Getting up close and personal with te reo

In the last column attention was drawn to the fact that in te reo Ma¯ ori the second person pronoun for two people – ko¯ rua (“you two”) – actually incorporates the word for “two” (rua) in its structure, whilst the other dual pronouns (ta¯ ua, ma¯ ua and ra¯ ua) incorporate at least the ua of rua.

When we come to what are called the plural personal pronouns – ta¯ tou (“all of us”) ma¯ tou (all of us, not including the person addressed), koutou (“all of you”) and ra¯ tou (“all of them”) – a similar principle can be observed.

These four pronouns all refer to three or more people, and in all of them the second syllable (although in some dialects it’s pronounced, and spelt, -tau) is usually -tou – seemingly representing the word for three (toru) without the r. The absence of the r sound is intriguing because this consonant is probably the most controversial in the sound system of te reo (even more than the digraphs ng and wh).

A rolled r is so disliked that Quinton Hita in Q’s Course in Ma¯ ori, has the “tutor” character in the book advise his pupil that if he is unable to avoid rolling the r, he should settle for pronouncing it as l.

Neither the letter d nor the letter l are included in the standard te reo alphabet now, but both were formerly used by transcribers of spoken Ma¯ ori. The name of Ruatara, the Nga¯ puhi chief at Rangihoua in the

early 19th century, was regularly spelt Duaterra by Samuel Marsden and others.

Even recently there has been a call from some people in the Far North to have the r replaced by d, and the l is embedded in placenames (Waihola, Wangaloa, Kilmog) on current maps of southern areas.

The other main difference between the personal pronouns of English and te reo is that, in dual and plural forms, there are two classes of “1st person” in te reo.

The “inclusive” form includes the person or

people addressed: ta¯ ua means “we” or “us” (“you (singular) and I”; ta¯ tou means “we” or “us” (“you (plural) and I”).

The “exclusive” form does not include the person addressed: ma¯ ua means “we” or “us” (“he/ she) and I”); whilst ma¯ tou means “we” or “us” (“these people and I”).

Thus te reo has four different forms denoting “we” or “us”.

This may seem confusing at first – but in fact it’s quite a useful distinction.

Frequently in English, when someone speaks of “we” doing something or other, the question needs to be asked: “To whom exactly, does the word “we” refer?”