Māori language
Māori, known in its native form as te reo Māori (“the Māori language” and often simply referred to as te reo), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, who are the indigenous inhabitants of mainland New Zealand. As the southernmost language within the Austronesian family, it shares linguistic ties with Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian. The Māori Language Act of 1987 officially recognised it as one of New Zealand's official languages.
There are various regional dialects within the Māori language. Before European contact, the Māori did not have a written language or script. Today, written Māori employs the Latin alphabet, which was adopted and standardized by Northern Māori in collaboration with English Protestant missionaries during the 19th century.
During the latter part of the 19th century, children in rural areas of New Zealand commonly communicated in Māori with their peers. It was not unusual for influential parents, including government officials, to use the Māori language within their communities. However, the language began to decline as the European population grew and government-imposed educational policies were introduced; by the early 20th century, its use was prohibited in schoolyards and classrooms nationwide. After 1945, the number of Māori speakers decreased significantly, but a revival movement for the language emerged in the late 20th century, helping to mitigate this decline. The Māori protest movement and the Māori renaissance of the 1970s raised social awareness and support for the language.
According to the 2018 New Zealand census, approximately 190,000 individuals, or 4% of the total population, were able to engage in everyday conversations in Māori. As of 2015, 55% of Māori adults reported having some knowledge of the language; among these, 64% used Māori at home, and around 50,000 people could speak it "well". By 2023, about 7% of primary and secondary school students in New Zealand were receiving education fully or partially in Māori, while an additional 24% were learning it as a second language.
In Māori culture, the language is regarded as one of the most significant taonga, or cultural treasures. Māori is celebrated for its rich metaphorical poetry and prose, often expressed through karakia, whaikōrero, whakapapa, and karanga, as well as in performing arts like mōteatea, waiata, and haka.
Name and etymologyEdit
The term "Māori" in English is derived from the Māori language, where it appears as Māori. In New Zealand, the Māori language is frequently called te reo [tɛ ˈɾɛ.ɔ] ("the language"), which is a shorthand for te reo Māori ("the Māori language").
Recently, the spelling ⟨Māori⟩ (with a macron) has gained popularity in New Zealand English, especially within contexts that focus on Māori culture. However, the traditional spelling without a macron is still occasionally used in general media and government communications.
Official statusEdit
New Zealand officially recognises two languages: Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, while New Zealand English functions as a de facto official language. Te reo Māori attained its official status with the enactment of the Māori Language Act in 1987.
Most government departments and agencies feature bilingual names; for instance, the Department of Internal Affairs is also known as Te Tari Taiwhenua. Additionally, local government offices and public libraries display signs in both languages and utilise bilingual stationery. In some cases, certain government services have adopted the Māori version as their sole official name. While individuals can engage with government agencies in Māori, such interactions typically necessitate the use of interpreters, limiting everyday use to specific geographical areas where Māori fluency is high and more formal settings, like public consultations.
In the New Zealand Parliament, an interpreter is available during sessions for members who wish to address the assembly in Māori. Māori can also be used in court proceedings, but parties intending to do so must inform the court in advance to ensure an interpreter is present. If prior notification is not given, the party may still speak in Māori, but the court must be adjourned until an interpreter becomes available, and the party may be responsible for any resulting delays.
In a 1994 decision, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which was then New Zealand's highest court, determined that the Government was accountable under the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) for safeguarding the Māori language. As a result, since March 2004, the government has financially supported Māori Television, which broadcasts partially in Māori. On 28 March 2008, Māori Television introduced its second channel, Te Reo, which is aired entirely in the Māori language and features no advertisements or subtitles. The original Māori TV channel, Aotearoa Television Network (ATN), was accessible to viewers in the Auckland area starting in 1996 but only operated for one year.
In 2008, Land Information New Zealand released the inaugural list of official place names that included macrons. Earlier lists of place names were generated from computer systems, typically mapping and geographic information systems, which were unable to accommodate macrons.
OrthographyEdit
The contemporary Māori alphabet consists of 15 letters, including two digraphs (character pairs). It features five vowels, each having both short and long variations, with the long vowels indicated by macrons placed above them.
| Consonants | Vowels | |
|---|---|---|
| Short | Long | |
The order of the alphabet is as follows: A, E, H, I, K, M, N, O, P, R, T, U, W, Ng, Wh.
The standard orthography of Māori can be adjusted to reflect specific dialects of the language:
- In the Southern dialect, an underlined "ḵ" may be used to signify that the /k/ sound corresponds to the "ng" of standard Māori.
- Additionally, the letters L and G are found in the Southern dialect but are not present in standard Māori.
- For the Whanganui dialect, various techniques are employed to denote glottal stops in writing.
HistoryEdit
Originally, there was no native writing system for Māori. It has been proposed that the petroglyphs used by Māori might have developed into a script akin to the Rongorongo of Easter Island; however, there is no evidence that these petroglyphs evolved into a genuine writing system. Some unique markings found in kōwhaiwhai (rafter paintings) within meeting houses were utilized as mnemonics for reciting whakapapa (genealogy), but once again, there was no systematic connection between the marks and their meanings.
The effort to write Māori words using the Latin script began with Captain James Cook and other early explorers, resulting in varying degrees of success. Consonants appeared to pose the greatest challenge, while medial and final vowels were often omitted in earlier writings. Anne Salmond documents instances such as "aghee" for "aki" (from the East Coast of the North Island in 1773), "Toogee" and "E tanga roak" for "Tuki" and "Tangaroa" (1793, Northland), "Kokramea" and "Kakramea" for "Kakaramea" (1801, Hauraki), "toges" for "tokis," "Wannugu" for "Uenuku," and "gumera" for "kumara" (1801, Hauraki), "Weygate" for "Waikato" (1801, Hauraki), "Bunga Bunga" for "pungapunga," "tubua" for "tupua," and "gure" for "kurī" (1801, Hauraki), along with "Tabooha" for "Te Puhi" (1823, Northern Northland).
From 1814, missionaries began efforts to define the sounds of the Māori language. Thomas Kendall published a book in 1815 titled "A korao no New Zealand," which would be rendered in modern orthography as "He Kōrero nō Aotearoa." Starting in 1817, Professor Samuel Lee of Cambridge University collaborated with Ngāpuhi chief Tītore and his junior relative Tui (also referred to as Tuhi or Tupaea), followed by chief Hongi Hika and his junior relative Waikato. This collaboration led to the establishment of a definitive orthography based on Northern usage, which was published as the "First Grammar and Vocabulary of the New Zealand Language" in 1820. However, the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) did not hold this book in high regard. By 1830, CMS missionaries had revised the orthography used for writing Māori; for instance, "Kiddeekiddee" was updated to the modern spelling "Kerikeri."
The Māori community embraced literacy with enthusiasm, and missionaries noted in the 1820s that Māori individuals across the country were teaching one another to read and write. In the absence of traditional paper, they utilized innovative materials such as leaves, charcoal, and flax for their writing needs. Missionary James West Stack documented the limited availability of slates and writing materials at native schools. He described instances where "pieces of board on which sand was sprinkled" were used, allowing letters to be traced upon the sand with a pointed stick.