The language is on the new government’s agenda, with legislation promised to give English official status.
This is in addition to the requirement that all public service departments have their primary name in English, except those specifically related to Māori, and to communicate primarily in English – again, except those specifically related to Māori, as part of the inter-national coalition agreement. New Zealand first.
Te Reo Māori became an official language in 1987, followed by New Zealand Sign Language in 2006.
For many, this will be news because the English language also has no special status under the law.
In 2018, New Zealand’s First MP, Clayton Mitchell, introduced a member’s bill to add English to the then-list. He said the bill “will correct a long-standing problem.”
Previously, in 2015, then-Justice Secretary Amy Adams said English did not need legal recognition to be official, describing it as a “de facto official language by virtue of its widespread use.”
According to the 2018 Census, English was the most common language spoken in Aotearoa, New Zealand, with 95.4% of the population able to carry on a conversation about everyday things. The next most common languages were te reo Māori (4%) and Samoan (2.2%). NZSL was used by 0.5% of the population.
So what will change?
Louisa Willoughby, associate professor of linguistics at Monash University in Melbourne, says it’s not common for Anglo-Peripheral countries to have English as an official language. (Canada is an exception, where English and French have equal status.)
This is because, as Adams said, English is already the default language.
“People tend to legislate around language when they’re concerned about preserving that language,” Willoughby says. “It is difficult to make a legal argument that the English language is under threat in New Zealand, Australia or the United States, for example.”
So what would the proposal change?
“Nothing,” says Andrew Geddes, a law professor at the University of Otago.
He says the legislation aims to solve problems.
“What is the social problem here that needs to be solved? English is already an official language. It can be used in all public places.”
Making te reo Māori and NZSL official means people have the right to use the languages in court, for example.
“You don’t need any kind of legislative permission to use the English language.”
Geddes refers to this policy as “virtue signaling”: “There seem to be some people who fear that English is under threat and will somehow be overtaken in New Zealand. This [policy] “It seems like a way to try to respond to that fear.”
Te Reo Māori and NZSL
If making English an official language changes nothing for English speakers, what have the Māori Language Act and NZSL achieved?
The signing of the Māori Language Act in 1987 was a “golden moment”, according to those who were pushing for better recognition of the Māori language.
Because just seven years after the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Education Act 1847 established English as the dominant regular language in schools.
Schools began banning te reo Māori and punishing children caught speaking it.
By 1970, only 5% of Māori children were able to speak their language.
At the same time, a new wave of Māori activism came to the fore, leading to the Māori Language Petition being presented to Parliament and the subsequent revival of Te Reo.
The Act established a Māori Language Commission now known as Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, introduced the right to speak Māori into legal proceedings, and enabled certificates of proficiency in the Māori language to be awarded.
In 2016, it was replaced by a bilingual bill that recognizes te reo as “taonga” and places greater emphasis on protecting and promoting the language.
The NZSL, like the Māori Language Act, was “fundamentally about status recognition”, says Rachel McKee, director of the NZSL Studies Program and director of the Deaf Studies Research Unit at Victoria University of Wellington.
“It codifies the right to court interpreters. As a branch, it also gives moral leverage to government agencies and entities to attend to the needs of NZSL users. It has certainly increased its visibility.”
She points to the previous government’s COVID-19 briefings with New Zealand interpreters present, as an example.
Workers’ disability issues spokesperson Ruth Dyson was the member responsible for the NZSL Act 2006. At the time, she said Māori and sign language needed special status, because English was “the only language commonly used in broadcasting and law”.
What’s really going on?
Even if the proposal does not change how the English language is used, there is an argument that there is benefit in streamlining the legislation.
“It doesn’t make sense on the face of it that English is so widely used [but isn’t an official language like Māori and NZSL]“, says Julia de Pres, sociolinguist and senior lecturer at Massey University.
“If it was just a matter of tidying up the legislation, I wouldn’t have a problem with the proposal,” she says. But in the context of the government’s promised changes to Te Tiriti o Waitangi relations and shared governance, “I don’t think that’s what it’s about.”
She adds that if it is not needed for practical reasons, we can conclude that it is done for symbolic or other reasons.
“Dominant social groups work to maintain their power.
“It is possible that some people feel that if more Maori is used, it means English is losing its power. So it is a move to maintain the linguistic status quo.”
“It could be framed as a regulatory exercise, but if English is labeled ‘official’, people will use it to impose English in places where te reo Māori might have had a chance.”
What then?
Former New Zealand First Deputy Prime Minister Clayton Mitchell did not respond to a request for comment. “Work on this commitment continues,” New Zealand First Party leader Julian Ball said.
Making English an official language is not part of the 100-day plan, and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has not set a deadline for this.
Written by Katie Kenny rnz.co.nz
The government’s plan to make English an ‘official’ language is a hotly debated topic that has sparked a lot of discussion and speculation. If this plan were to come to fruition, it would certainly bring about some significant changes in various aspects of society. From education and government services to business and cultural norms, the designation of English as the official language would have a wide-reaching impact on the way people communicate and interact in the country. This move would not only affect the linguistic landscape but also raise questions about inclusivity, diversity, and the preservation of other languages and cultures. As such, the potential changes that would result from this decision are complex and far-reaching.