Possessing a knowledge of possessives
In the last column it was explained that there are two prepositions in te reo Ma¯ ori – a and o – which serve a similar function to the single English preposition ‘‘of’’, and some brief explanation was offered in relation to how the correct word for a given context is determined, but this a / o
distinction is such an important and intriguing feature of te reo that it merits fuller consideration.
Here are examples: nga¯ tamariki / a Mere (‘‘the children of Mary’’ = ‘‘Mary’s children’’); te pukapuka / a te¯ ra¯ wahine (‘‘that woman’s book’’); te tihi / o te maunga. (‘‘the top of the mountain’’); te ingoa o te¯ nei tangata (‘‘this person’s name).
Usually the distinction is explained in some such terms as: where the ‘‘owner’’ or ‘‘possessor’’ is considered to be superior to, or has control over the person or thing ‘‘owned’’ or ‘‘possessed’’ the word used is a; but where the owner is subordinate to the person or thing owned the word used is o.
This generalised explanation, though, doesn’t entirely explain specific instances, such as why a person’s name, or a quality of something, should be considered to belong in the o-category.
One of the most useful and comprehensive guides to the categorisation is the chart provided in Ian Cormack’s He Pa¯ Auroa. This (on page 84) is in the form of a circle with radii – o-category possessions listed in the upper half of the page and a-category in the lower.
Learning which word is correct in which situation is probably a matter of becoming increasingly familiar with usage – and is necessary because the a / o distinction is present throughout the entire system of ‘‘possessives’’ in te reo.
‘‘Possessives’’ (words and wordgroups which denote ‘‘belonging to’’) are formed using one or other of the possessive particles – ta¯ or to¯ or their plural forms a¯ or o¯ – or one of the preposition particles – ma¯ or mo¯ or na¯orno¯.
In dual and plural forms, one or other of these particles precedes a personal pronoun. Examples: ma¯ ra¯ ua / mo¯ ra¯ ua (‘‘for those two people’’); ta¯ ma¯ tou / to¯ ma¯ tou (‘‘our’’).
In the one-person forms, however, the particles are not placed before au, koe or ia but before -ku, -u and -na, and the combination is written as one word: ta¯ ku / to¯ ku (‘‘my’’); ta¯ u / to¯ u (‘‘your’’); na¯ ku / no¯ ku (‘‘mine’’); ma¯ u / mo¯ u (‘‘for you’’); na¯ na / no¯ na (‘‘his or hers’’).
Extensive as this scheme of possessives may be, it’s really quite systematic and relatively easy to follow once the a¯ / o¯ distinction is appreciated.
David Ka¯ rena-Holmes is a New Zealand-born writer currently living in Nelson. A tutor of grammar since the 1980s, he is the author of Ma¯ ori Language: Understanding the Grammar (Pearson), and is examining te reo grammar in a series of fortnightly articles.