US Edition Once considered the most British of the old dominions, New Zealand is distancing itself from its Anglo-Saxon heritage in one crucial respect: language.
Its people are increasingly peppering their speech with Maori words, so much so that newspaper reports and daily conversations are sometimes all but incomprehensible to outsiders.
For decades the only Maori words known to most white New Zealanders were place names and such terms as kiwi and haka, the fearsome war dance performed by the All Blacks rugby team.
But now words like whanau (family), iwi (tribe), kiora (hello) and mahi (work) are heard more and more in offices, schools and on the streets. A white New Zealander, or pakeha, might talk of heading off to a hui, or meeting, before catching up with friends for some kai, or food. Popular English expressions have also been given a Maori twist with the inclusion of words like kumera, Maori for sweet potato.
"He's a couple of kumera short of a hangi [earth oven]" denotes someone of limited intelligence. Last week a dictionary of more than 1,000 regularly used Maori words was published by Victoria University in Wellington.
The dictionary was compiled by Dr John Macalister, a linguist who spent 16 years overseas and was struck on his return by the number of Maori words bandied around by white New Zealanders.
"It signals a huge change," Mr Macalister said. "New Zealand is less and less a society of British origin - Maori make up 16 per cent of the population and we also have large migrant communities from Asia and the South Pacific islands. Using Maori words is an expression of our identity as we move further away from our British heritage." The trend is partly the result of a broader revival in Maori culture. The land rights movement has gained momentum since the 1970s, Maori has been recognised as an official language and under New Zealand's system of proportional representation there is a large number of Maori MPs.
Primary schools started teaching Maori in the 1980s, reversing more than a century of neglect. Demographic changes have also encouraged the absorption of Maori words - in 1945 three-quarters of Maori lived in rural areas but by the 1970s many had moved to the cities, bringing them into closer contact with white New Zealanders.
Some Maori words have become popular because they express concepts for which there is no equivalent in English.
Mana, for instance, is a combination of pride, status and authority. Aroha means love, affection and a sense of warmth.