Parliament is considering a five-line piece of legislation to formally recognise English as an official language, alongside te reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language.
A researcher and computational linguist says the government's push to make English an official language raises a question of "what exactly is English being protected from?".
English is spoken by more than 96 percent of New Zealanders and dominates public life, media, schools, government institutions and workplaces across Aotearoa.
Parliament is now considering the English Language Bill, a five-line piece of legislation introduced as part of New Zealand First's coalition agreement with National and ACT.
The bill would formally recognise English as an official language alongside te reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language.
