MAORI LANGUAGE

The Maori language of New Zealand is a Malayo-Polynesian language, a family of languages

commonly divided into four sub-families, namely, Indonesian, Melanesian, Micronesian, and
Polynesian. The New Zealand Maori language is part of the Polynesian sub-family of
languages which form a very closely related group spoken for the most part within the
Polynesian triangle. Thus Maori speech is a dialect of the language spoken throughout
Polynesia and hence conveniently called the Polynesian language. The Polynesian group can
be divided into east and west Polynesian sub-groups. New Zealand Maori is an eastern
Polynesian language. The Maori dialects of Rarotonga, Tahiti, Hawaii, and all the islands of
French Polynesia are very closely related to the Maori language spoken in New Zealand.
There is rather less relation with the western Polynesian languages in Tonga, Samoa, and
Niue, and still less to the Melanesian languages of Fiji.

New Zealand marks the southernmost limit of the Malayo-Polynesian family of languages.
Within the last thousand years, either through accidental voyages or by purposive migration
using traditional navigational methods, Polynesian speakers fanned out from the Society and
Cook groups to Hawaii in the north, to the eastern Archipelagoes of French Oceania, and to
New Zealand in the south.
In respect to actual origin, in spite of comparisons that have been made between selected
words from Polynesia and the speech of some American groups, the linguistic evidence
suggests that the spread of the Polynesian language was from the direction of Asia and not
America. The existence of different dialects in New Zealand points to the speculation that the
different waves of early settlement were from different dialect areas in central Polynesia. Only
intensive archaeological and linguistic research within Polynesia as a whole can determine
this.

Creating a Written Language

The unwritten Polynesian language was reduced to writing by early missionaries in various
island groups during the first half of the nineteenth century, with the Polynesian sounds
represented by English letters. Earliest records of the Maori language can be found in the
Journals of Cook, who visited New Zealand in 1769. But the first worth-while effort at a
vocabulary and grammar was made and published in 1815 by the missionary Kendall. In 1820
the first step towards a dictionary of the Maori language was taken when the vocabulary of
100 pages was published by the Church Missionary Society with the Grammar. Probably the
most important of the early works was the first edition of Williams's Maori Dictionary,
published in 1844. The Williams family were to produce the best dictionary of any Polynesian
or Melanesian language.
During the last half century there has occurred a significant advance in Maori linguistic study.
Appropriate techniques have been developed, especially by Bruce Biggs, for establishing the
significant sound contrasts in the Maori language. His system, which is based on an inventory
of phonetic symbols, provides the most efficient writing system for the Maori language; it
provides a means of indicating in writing every meaningful distinction in the sounds of the
language, while at the same time ignoring the non-essential, because non-significant sound
variations occur.

Parts of Speech

The Maori language is almost devoid of grammatical inflexions; most words may be used in
more than one of the classes of parts of speech. As grammatical relations exist in Maori which
have no exact counterpart in English grammar, terms have had to be adopted to express these
relations.

Formal Structure

The Maori alphabet is very restricted, consisting of 15 letters: h, k, m, n, p, r, t, w, a, e, i, o, u,

wh, ng. These letters can be classified into:

1. Eight consonants, h, k, m, n, p, r, t, w.
2. Two digraphs, wh, and ng, which may be included with the consonants.
3. Five vowels, a, e, i, o, u.

Pronunciation

It will be observed that the voiced consonants b, d, g, are wanting, also the voiced and
voiceless pairs v, f and z, s, l. The only consonants are the voiceless p, t, k, the voiced and
voiceless pair w, wh, the three nasals m, n, ng, the liquid r, and the aspirate h. The
combinations of 10 consonants and five vowels form 55 open syllables, four of which,
however, wo, wu, who, and whu, do not occur in any genuine Maori word.
Table of Maori Syllables
a e i o u
ha he hi ho hu
ka ke ki ko ku
ma me mi mo mu
na ne ni no nu
nga nge ngi ngo ngu
pa pe pi po pu
ra re ri ro ru
ta te ti to tu
wa we wi wo wu
wha whe whi who whu
The above table contains every letter and syllable used in Maori, but those syllables in italic
are not found in genuine Maori words, although they are used in modern Maori introduced
words, such as wuru (wool) and whuru (flu).
Vowels and Digraphs

