(Te Reo) Māori Mackenzie Tommins Hour 2

Language origin According to legend, Chief Kupe brought Māori to New Zealand from the mythical homeland Hawaiki. The Māori people most likely originate from tropical eastern Polynesia, from the Southern Cook or Society Islands region, arriving by deliberate voyages in seagoing canoes in roughly 1280 AD. Their language and its dialects developed in isolation until the 19th century.

Language diffusion Nearly all speakers are ethnic Māori residents in New Zealand. Māori still is a community language in some predominantly Māori settlements in the Northland, Urewera and East Cape areas. It is the home language of 5,504 people in 2001 (7.5%) of the Māori community in Australia. This represents an increase of 32.5% since 1996.

Language change/evolution Early Māori had no written language, but the symbolic meanings embodied in carving, knots and weaving were widely understood. For European settlers Māori was a common way of communicating. As more settlers arrived, the need for written communication in Māori grew. Missionaries made the first attempts to write down the Māori language as early as English became the major source of borrowed words, which were altered by Māori usage to fit euphonically and grammatically. The English language in New Zealand is also changing and borrowing words from Māori.

Standard vs. variant languages There are two major dialect groups; North Island and South Island. Unfortunately South Island Māori is extinct. Within these broad divisions regional variations occur, and individual regions show tribal variations. The major differences occur in the pronunciation of words, variation of vocabulary, and idiom. A fluent speaker of Māori has no problem understanding other dialects. There is no significant variation in grammar between dialects. Most of the tribal variation in grammar is a matter of preferences; speakers of one area might prefer one grammatical form to another, but are likely on occasion to use the non-preferred form, and at least to recognize and understand it. Vocabulary and pronunciation vary to a greater extent, but this does not pose barriers to communication.

…con’t South Island dialect - Despite being officially regarded as extinct, many government and educational agencies in Otago and Southland encourage the use of the dialect in signage and official documentation. - ng merged with k - r is also found occasionally changed to an l - wh to w

Official languages One of the three official languages of New Zealand (the others being New Zealand sign language and English) 30,000 native speakers, 150,000 conversant Ethnicities in New Zealand:

Language and Territory Source of pride for the Māori people An emphasis on the language as an integral part of Māori culture was central to this identity Māori was made an official language of New Zealand under the Maori Language Act 1987 after much public pressure (language as a source of nationalism/independence movements)

Toponyms Almost all based on the extinct South Island dialect New Zealand's highest mountain; Aoraki The Māori name for Stewart Island, Rakiura Dunedin's main research library, the Hocken Library, has the name Te Uare Taoka o Hākena rather than the northern (standard) Te Whare Taonga o Hākena Lake Waihola The coastal settlement of Wangaloa Little Akaloa, on Banks Peninsula The Kilmogwhich Two small settlements called The Kaik The early spelling of Lake Wakatipu as Wagadib And many more

Movement Language hasn’t moved much because there is no reason for the Māori people to move; their geographic home and the country of New Zealand is a large part of their culture. Few settlers in Australia, the closest neighbor country.

Timeline 950 AD: Chief Kupe brought Māori to New Zealand from the mythical homeland Hawaiki, arriving by canoe 1867: Native Schools Act decrees that English should be the only language used in the education of Māori children 1987: Māori Language Act passed in Parliament; Māori declared to be an official language 1840: Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Māori is the predominant language of New Zealand 1814: Missionaries began to write down the language 1985: Efforts to secure the survival of the Māori language step up a gear 1350: First mass arrival of Polynesian settlers, called the “Great fleet” arrived in New Zealand 1858: First official census to collect data records a population of 56,049 Māori people

Isogloss:

Results of the diffusion to Australia Australia has become home to a significant number of Māori, either born there or having migrated from New Zealand. In 2011 there were 128,430 individuals who identified as Māori by ancestry. It is estimated that as many as one sixth of Māori live in Australia. The number of Māori in Australia has increased by 76 percent since Only 6.3% of Māori people in Australia speak Māori at home. Furthermore, 8.2% of New Zealand-born Māori spoke Māori at home, compared with 2.4 percent of Australian-born Māori.

Current Events 1)“Māori prison statistics worrying, says UN” ( ) Only 15 percent of New Zealand's population is Māori and yet they make up over 50 percent of prison inmates. (5/18/15) 2) “Māori Population Estimates” ( Access to population data was released from including by age and gender. (5/15/15) Growing rapidly!