes the cultures that use the language, ensuring their visibility in official contexts.
Yes, “protection” does come into considerations – but it’s far from the only core function.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
A further question is: Why was English omitted in the initial legislation?
English is obviously an 'official language' in the sense that it is the predominant language of New Zealand and worldwide. So, for completeness, it should have been included.
I suspect it was left out to make a political statement. So, now it should be put in to make a stronger political statement.
The colonists and their culture, including especially their language, are what made this country. We will recognize and celebrate that as the source of our success.
Trust an academic not to see the wood for the trees.
Perhaps NZ could take a leaf out of the book us Dutchies wrote. We recognise Dutch as the only official language at national level, but there are a number of 'co-official languages' at regional level. These are languages in which people may communicate with regional governmental authorities within those specific areas. Co-official languages include Frisian (Friesland) and Papiamento (a Creole widely used in the Dutch Caribbean). Maori has regional variations and it is tempting to declare each of those a 'co-official language'. Any takers?
Writing “I suspect it was left out to make a political statement,” prompted me to check and I am surprised at how salient that intuition was.
As the article says, “Te reo Māori was made an official language in 1987”
The Maori Language Act 1987 gave Maori an official language status and created the Maori Language Commission. It was a legislative response to the Waitangi Tribunal WAI 11 Te Reo Māori claim (1985) which argued that Maori is a taonga under the Treaty of Waitangi and that the Crown had an obligation to actively protect it.
That is a political statement which led to further developments of constitutional import.
The Māori Language Act 1987 was replaced by the Maori Language Act 2016 which kept the provisions of the 1987 Act but also created a partnership between iwi and the Crown. It also includes a Crown acknowledgment of the harm caused by past policies that suppressed the language (Section 6(1)). (It is not mentioned that suppression was at the request of Maoris.)
The 2016 Act established Te Matawai, an independent Maori led statutory body responsible for Maori language programs and managing Crown funded revitalisation grants (e.g., Ma te Reo fund). This shifted much of the authority from the Crown to Maori to give a co-governance arrangement. There are now two national strategies committed to achieving 1 million Maori speakers by 2040: Maihi Karauna – the Crown’s government led Maori language strategy; and Maihi Māori – the Māori led strategy overseen by Te Mātāwai.
The Act exists in both English and Maori, but the Maori version prevails in law if the two differ. Why should Maori prevail? Presumably because it is an official language and English is not. That is not making Maori equal with English, it is replacing it.
So, protection of English language is a function of the 2026 Bill.
I'm with you Barend. English should be the only official language in NZ to be used in all national and international communications. This includes Parliament and the Courts. This would stop this infantile use of te reo by some MP's (without translation) purely to disrupt proceedings. Same as in Courts. The reo and sign language should be co-official languages. Maybe it would stop the use of this idiotic and virtue signalling use of "Manglish" by our TV and newspapers
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