UniLang

The legal status of Māori in New Zealand is that it is an official language. English does not enjoy this status.

In terms of the health of the language, two major regions stand out - Northland and the Urewera (on the East Coast). In these two places, te reo Maori is spoken without reservation and where sizable amounts of native speakers live to help keep it the language of the local Maori communities there.

In all other areas, te reo Maori is struggling to survive, with fierce notions of identity being more than just language itself, and with people saying that they are more than a language.

In my tribe, the majority of native speakers who speak Maori without reservation are older than me, however, it is up to people my age and younger to speak more te reo Maori since we know the language. I've often been insisting that Maori be the only medium of communication between speakers of Maori, and that the use of English be avoided at all costs. I'm a big believer that language revitalisation starts with in the extended family, with a responsibility of native speakers and speakers with native fluency to learn how to teach the language and to then teach others within their kinship network/groups.

I'm going to Australia for a holiday (I leave this Friday) and I will have the opportunity to meet up with some of my relations whom I'm hoping to teach some te reo Maori to. I realise that not everyone has the same zeal as me to protect our living treasure but I have resigned myself to doing all that I can to do something to prevent the death of the language and to reverse the trend that has been enforced upon us.

I do not believe that te reo Maori enjoys the same status as English on the street because I have been sworn at from time to time for speaking te reo Maori in my private conversations with other people. I find this unsatisfactory, and nor do I believe that by just saying 'kia ora' one is making a substantial contribution to restore the language. I believe it takes more than a few phrases, and that everyone should be trying to learn how to speak Maori (properly too might I add).

Wheoi ano, ka nui tenei mo tenei wa.

riki wrote:He Kupu Hou - New Words
Kia Ora - Hi, bye
E, tēnā koe - Hey, greetings
Koe - you (singular)
Kōrua - you two (dual)
Koutou - you (plural)
Au/hau/wau - I/me
Katoa - All
Auē - Interjection of sadness
Kaiako - Teacher
Māori - Polynesian
hiakai - Hungry
hiawai - Thirsty (for water)
Koa - Joy, happy
Ātaahua - beautiful
Matenga - death, sickness
ata - morning
awatea - midday
ahiahi - afternoon
pō - night
noho - sit
tomo - enter
Haere mai - welcome
tika - correct
mea - thing
Ināianei - now
Ākuanei - soon
Āe - yes
Kāo - no
Ingoa - name
Ingoa mōkai- nickname
Pai - good
Kino - bad
Tino kino - really bad
Pēhea - how

Wow, the wörd for you singular is identical with Javanese.

I peronally say kau for koe (because I don't speak Javanese. I know it from my mom.)

And the word for I in Indonesian is either aku, ahu, au, among others.

Do you make a difference between kami (we without you) and kita (we including you)?

How about he/she? In Indonesian we use the same word for both.


Mark

riki wrote:He Kupu Hōu
kē = already
rāua = they (dual)
rātou = they (plural)
ika = fish = Indon. ikan
kūmara = sweet potato
hōiho = horse
maika = banana
kau = cow (English borrowing)
reka = sweet, delicious, nice (of taste)
Mōhio = to know
Wā = Time
Kai = food
whare hoko = shop
hoko = to buy, to sell, to trade, to barter
ākuanei = soon
wahine = female
tāne = male
matua = father (parent)
whaea = mother
whenua = land, placenta
tamaiti = child
pai = nice, lovely, good
himene = hymn
whanga = bay, harbour
kia ora = thankyou
āpōpō = tomorrow
hua manu = egg
kiko = meat
oneone = beach
rama = torch
noho = to sit, stay, live
kai = to eat

The Indonesian word for Father/Mother in Law is mertua.

old = tua

elders (in the church) = tua-tua

silverwings 88 wrote:Wow... I was skimming through the lessons, and I thought it was cool it had a name marker...

Since it exists in Tagalog as well!

I noho a Kewina ki nga maunga.
Umupo si Kevyn sa mga (manga) bundok.
Kevyn sat on the mountain.

Other lots of distant similarities makes learning fun! I'm genuinely interested! Will come back later...

Kia ora!

We also have that in Indonesian.

Si Kevin duduk di atas gunung/bukit.

We don't hve any tenses though, so the sentence above could mean 'Kevin sat on the mountain/hill' or 'Kevin sits on the mountain/hill'. Although to say 'Kevin is sitting on the mountain/hill' you'd add another word: Si Kevin lagi duduk di atas gunung/bukit.

riki wrote:He Kupu Hōu

pukapuka - book
mangō = shark
nāianei = soon (without delay)
āpōpō = tomorrow
ātaahua = beautiful
aha = what = Indon apa
ahiahi = afternoon
ana = cave, den
ara, huarahi, huanui = road, path = indon. jalan
aka = root = Indon. akar
awatea = midday
hau = wind, breeze
whoatu, tuku = to give, to lend
hōiho = horse
honu = turtle
kekeno = seal (zoological)
horo = to be swift
ihu = nose = Indon idung
mata = eye = Indon. mata
kanohi, mata = face
iwi = bone
kāinga = home, homeland, land
iti = small
ita, kaha, ngoi = to be strong
takoto = to lie down
moe = to sleep
karanga = to call
kata = to laugh = Indon. ketawa
kimi = to search, to investigate
mākona = to be satisfied, of eating food
mea = thing

Indonesian

book = buku
books = buku-buku


I can't remeber some words though, like turtle and seal.

