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NZers who don't speak te reo Māori know about 70 words well

Publicly released:
New Zealand
Photo by Aleza van der Werff on Unsplash
Photo by Aleza van der Werff on Unsplash

New Zealanders are regularly exposed to the Māori language, and non-fluent speakers can define around 70 words on average, according to new research. However the study also demonstrates that many New Zealanders have a strong "proto-lexicon" - meaning they can identify Māori words based on how they look and sound, even if they can't define them. The researchers say this shows that "knowing" a word in te reo Māori is not black and white, it's more like a sliding scale.

Journal/
conference: PLOS One
Research:Paper
Organisation/s: University of Canterbury, Ajou University, South Korea
Funder: N/A
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