UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA

Centro Universitario de Ciencias Sociales y

Humanidades

A VERY BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO TE REO MORI

He kupu whakataki rawa poto ki Te Reo Mori

GARCA HUGHES JORGE GERMN

MAESTRA EN ESTUDIOS DE LAS LENGUAS Y CULTURAS

INGLESAS
MAYO 2017.
 INDEX

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. 3
1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 4
2. A WRITTEN LANGUAGE? ............................................................................... 5
3. PHONOLOGY: STRUCTURE ........................................................................... 6
4. MORPHOLOGY: THE PHRASE ....................................................................... 8
5. TE REO MORI IN NEW ZEALAND CULTURE ............................................ 11
6. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 13
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 15
ABSTRACT

Mori has become a vital part of the New Zealander lifestyle. Originally it was the
language of the indigenous natives of the islands, for a time it was the official and
commercial language of New Zealand until it was replaced by the English of the
British conquerors. It was at the edge of extinction in the mid of 20th century, its
natives representatives and the government of New Zealand decided to encourage
learning and teaching the language with the intention of preserving it. Today Mori
is the second official language of New Zealand. Recently with the tourist increase
to the country its presence is more notorious in the modern English of New
Zealand. The aim of this text is to provide the reader with a basic description of this
indigenous language and to highlight its particular pronunciation that differs
completely from Anglo-Saxon conventions. The main source of this text was the
studies by Bruce Biggs (1921-2000), the first academic to teach Mori at a
university in New Zealand. Data are also collected from Te Ara, the New Zealand
encyclopedia edited by Alexander Hare McLintock and other sources quoted
correspondingly. The result is a very basic compendium of the details that make up
this indigenous language but which are useful as an ethnographic tool of an
English variety influenced by this Polynesian culture.

Keywords: Mori, New Zealand English, Indigenous Language, Polynesian

cultures.
 1. INTRODUCTION
Mori arrived on New Zealand from Hawaiki, a mythological land where all
Polynesian are supposed to be from before the great spread. Historically the Mori
came to New Zealand from places like Tahiti and East Polynesia on canoes they
call Wakas around 1280 CE.

Due to the isolation of New Zealander islands the Mori people developed a
unique culture and an independent language from other Polynesian folks, barely
influenced by other languages or dialects until the 15 th century. It was the
Spaniards who were traveling to Acapulco 1(Wilson, 2005) the first European who
arrived in New Zealand coasts; but of course the ones who finally conquered those
islands were the English. Nevertheless, it is possible that this Spanish influence
had affected the phonetics of Mori or only confirmed a relationship between both
languages.

In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between several Mori chiefs and
representatives of the British Crown. In that treaty it was determined that the Mori
language (known among its natives as Te Reo) was unique to New Zealand, at
that time it was the predominant language even among European conquerors and
it was used as a trading language. However throughout the nineteenth century, the
increase of the British population was gradually relegating the Mori language.

As a result of implementation of the British education system in New Zealand, Te

reo Mori became a minority language replaced by English. This positioned
English as the main language of New Zealand. With the arrival of the twentieth
century the native speakers of Mori were declining. In the early 1960's Te reo
Mori faced a state of near extinction.

In the early 1970s Mori chiefs were concerned about the possible loss of their
language and the loss of their cultural identity as consequence; they realized the
need to revive language in their young population. In the early 1980s Te Reo Mori
became more politically proactive and began to be taught in the Kura Kaupapa
Mori2.

In the subsequent period the resurgence of the language and the promotion of the
endemic culture promoted the growth of the population of Te reo Mori speakers.

1
John Wilson, 'European discovery of New Zealand - Before Tasman', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New
Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/european-discovery-of-new-zealand/page-1 (accessed 12 May 2017)
2
Kura Kaupapa Mori: Schools where is taught the philosophy and practice of Mori cultural values and
language.
Finally in 1985 Mori was proclaimed as thhe second official languages of New
Zealand. By the following year the Mori language had gained an important place
in the country's media.

