Story: English language in New Zealand

Victoria University of Wellington became an important centre of New Zealand English scholarship under Professor Ian Gordon, who taught there from 1937 to 1974. He also wrote columns in the Listener magazine and had his own radio show on the topic, which has long been of interest to ordinary New Zealanders as well as scholars. Gordon was interested in the distinctiveness of New Zealand English and dismissive of those he described as 'moralising' grammarians who could not accept change in the language. Listen to him explain how he decided which Māori words to include in the New Zealand edition of the Collins dictionary.