A CENTURY OF DECLINE AND REVITALISATION
More than one in six Ma¯ori can understand and speak at least a basic form of te reo, and nearly a third can understand it, a survey has shown.
Information from Stats NZ revealed 17.62 per cent of Ma¯ori aged 15 and up could speak te reo at least fairly well. That was the highest rate since the early 20th century.
The survey was answered by nearly 8500 people of Ma¯ori ethnicity and/or descent.
Statistics manager Dr Claire Bretherton said there were several factors that had led to that rise. ‘‘The high proportions of younger people who are able to speak te reo Ma¯ori may reflect the emergence of Ma¯ori immersion teaching and learning environments over the past few decades,’’ she said.
‘‘Of Ma¯ori people aged between 15 and 34 years who speak at least some te reo Ma¯ori, 44 per cent said they learned it through ko¯hanga reo, kura kaupapa Ma¯ori, or wharekura.
‘‘This rose to 69 per cent for those who speak te reo Ma¯ori fairly well or better.’’
Seventy-one per cent of those surveyed aged 55 and over who speak at least some te reo learned it through listening and speaking to parents or others at home. The proportion of those who could speak the language fairly well, well, or very well varied by age group, according to the survey. Ma¯ori aged 15-24 years and those 55 years and over were among the most likely to speak te reo at least fairly well.
Te reo Ma¯ori was the dominant language spoken by Ma¯ori and their wha¯nau in the beginning of the 20th century but from the 1920s to the 1960s the number of te reo speakers saw a significant decline.
The world wars had a crucial impact on the number of te reo speakers – 985 Ma¯ori were killed in fighting from Europe to North Africa, leaving many communities without speakers.
At the same time, increased urbanisation by Ma¯ori, one of the largest rural-to-urban migrations in history, led to wha¯nau being encouraged to assimilate into Pa¯keha¯ society and speak homes.
A government policy called ‘‘pepper potting’’ saw Ma¯ori families housed among non-Ma¯ori in an attempt to encourage tangata whenua to adopt Pa¯keha¯ culture and language.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, te reo and Ma¯ori culture underwent a revitalisation through several political and social actions to restore its place in New Zealand society.
That included the advent of Ma¯ori Language Week in 1975 and of kura kaupapa and ko¯hanga reo in the 1980s.
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This role is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air.