Nowadays we can see the penetration of Mori language in every aspect of New
Zealand infrastructure, streets names, cities, geographic features, flora and fauna
have both English names and Mori equivalence and -most important- recognition
of the Inhabitants of the islands.

2. A WRITTEN LANGUAGE?

It is important to remark that originally there was no a written record of Mori

language since it is mainly phonetic. It was European missionary who tried to adapt
the language using the Latin alphabet to represent the Mori sounds. The earliest
records of the Mori language can be found in the Journals of James Cook, who
visited New Zealand in 1769 but it was missionary Kendall who publish the first
written complex of vocabulary and grammar in 1815.

During the last half century there has occurred a significant advance in Mori
linguistic study. Appropriate techniques have been developed, especially by Bruce
Biggs (1958), for establishing the significant sound contrasts in the Mori
language. His system, which is based on an inventory of phonetic symbols,
provides the most efficient writing system for the Mori 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.

It is important to emphasize the fact that Biggs was one of the greatest supporters
of the use of the Double Vowel to represent long vowels so representatives of the
Mori language since it is facilitates its representation in any current system of
keyboard; However the Mori Language Commission determined that the official
way of representing the long vowels is through the use of macrons. (Mori
Language Act 1987).

Except for the use of macrons, Mori language can be easily represented with the
help of the current Latin alphabet3. The Microsoft keyboard can be set up in New
Zealand English and in turn have the Mori language as second function, which
facilitates the insertion of macrons.

3
Macrons can be easily inserted in any text document with the help of Microsoft Word using the function:
Insert / Symbol / More Symbols.
 3. PHONOLOGY: STRUCTURE

The Mori alphabet consists of 15 letters:

H, K, M, N, P, R, T, W, A, E, I, O, U, WH, NG.

Eight consonants: H, K, M, N, P, R, T, W.

Two digraphs: WH, and NG

Five vowels: A, E, I, O, U.

3.1. MORI SYLLABLES

The combinations of 10 consonants and five vowels form 55 open 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
(McLintock, 1966)

3.2. VOWELS

To English speakers the pronunciation of vowels sound in Mori language results

to be quite difficult, to Spanish speakers it is the opposite since they are
pronounced in the same way as in Spanish alphabet. Nevertheless here is a guide
using English examples of how to pronounce the five vowels:
 a, e, i, o, u

The vowels can be pronounced in a short or in long way; for the long vowel
pronunciation is usually marked with a macron (Williams, 1971):

, , , ,

In Mori the long vowel sound can change the meaning of a word. For example:

Singular and plural:

wahine = woman (singular) - pronounced wahine

whine = women (plural) - pronounced waahine

Different meaning:

manu = bird
mnu = to float

Vowel Short Vowel 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
u as in to as in Two
(McLintock, 1966)

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.
 3.3. CONSONANTS

Mori language doesnt have consonant clusters (consonants that appear

together in a syllable without a vowel between them).

Consonants are mainly pronounced as they are in English. The exceptions are:

Varies depending on which vowel appears after it. When succeeded by an a, e

or o, its pronounced with a little 's' sound.

When followed by an i or u, it includes a slight 's' sound, however not nearly as

much as an English t.

Commonly called a rolled r. If youre able to imitate the purring sound of a cat,
youll know exactly whats required to pronounce this consonant. Failing this, the
sound you should aim for is something similar to an English d but softer e.g.
judder.

(Mori Language Commission, 2007)

3.4. DIGRAPHS

The ng digraph (the combined sound of two consonants) is said as it sounds in

the English word singer'. A common mistake is to pronounce it as it appears in
the word finger.

The wh digraph is usually pronounced as an English f sound.

(McLintock, 1966)

4. MORPHOLOGY: THE PHRASE

The phrase and not the word is the unit of Mori speech (Biggs, 1998). It is the
natural grammatical unit of the language and the natural pause to separate ideas in
the speech. Every single Mori sentence contains one or more phrases. After
every phrase it is possible to pause but it is incorrect to pause after a word without
any phrase.

4.1. GRAMMAR OF THE PHRASE

A Mori phrase has two parts:

A Nucleus: the center of the phrase. It contains the lexical meaning.

