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Languages English (Official) Approximately 90% of the population. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, English. Kiwis, of course, have their own colloquialisms. Click here for Kiwi Words & Phrases Maori The latest numbers I have been able to find on Maori are relatively old, but they will give you a general idea: 50,000 to 70,000 speakers (1991). 100,000 who understand it, but do not speak it, out of 310,000 or more Maori people (1995 Maori Language Commission). Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, Central Pacific, East Fijian-Polynesian, Polynesian, Nuclear, East, Central, Tahitic. Click here for a few Maori Words & Phrases, as well as links to more in-depth Maori websites. Pitcairn-Norfolk Developed from mutineers settling on Pitcairn in 1790. Second language only; people speak standard English as mother tongue. New Zealand Sign Language Developed informally by deaf people in the 1800s because schools used the oralist method only. NZSL uses some British signs and some from other countries. Deaf Association of New Zealand, including illustrated finger spelling
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