Waikato University Linguistics researchers are hoping to find out more about Māori words that are integrating with New Zealand English.
It's a pet project for senior linguistics lecturer Dr Andreea Calude who says she's fascinated by "this really young and new variety of English" that tells "an amazing story about the people".
She's recently been granted $300,000 from the government's Marsden Fund which supports research in Aotearoa.
"This topic is very important on a number of levels, one it is very important for us (Kiwis) as it is our language and our voice so it's what we identify with. It's part of who we are, so it tells us a story about us as a nation and as people. But on a bigger scale it's very important as it shows us how language has changed," Dr Calude says.
Increasingly Te Reo is being used by government organisations and the media and Dr Calude and her team are interested in why certain Māori loan-words, words that are borrowed from other languages, are catching on and being used in everyday English.