A Periphery: It expresses the time, the mode, singular or plural, verbal or
nominal, etc.

Also, there are two kinds of words Bases and Particles.

A base expresses a real meaning or a concrete concept:

Whare House
Pai Good
Waka Canoe
Whnau Family

A particle as Ka which is used as preposed periphery indicates that the base has a
verbal meaning:

Ka pai Its good

Preposed periphery Nucleus Postposed periphery

Ka pai *
(it) is good *
Particle Base Particle

On the other hand, when a particle is used in the posposed periphery it indicates
the way, mode, proximity or characteristic of the sentence:

Te whare nei This house

Preposed periphery Nucleus Postposed periphery

Te whare nei
Indicates proximity to the
The house
speaker
Particle Base Particle
(Biggs, 1998)
If we remove the particle nei which indicates the proximity to the speaker, the
particle in the preposed periphery indicates only the definite article function of the
particle and the base is nonverbal but nominal.

Te Whare The House

Now we have two phrases we have two units of a speech and we can create a
proper sentence with a pause:

Te whare nei, Ka pai This house is good

Comas are not common for Mori native speakers but for English speakers they
help to make the pauses.

4.2. TYPES OF BASES:

Nouns or common nouns are words that are not normally used as verbs,
e.g. whare (house). These words typically label things, people and ideas
and can follow the particle ng (the - plural), e.g. ng tngata (the people).

Verbs or universals are words that designate activities and events. They
can be used as nouns or verbs. They may also be used passively, taking
passive endings in most passive sentences.
e.g. Kua horoia ng rhi e ia. (The dishes have been washed by her)

Statives or neuter verbs and adjectives can be used as verbs but not with
passive endings fall into this class. They say something is in a particular
state, e.g. mate (be sick, dead), mahue (be left behind), riro (be taken).
Statives dont have passive endings, but some can also be used as nouns.
Adjectives are words for the attributes of things, people or actions and are
usually found in structures where they qualify another word,
e.g. He wahine taahua tana hoa. (His friend is a beautiful woman)

Locatives follow particles like i and ki fall into this group. They are also
preceded by a when they occur as the subject of the sentence, e.g. He
mahana a roto. (It's warm inside.) They include all place names and a small
group of other words relating to location, e.g. runga (up, on top). This class
contains names of regions, rivers, mountains, marae, as well as names of
places, e.g. Taranaki (Mount Egmont).
 Personal names are words which take the personal article a before them
when they follow ki, e.g. Hoatu tnei ki a Piripi. (Give this to Phillip, please.)
This class includes names of people, tribes, canoes, months, stars, planets,
wai? (who?) and personal pronouns, e.g. Mereana.

(Moorfield, 2005)

4.3. ARTICLES

The indefinite article He

He can mean a or some according the context but it is only used when the base
is used indefinitely:

He tne A man/some men

He wai Some water (it only means some since water is a mass noun in
English)
He poro An apple / Some apples

Definite articles

Te is used as singular and nga as plural but these articles indicates that the base is
going to be part of a nominal phrase:

Te kupu The word

Nga kupu The words

The article a

We use a always before a proper name:

Ka pai a Peter, Ka kino a Luke. Peter is good, Luke is bad.

(Biggs, 1998)

5. TE REO MORI IN NEW ZEALAND CULTURE

Te Reo Mori is the second official language of New Zealand, and kiwis (New
Zealander colloquial nickname) have adopted many words form it, especially to
name places, flora and fauna. Nevertheless the approach of this study is to
determine how extent and in which aspects of the language of New Zealand the
Mori culture and the Mori language have penetrated as a consequence of the
adoption by the New Zealand government of the Mori as a symbol of national
identity within its tourism industry.

5.1. NAME OF PLACES

This is one f the best examples of Mori influence on Nez Zealand; lets separate
some of the most common Mori Names of cities and places into recognizable
morphemes.

Aotearoa

AO: CLOUD
LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD
TEA: WHITE
ROA: LONG

As we can see the base of this word is ao becoming the adjectives in particles.

