{"id":59067,"date":"2011-10-13T13:58:23","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T11:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/?page_id=59067"},"modified":"2017-11-02T19:50:52","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T18:50:52","slug":"maori","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/en\/maori\/","title":{"rendered":"M\u0101ori"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editing and supplementary information provided by <\/em>Elizabeth Pearce<\/strong>,\u00a0 School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies,\u00a0 Victoria University of Wellington.<\/em><\/p>\n

Data on M\u0101ori<\/h5>\n

Alternative names<\/strong>: Te Reo M\u0101ori (“the M\u0101ori language”).<\/p>\n

Note: There is another language known as “M\u0101ori” spoken on the Cook Islands and usually referred to as “Cook Islands M\u0101ori” or “Rarotongan”, which has an official language status and is widely used there as a lingua franca. While it is relatively close to New Zeland M\u0101ori, the two idioms will be treated here as distinct languages.<\/em><\/p>\n

Area<\/strong>: New Zealand. M\u0101ori is essentially spoken in the northern, central, and eastern parts of the North Island. Speakers are also found in all the urban centers of the country. Prior to colonization, occurred in the 18th century, M\u0101ori was spoken everywhere across the North and South Islands.<\/p>\n

Dialects & variants<\/strong>: There is a traditional distinction made between three main M\u0101ori dialects: the North Island eastern dialect, the North Island western dialect, and the South Island dialect (nowadays extinct). Mutual understanding appears to be difficult between speakers of the different dialects. This distinction is mainly operative for elder speakers: among younger speakers these variants tend to blend, especially in the urban areas.<\/p>\n

Classification<\/strong>: M\u0101ori belongs to the very large Macro-Austronesian language family<\/a> \u2013 which includes some 1,200 languages spoken in Southeast Asia, across the Pacific, and all the way to Madagascar. Within this family, M\u0101ori belongs to the east branch of the Polynesian languages, and more specifically to the Tahitic subgroup.<\/p>\n

New Zealand M\u0101ori is close to Cook Islands M\u0101ori (also known as Rarotongan, or Rarotonga, accordingly with the language\u2019s main dialect), as well as to Tahitian and the other east branch Polynesian languages.<\/p>\n

A language very close to M\u0101ori \u2013 Moriori \u2013 used to be spoken on the Chatham Islands, 650km east of New Zealand. Moriori is extinct at this point, and a few texts are all we know of the language.<\/p>\n

Number of speakers<\/strong>: Stable estimates of the number of M\u0101ori speakers are difficult to obtain. A 2006 census accounted for 157,000 people, including different levels of command of the language. The 2001 Survey on the Health of the M\u0101ori Language suggests that only around 29,000 adults are able to speak the language “fluently”, most of them being over 50. All adult speakers of M\u0101ori are M\u0101ori\/English bilinguals.<\/p>\n

Status<\/strong>: M\u0101ori is one of the two official languages of New Zealand, alongside New Zealand sign language (NZSL) – English, although being the majority and dominant language, doesn’t have any official status. In theory, any citizen of New Zealand has a right to access official documents, public service, and a legal system in M\u0101ori, although in fact, the use of M\u0101ori in official documents and institutional bilingualism are extremely limited.<\/p>\n

Education<\/strong>: M\u0101ori is a language of education at kindergarten level in the Kohanga Reo<\/em> (“language nest”, specialized kindergarten schools), which accounted for some 9,000 children in 2006.<\/p>\n

M\u0101ori is taught as a second language to children aged from 5 to 16. Several schools also offer a bilingual English\/M\u0101ori program aiming to grow balanced bilinguals. In 2007, about 24,000 children and teenagers attended one of the different M\u0101ori or bilingual M\u0101ori\/English learning programs.<\/p>\n

While these programs are successful in getting younger generations to speak M\u0101ori, however, creating balanced bilinguals appears to be more difficult. For more on the subject please refer to Richard Hill\u2019s article on the Sorosoro blog<\/span>.<\/p>\n

M\u0101ori is taught at university, but isn\u2019t used as a language of teaching.<\/p>\n

Literature<\/strong>: There is M\u0101ori script based on the Roman alphabet, as well as a tradition of literature dating back to the beginning of the 19th century. The production of literature has been constantly growing since the 1990s, although translations into M\u0101ori remain insufficient.<\/p>\n

There are countless dictionaries, grammars, and teaching textbooks in M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