To a student who speaks English only, the chief difficulty in pronunciation is the vowel
sounds. Every vowel is pronounced and has a long and a short sound. Every syllable ends in a
vowel. When two vowels occur together, each has its own sound, but there is no break as one
merges into the other. Maori is a phonetic language, that is, a word is spelt according to the
sound. To learn how to pronounce Maori, the sounds of the vowels, a, e, i, o, u, must be
mastered.
Probably the best way to learn the vowel sounds is to use English examples:
Vowel Short Long
a as in are as in rather
e as in let as in bear
i as in knit as in feed
o as in more as in oar
The two difficult vowels are the e and the o.
Ng, as used in Maori to begin a syllable, is found difficult by most people and is pronounced
as “ng” in “singer”. Another method is to pronounce the following three letters successively
with the Maori vowel a, thus: ka, ga, nga, and practise till the letter is mastered.
Wh: There is some difference of opinion in respect to the correct pronunciation of the wh
sound. It is not a compound of w and h, but represents the single voiceless consonant
corresponding with w and is pronounced by emitting the breath sharply between the lips.
Most tribes in New Zealand today assimilate the sound to that of f in English. From the
phonetic spelling that was adopted by the early missionaries and settlers it would appear,
however, that the use of the sound f for wh is a comparatively recent innovation. This is the
view supported by Buck who contends that the use of the English f sound for wh, such as fafai
for whawhai (to fight), is a post-European development adopted by some tribes. The student
should practise the sound by pronouncing the wh as in the English word “when”; it is
pronounced without letting the teeth touch the lower lip.
Accent: The disyllablic character of the language tends to cause in utterance a stress on the
first syllable of each normal disyllablic element of a word. This stress gives way to a strong
accent on the first syllable of a trisyllabic word, but survives as a secondary accent in
polysyllabic words. The causative prefix whaka is unaccented and so also are the articles he,
nga, te, the prepositions, the verbal particles, and the particle ko. The nominal particle, a, is
ordinarily unaccented, but if used with one of the pronouns au, koe, ia, mea, wai, following a
preposition, it carries the accent which disappears from the pronoun.
Vowels: Unmarked vowels may be assumed to be short, or comparatively so, though with
some of the vowels three or even more grades of prolongation may be detected in speech. In
some words the quantity of a vowel may vary in different districts, and strange vagaries are
practised in this respect in songs.

Marking Vowels

The way in which the distinction between types of vowels is marked is of less importance
than the insistence that they be marked. One method of marking long vowels is to place a
macron over a vowel which is long. This seems to have been adopted by W. W. Williams in an
early edition of the Dictionary. Criticisms of this method are chiefly based on the fact that an
ordinary linotype machine does not have a macron and printing costs are increased if macrons
are used. Moreover, the placing of macrons breaks the flow of handwriting in much the same
way as does the crossing of t's.
A second method of marking long vowels is by doubling the vowel. The users of this method
state that it fits the pattern of the language rather well, but is more an academic reason for
preference. In contrast to the macron, the use of double vowels does not break the flow of
handwriting and does not present any printing difficulties. Examples of the two methods:

• tangata = man (singular)

• tangata = men (plural)
• taangata = men (plural)

Prefixes

There are a very large number of prefixes in Maori. A few only are generally recognised as
inflexional. Kai prefixed to a transitive verb forms a noun connoting the agent, thus, arahi (to
guide) prefixed with Kai – Kaiarahi (a guide or person who guides).
The genus of the language admits of the free combination of words in phrases which
approximate to compound words, and it is difficult to formulate a rule for determining
whether such a combination should be regarded as a single word or not, and whether or not
the use of hyphens is desirable.

Transliteration

There is a certain readiness among young Maori speakers to abandon genuine words in their
native tongue for some barbarous transliteration of their English equivalents. The study of
words adopted spontaneously by the Maori is very interesting, such words often assuming
forms which differ widely from such rigid transliterations as would be made by a European. It
is by no means always an easy matter to recognise such a word and trace it to its origin.
Examples are matere, lookout at sea (from masthead); kaihe, ass (from jackass).
Examples of more obvious transliterations are:

• motorcar = motukaa
• flour = parroa
• table = tepu
• pen = pene
• money = moni

Preservation of Classical Maori

The present-day Maori language as spoken throughout New Zealand has, of course, lost many
of its genuine and ancient words. This situation has evolved because of the necessity for the
Maori people to exist in a non-Maori and rapidly changing world with the constant adoption
of transliterations into the language. Regardless of this state of affairs, however, the Maori
people have in most tribal districts been able to retain much of the classical language of their
forbears, though the ability to express thought in the ancient language is limited to a few
elders among the various tribes. Preservation of much of the classical language has been
possible through the whare runanga, this is, the Maori school of learning based on a system of
one tutor to one student. Another method of facilitating preservation is the strongly practised
custom of formal and spontaneous oratory patterned strictly upon ancient form and classical
language. It is almost impossible to interpret and translate correctly into English this
language, which is so full of allusions.

Genealogy – Whakapapa

Most Maori traditional narrative includes some whakapapa or genealogical record of a

connection between the various characters in the story. The web of the tale is often so
entwined as to require the explanation afforded by the whakapapa.

Songs

In song the poetical genius of the Maori in language becomes evident. In modern times the
language is regular and phrases are frequently broken up like an infant walking. In former
times, especially in pre-European society, a wealth of meaning was clothed within a word or
two as delectable as a proverb in its poetical form and in its musical sound. In ancient songs,
particularly in karakia, there are a number of words which it is now quite impossible to
elucidate. It must be supposed that these words were formerly current in the language.
To the modern mind there is a need for explanations of phrases, names, and archaic words. It
has been found that there are some sacerdotal words in the songs, and some references to
ancient Maori mythology. Many classical songs have been recorded in a number of books,
with variations in the words from one book to another. This was inevitable, because they
would go from lip to lip among the people throughout the land; on reaching some tribes a
word or a name would be varied; and, because of the long period during which the circulation
went on, some words were dropped or some were added. With a European as recorder, or a
Maori not sufficiently literate, some of the words were wrongly spelt.
Today the number who sing the ancient Maori songs is gradually declining. Thus a new
generation is growing up which, as a general rule, does not appreciate or value these ancestral
treasures.

Dialectical Differences

Many interrelated factors, particularly the isolated location of certain groups and the general
hostility that prevailed among many tribes, allowed for the development of dialectal
differences during the centuries that followed the original settlement period. Generally there
are two main dialects of contemporary Maori in New Zealand, namely, the western and
eastern dialects. For historical reasons the Waikato-Ngapuhi dialect complex has come to be
regarded as standard Maori. Briefly, some examples of dialectal differences in word usage
are:

• kaika = home (South Island)

 • kainga = home (most other tribes)
• tangata = man (most tribes)
• tanata = man (among Tuhoe)
• kei te pai = good (most tribes)
• kai te pai = good (among Tuhoe)
• karekau = in the negative (East Coast, Tuhoe)
• kao = in the negative (Taranaki)

Some Present-day Observations: Vocabulary

Reference has already been made to the increasing amount of transliteration in the Maori
language and the replacing of genuine Maori sounds. This is a disturbing trend: for example,
the use of the word whara for fellow instead of tangata (man), or manna (mother) instead of
whaea. In personal names also can be found the use of Maori words that are actually
transliteration:

• George = Hori
• John = Hoani or Hone
• Samuel = Hamiora
• Edward = Eruera

Another disturbing feature from the point of view of the purist is the varying degrees of
originality of language among the tribes. This state of affairs has been in part due to the
proximity of tribes to European urban areas; for example, the South Island, Wellington, and
the Wairarapa were mainly European majority areas. Tribes such as Ngati Porou and Tuhoe
are far superior as far as purity of the spoken language is concerned. In these areas also there
is less usage of English words and mannerisms in speaking.
It is difficult to estimate the number who now speak fluent Maori, perhaps 70 per cent of the
170,000 Maori people. But the most disturbing feature is the fact that probably only 60 per
cent of the young Maori population (probably less) under 20 years of age can and do speak
Maori.

Teaching of the Maori Language

Since 1930 Maori studies, which include Maori history, arts, music, games, and other
elements of Maori culture, have been growing in importance as an essential part of the
curriculum in several subjects both for Maori and for European pupils. The Maori language
itself is being taught today in nearly all Maori district high schools and in some State and
private secondary schools; tuition is also available from the Correspondence School as far as
staffing allows.
Maori is accepted as a subject for School Certificate and University Entrance, and Maori
Studies (Stage I and II) is accepted as a subject for an arts degree in two universities. A 1965
estimate implies that over 2,000 pupils were being taught Maori. It would appear that since
English is the language of the community at large, it is essential for the Maori primary pupils
to master English as a basic subject. Maori can at best be but a second language for the vast
majority.
by Ihakara Porutu Puketapu, B.A., Administration Officer, Department of Maori Affairs,
Wellington.

• A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand, Kendall, T., and Lee, S.
(1820)
• Grammar of the New Zealand Language, Maunsell, R. (1894)
• Complete Manual of Maori Grammar and Conversation, Ngata, A. T. (1948)
• Te Reo Maori – a Guide to the Study of the Maori Language, Smyth, P. (1943)
• The Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, Tregear, E. (1891)
• A Dictionary of the Maori Language, Williams, H. W. (1957)
• First Lessons in Maori, Williams, H. W. (ed.) (1940)
• Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 64 (1955), “The Compound Possessives in
Maori”, Biggs, B.