Maori to become minority
More Kiwis embracing local tongue
As the nation prepares to celebrate te reo Ma¯ori, the chief executive of the Ma¯ori Language Commission has predicted that in a generation Ma¯ori will be a minority of New Zealanders who can speak the language.
For the next seven days a range of events will celebrate Ma¯ori; which has been one of New Zealand’s official languages.
In figures released to the Herald, commission chief executive Ngahiwi Apanui has revealed that 150,000 people speak conversational Ma¯ori, including about 20,000 non-Ma¯ori.
But Apanui says that number is set to swell over the coming years.
As well as predicting that Ma¯ori will be only a minority of people who can speak the language in a generation, he also believes that in 100 years only a minority of New Zealanders won’t be able to speak the language.
“Three hundred thousand young people are learning in preschool or school and 10,000 at tertiary level. Still more are learning in the community,” Apanui says.
“There is a momentum growing in wider New Zealand and a tremendous enthusiasm for te reo. I think the numbers learning in preschool and school will at least double in the next 20 years and a majority of those learners will not be Ma¯ori. Growth will continue until Ma¯ori speakers of te reo are outnumbered by others.
“In the meantime we will see more te reo Ma¯ori being used in music, performance and broadcasting, and more literature being written and read in te reo Ma¯ori.”
Apanui says revitalisation strategies being developed under the Ma¯ori Language Act 2016 by the Crown and by Ma¯ori led by the new organisation Te Ma¯ta¯wai will accelerate what is already happening.
He says the language will “mark us out as New Zealanders” regardless of where we are in the world.
Initiatives to increase the spread of the language include supporting its use in the home from generation to generation, Apanui says.
It is also imperative that “highquality” teaching systems are in place.
“To some Ma¯ori te reo has been regarded as something for ourselves alone. It has been something that united us in hard times and maintained our links to our ancestors and culture,” he said.
“But living as we do among other peoples we need to share our taonga so we can use it in our everyday lives in our mixed community. The community can make te reo Ma¯ori come alive by pronouncing Ma¯ori words properly, using more Ma¯ori words in everyday conversation and learning te reo Ma¯ori.”
Apanui says community-based initiatives such as streets in Wynyard quarter, in Auckland’s CBD, being given Ma¯ori names will also greatly increase the use, exposure and popularity of the language. The move was announced last month.
“Colonel Robert Henry Wynyard for whom the area is named was my ancestor. He was a soldier who became an administrator and was eventually Acting Governor of New Zealand in the 1850s.
“A great many Ma¯ori are descended from early Pa¯keha¯ colonists and they are the subject of whakapapa discussions along with our Ma¯ori ancestors. It doesn’t matter through which line Ma¯ori are related: they are still whanaunga [relatives].
“I think Colonel Wynyard would be pleased also at the knowledge that Ma¯ori language is again being used more and more by Pa¯keha¯ and in the public sphere, just as it was in his day”.
Meanwhile, statistics compiled via the 2016 Australian Census has revealed 11,747 residents of Australia speaking te reo Ma¯ori.
Queensland was the state with the highest use of Ma¯ori, with 4264 people saying they speak the language. Western Australia followed with 2859 speakers. Tasmania had the lowest number of Ma¯ori speakers, with just 52 people saying they speak the language.
Key Ma¯ori Language Week events Parades
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Ma¯ori — the Ma¯ori Language Commission — has organised a parade through central Wellington today.
Schools, ko¯hanga, Ma¯ori and other organisations and members of the public are all welcome, and thousands have registered to take part.
The parade starts by Wellington’s cenotaph at 11am and goes to Civic Square. Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand is organising other parades and celebrations. Contact 0800 Childcare 0800 2445322 for details in your area.
Te Pu¯takenga o Nga¯ Taonga Ko¯rero
Nga¯ Taonga Sound & Vision will launch the first of four new online exhibitions — Te Pu¯taketanga o Nga¯ Taonga Ko¯rero, showcasing the many outstanding examples of oratory and Ma¯ori performing arts in the Nga¯ Taonga Ko¯rero collection — the archive of RNZ’s Ma¯ori radio programmes. For the first exhibition Nga¯ Taonga has chosen the oldest recorded Ma¯ori broadcast — of the opening of Tu¯rongo House, Tu¯rangawaewae marae, Nga¯ruawa¯hia, in March 1938.
Stamps
New Zealand Post has launched a new stamp issue and adopted a te reo Ma¯ori name, Tukurau Aotearoa, to mark Ma¯ori Language Week. The stamps, in PostShops now, feature Ma¯ori words of the modern world such as rorohiko (computer) and ahokore (wifi).
Ma¯ori at home
Stacey Morrison and Scotty Morrison have released a book called Ma¯ori at Home as a “survival guide” for those introducing te reo Ma¯ori into the household. It covers key topics such as mahi a¯-ka¯inga [chores], hei mua i te kura [before school] and kı¯waha [idiomatic speech].
Ambassadors
Four prominent New Zealanders have taken up roles as Te Wiki o te Reo Ma¯ori ambassadors and will feature at events and online promoting te reo Ma¯ori as a language for everyone, everywhere. They are Stacey Morrison, who will be MC at the Ma¯ori Language Parade, television presenter Jack Tame, theatre, film and television actor and director Jennifer Ward Lealand, and Portia Woodman, just returned victoriously from the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Moana
Disney will release the Ma¯orilanguage version of the movie Moana in theatres around the country. The movie is not subtitled, recognising the growing number of young people able to use the Ma¯ori language. One of those young people is the voice of Ma¯ori Moana, Jaedyn Randell of Nga¯ti Paoa and Nga¯ti Whawha¯kia of Tainui. She joins the Ma¯ori voice of Ma¯ui Ma¯ori television news anchor, Piripi Taylor.
For more information tetaurawhiri.govt.nz visit: