Saturday, 19 December 2020, 5:46 am Principal Investigator Professor Jen Hay and co-author Professor Jeanette King of UC’s New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour. Even when they can’t speak te reo Māori, New Zealanders have a surprisingly sophisticated knowledge of the language, University of Canterbury (UC) research shows. The UC-led team is exploring the very earliest stages of language-learning, by studying knowledge of te reo Māori held by New Zealanders who have never deliberately tried to learn the language. Principal Investigator Professor Jen Hay, of UC’s New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, says people in Aotearoa are exposed to te reo Māori on a regular