I think for turtle you say kura-kura or penyu.

riki wrote:He Kupu Hōu

āe - yes (more correctly translated as 'yes, that is correct')
Ākonga - student
Ama - windward side of the canoe
Aroha - charity, love, care, respect, appreciate
Haere - to go, to journey, to leave, to come
Kī - to say, to tell
Kīngitanga - Kingdom
Koa - Please, to rejoice, to be happy
Whare kura - School (lit. learning house, studying house, teaching house)
Mārama - to understand
Mataku - to be afraid
Mate - to die, to desire - Indon. mati
Mea - to say, to do
Poaka/puaka - pig
Taiwhanga - room
Ao - daylight, day
Rā - Day
Tangi - to cry, also alphabet - Indon. tangis
Whānau - family
Whare kai - restaurant, food house
ūropā - Europe
Wai - water, who
Waka - canoe, ship, car
Waka rererangi - aeroplane
Tēpu - tables
hītore - history
Mai - from, directional particle inferring "towards the speaker"
Manu - bird
Hua manu - egg

to be afraid is takut in Indonesian and tako' in Manadonese

In many languages in Indonesia the word for bird is manuk/manok/manu'/mano', etc..

kia ora everyone,

I would just like to know how do i spell the (') glottal stop word when it is at the beginning.

thank you please help me

Hi lapulapu,

the majority of New Zealand Māori dialects don't use glottal stops. Glottal stops are marked using ' e.g.

'Aere mai.

Noho ora mai

riki wrote:Hi lapulapu,

the majority of New Zealand Māori dialects don't use glottal stops. Glottal stops are marked using ' e.g.

'Aere mai.

Noho ora mai

I think he means how to pronounce it at the beginning of a word - he asked in another polynesian language forum (Cook Islands Maori) but I don't know the answer myself. Perhaps you do, e Riki nui?

without using an audio file, I wouldn't know how to write it down in order for someone to learn how to pronounce it properly.

*I sent this double post by accident. Sorry.

I can offer an audio example in Hawaiian of the pronunciation of the glottal stop when it is at the beginning of the word at the link below. At this link is a text in Hawaiian, and on the right of the text you can listen to an audio file of the text. The first two words in this reading occur with the glottal stop being the first sound in the words. There are several other examples of glottal stops occuring initially. Just listen to the sound file and read along with the text.

http://hooilina.org/cgi-bin/journal?e=p-0journal--00-0-0-004-Document---0-1--1haw-50---20-header-search-issue---001-0110escapewin&a=p&p=frameset&cl=&d=HASH0166acfd8ec6df2fa38fd161.4.3.5&l=en

Riki, where exactly do things like adverbs go? Are they like adjectives and go after or something else?

Hey, I've noticed that when two vowels are together, they make a single vowel sound in many cases. Can someone explain why this is and what are some of the "combinations" of vowels I should know? For example, when an "o" is followed by a "u", it sounds like a mid vowel between o and u, but is that a correct assumption to make?

Riptide wrote:Hey, I've noticed that when two vowels are together, they make a single vowel sound in many cases. Can someone explain why this is and what are some of the "combinations" of vowels I should know? For example, when an "o" is followed by a "u", it sounds like a mid vowel between o and u, but is that a correct assumption to make?

Diphthongs? Most combinations work really. These are all done from memory, so please correct me if I am wrong. (Forgive me if I am missing some macrons, I only know these words by sound ><) Most of the sounds are separated, and I can't really say I know how to pronounce these properly...
ae (as in marae)
ai (as in whakarongo mai)
ao (as in aotearoa)
au (as in kauri)

ea (as in kea)
ei (as in kei)
eo (as in reo)
- is there eu? (can't think of any atm)

ia (as in kia kaha)
- duuno about ie.
- nor io.
- dunno about iu either.

oa (as in hoa)
oe (as in koe) pronounced almost like /k(o)ʷˈe/
oi (as in poi)
ou (as in tou)

ua (as in rua)
- maybe ue?
ui (as in hui)
- can't think of an uo

And then you can have three vowels... like in whaia or Huia

All diphthong combinations are possible excluding uo

The only time you will find u next to o is when the u is pronounced long (uu) e.g. pūoro (puuoro) in which the o is not a part of the syllable. Only two vowels can occupy a syllable.

Oh, ok, thanks for telling me this. I'm mainly asking because in some of the other austronesian languages, such as Tagalog, you pronounce each vowel separately. But thanks for the explanations guys.

Kia Ora Rikki,

I am a kiwi living in Brisbane. I learned Māori in primary school back in Aotearoa but, since coming to Australia I haven't used it at all (almost). I would like to refresh/relearn Māori but I've been having difficulty finding places/textbooks to learn it. Do you know of any places in Brisbane where Māori is taught or where textbooks for it may be found?

Hello,
I've just started learning Maori and was wondering if there's any general rule for the pronunciation, the stress in particular?! Where do you put the stress in a word?!

Kia ora IvoCarog! I could be wrong, but Māori is not so much a stress-based language as much as it is vowel length. The long vowels have a macron over the vowel. There are also quite a few diphthongs in the language.