A quick look at the Māori Language

New Zealand celebrated the Māori Language Week between 27 July and 2 August this year. It is a tradition ever since 1975 - and 2015 marks the 40th Anniversary! The celebration is a nice initiative to conserve and promote linguistic diversity and encourage the daily use of more Māori words. 

The main topic is "Whāngaihia te reo Māori ki ngā mātua" - helping parents to pass te reo (the language) on to their children. :)

Although most of the speakers are ethnic Māoris, many New Zealanders use Māori words and expressions mixed within the English language, like “Kia ora” - Hello.

Some history:
The first Māori settlers came by canoes from the Eastern Polynesian islands and villages - the mythic homeland “Hawaiki” - around 1280. Māori developed in isolation until the 19th century. It was the dominant language in New Zealand, yet not a written one until the arrival of European Missionaries who attempted to write it down first in 1814. 

Despite the fact that Te reo Māori - the Māori language became protected under the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, signed by the British Crown and Māori chiefs, the increasing use of English and politics put the state of the Māori language at risk - at one point, it was even suppressed and forbidden in schools to facilitate faster assimilation of the Māoris. In the middle of the 20th century, there were fears that Māori was actually dying out! The recognition of the danger of loosing the language led to recovery and revitalisation. The Māori language became an official language of New Zealand only in 1987 with the passing of the Māori Language Act.


Some quick facts:

• As of today, there are three official languages: English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language. 
• The word Māori means common or ordinary.
• Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language within the Austronesian language family that belongs to the Tahitic subgroup, which includes Rarotongan from the Cook Islands and Tahitian from Tahiti as well.
• The Māori alphabet has 20 letters: A Ā E Ē H I Ī K M N O Ō P R T U Ū W NG and WH. Some of the letters have a long ling on top - this is called a macron.
• There are three types of te reo: traditional or classical, modern, and the highest form of reo, the poetical.
• One can address one, two or more people in Māori language.

1. Tēnā koe: hello (to one person)
2. Tēnā kōrua: hello (to two people)
3. Tēnā koutou: hello (to more than two people)

• In the 2013 census, there were approximately 600,000 people in New Zealand identifying as Māori, making up roughly 15% of the national population. Out of them, only 125,352 Māori (21.3%) could hold a conversation about everyday things in te reo. This is only around 3% of all people living in NZ.

• There were two big dialects, the North Island and the South Island dialect, but the latter is already extinct.
• Many towns and landmarks in New Zealand have Māori names.
• Most government departments and agencies have bilingual names.
• There is a Minister of Māori Affairs in New Zealand: his name is Te Ururoa Flavell.
• There are Māori language schools, Māori radio stations and a Māori TV channel to promote the use of the language.
• The longest word probably in the whole world is this. Sorry, I am not going to copy 85 characters :)))

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East Polynesian language family

Some useful words to know when you are in New Zealand:

• Kia ora - Hi, Good day, Good health

• Aotearoa - New Zealand, long white cloud
  
• Haere mai - Welcome, Enter
• Pākehā - New Zealander of non-Māori descent, usually European (not an insult)

• Iwi - people, nation (modern usage – tribe)

• Haka - chant with dance for the purpose of challenge
• Aroha - love
• Whakapapa - genealogy, to recite genealogy, to establish kin connections
• Whānau - extended or non-nuclear family; to be born
• Puke - hill
• Wai - water

• Hangi - traditional feast prepared in earth oven

It was actually very interesting to see that many parenting resources f.ex., such as brochures on early childhood development and education used a mixture of both languages. Here is an extract of  one of them:

If you would like to know more about the Māori language, here are some nice links to start with:

• Māori language Week Quizzes in the New Zealand Herald
• Another map of the Austronesian language family 
• FAQ Maori Language Information
• The Māori language 1
• The Māori language 2

• History of the Māori language
• Website of the Māori Language Commission

• A guide to pronunciation 
• Listen to the New Zealand National Anthem in Māori language
• 365 useful words and phrases in Māori