Media<\/strong>: Two national channels air programs in M\u0101ori, one of which (Te Reo<\/em>) broadcasts in M\u0101ori \u2013 or M\u0101ori-subtitled \u2013 only. There are 21 M\u0101ori radio stations.<\/p>\n

Vitality & Transmission<\/strong>: Despite being an official language, despite its presence in the media and education, M\u0101ori remains an endangered language. UNESCO considers M\u0101ori “vulnerable”.<\/p>\n

Historical and sociolinguistic details<\/h5>\n

The M\u0101ori population was estimated to about 100,000 people recently before colonization. The colonization (which occurred quite late, beginning the 19th century) generated rapid decline of the M\u0101ori language and culture. The M\u0101ori population dropped to 48,000 at the end of the 19th century. The use of the language, stigmatized, declined until the 1970-80s to the benefit of English, the language of prestige, and that of the institutions. Around 1980, M\u0101ori was no longer a first language but for 20% of the M\u0101ori community.<\/p>\n

Since the 1960s, demands from the defenders of M\u0101ori language and culture gradually reached a wider audience. In the 1970s the creation of M\u0101ori schools and the Kura Kaupapa M\u0101ori movement marked the beginning of a revitalization process for the M\u0101ori language. Little by little, the teaching of M\u0101ori as a second language developed, as well as symbolic gestures, means of diffusion, and official events aiming to promote the language. Thus the year 1975 marked the launch of a M\u0101ori Language Week, observed every year on the last week of July. In 1987, thanks to the M\u0101ori Language Act, M\u0101ori became an official language. The M\u0101ori Language Commission, the official M\u0101ori language promotion and regulation organization, was founded around the same time.<\/p>\n

Nowadays 560,000 people declare themselves M\u0101ori. Yet under a quarter of them is believed to know the language. While the number of speakers has increased, the M\u0101ori population, with a higher fertility rate than the “European” population, has gained in proportion. The increase of M\u0101ori speakers since the beginning of the revitalization process is not significant.<\/p>\n

The lack of detailed surveys regarding the language and proficiency of its speakers makes it difficult to assess vitality and transmission accurately. The using range of M\u0101ori in the public sphere remains very limited, which possibly casts a negative perception of the language among its speakers, forcing them to favor English, including in the private sector. For the time being, M\u0101ori appears to remain in a situation of diglossia in regards to English.<\/p>\n

Even while the development of teaching, the progression of the language in the media, and the efforts led to promote the language have managed to slow down its erosion, there still is a long way to go before the language can reclaim a significant space within the M\u0101ori community and New Zealand as a whole.<\/p>\n

A few links for further information<\/h5>\n

Peter Keegan\u2019s website on M\u0101ori<\/a><\/p>\n

Linguam\u00f3n <\/em>pages on New Zealand M\u0101ori and Cook Islands M\u0101ori<\/a><\/p>\n

M\u0101ori Language Commission<\/a> (M\u0101ori\/English)<\/p>\n

Te Puni K\u014dkiri<\/em> (Ministry of M\u0101ori Development)<\/a> (M\u0101ori\/English)<\/p>\n

Online M\u0101ori\/English dictionary<\/a><\/p>\n

List of M\u0101ori radios<\/a> (online broadcasts)<\/p>\n

Maorilanguage.net<\/em> offers a great number of resources, online courses, and further links on the M\u0101ori language<\/a> (M\u0101ori\/English)<\/p>\n

Online M\u0101ori courses<\/a><\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/h5>\n

Bauer, Winifred 1993. Maori<\/em>. With William Parker and Te Kareongawai Evans. London: Routledge.<\/p>\n

Bauer, Winifred 1997. The Reed Reference Grammar of Maori<\/em>. Auckland: Reed Books.<\/p>\n

Harlow, Ray. 2001. A Maori Reference Grammar<\/em>. Auckland: Pearson Education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editing and supplementary information provided by Elizabeth Pearce,\u00a0 School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies,\u00a0 Victoria University of Wellington. Data on M\u0101ori Alternative names: Te Reo M\u0101ori (“the M\u0101ori language”). Note: There is another language known as “M\u0101ori” spoken on the Cook Islands and usually referred to as “Cook Islands M\u0101ori” or “Rarotongan”, which has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-59067","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nM\u0101ori - Sorosoro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/en\/maori\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"M\u0101ori - Sorosoro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Editing and supplementary information provided by Elizabeth Pearce,\u00a0 School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies,\u00a0 Victoria University of Wellington. 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