How do te reo Maori words find their way in to children's speech in New Zealand and what context do they signify? In a With a new Marsden research grant, two linguists plan to investigate this.

Dr Andreea Calude of Waikato University was born in Romania, is a polyglot and a linguist.

She has long been fascinated with te reo Maori and in her latest research, along with Dr Hemi Whaanga of Massey University, she looks at the significance of te reo loan words into New Zealand English in the world of young learners.

"Language is a vehicle, but if you take the wheels off, it's not going anywhere"

Dr Hemi Whaanga

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details