This is the name Mori gave to the country and it is so popular between their
inhabitant (both Mori and European descendant) that is commonly used in media,
official Mori translations and publicity.

Taup

TAU: DOCK DARK DOCK

P: DARKNESS

The suffix p acts as adjective.

Matamata

MATA TOP OF THE HIL

This town is especially famous for the farm used as scenario for The Shire in the
Lord of the Rings movies.

Whangrei

WHANGA: WAITING;
WAITING FOR REIPAE
REI: ABBREVIATION OF REIPAE
Named after the legend of Reipe and Reitu4

Kaitaia

KAI: FOOD, TO EAT

PRINTED FOOD
TAIA: TO PRINT, TO WRITE.

The meaning of the name is obscure, but of course it is related with food.

As we can see, kai is the base and the suffix is in participle tense.

Rotorua

ROTO: LAKE;
TWO LAKES, THE SECOND LAKE
RUA: TWO, SECOND(LY)

Te base is Roto of course and this time the particle refers the position or condition
of the base.

Moeraki

MOE: TO SLEEP, SLEEPY

SLEEPY SKY
RAKI: NORTH, SKY

Te Papa Tongarewa

TE: THE
PAPA: FLAT, DEPARTMENT THE FLAT OF OUR TREASURES
TONGAREWA: TREASURES

This is the name of the national museum, as we can see the name is an adaptation
of Mori word to describe the concept of museum. Unlike the other names, this is a
modern creation for a specific use.

(1000 Mori place names, 2006)

6. CONCLUSION

4
Living Heritage: www.livingheritage.org.nz/Schools-Stories/Searching-for-our-Tupuna/Reipe-and-Reitu-the-
story-of-Whangarei
The Mori language is quite complex and somewhat complicated; a much deeper
study is needed to understand its grammar. The vocabulary is very extensive -most
dictionaries include an estimated 20,000 entries between bases and particles-
(Moorfield, 2005).

Some authors differ from the correct way of writing it to the different forms of
phrases, these last ones are the basis of language. This is due to the various
dialects and the fact that for a long time there was not a work dedicated to the
record of written of the rules.

After the concern by the authorities, the language was reborn to what it is today.
One of the major problems of Mori's current situation is that it is not a very
common language, and it is only spoken in New Zealand, that makes it (from the
perspective of the world) in an isolated indigenous dialect, we forget that it is a
language of a country and therefore it must be considered a modern language that
evolves along with its speakers acquiring new words (transliterations, idioms,
slang...) from both its own people and of the other ethnic groups that inhabit New
Zealand in addition to European whites (Indians, Asians, South Americans, etc.).

Preserving a language is to preserve the people who speak it; Mori are an
essential part of the infrastructure of New Zealand and are the flag and pride of its
people. Te Reo Mori is what the Mesoamerican languages are for our society; the
names of our toponymias so characteristic give us identity. The same for New
Zealanders, Mori is seen on the streets, in restaurants in cities and in the media.

Knowing the roots of the words that make up our daily life and its indigenous
heritage is a way of promoting the interculturality of a society. For the New
Zealander and for anyone interested in New Zealand English it is impossible to
study without turning to see the Mori people and study a little of their language.
 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1000 Mori place names, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/Mori-language-

week/1000-Mori-place-names, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 4-Jul-
2016

Biggs, B. (1968). The Mori language past and present.

Biggs, B. (1998). Let's learn Mori: A guide to the study of the Mori language.
Auckland University Press.

Biggs, B. (2013). The Complete English-Mori Dictionary. Auckland University

Press.

Mori Language Act 1987

McLintock, A. H. (1966). Te Ara-the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Retrieved on

March, 23, 2008.

Moorfield, J. C. (2005). Te Aka Mori-English English-Mori Dictionary.

New Zealand. Mori Language Commission. (1996). Te matatiki: contemporary

Mori words. Oxford University Press, USA. http://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz/

Williams, H. W. (1971). A dictionary of the Mori language. AR Shearer, Govt.

printer.