Te Reo Māori

This article provides a perspective of the history, current use, and likely future of te reo Māori in
the light of the Māori Language Act 1987.

Source: T. Kāretu, J. Waite, Te Reo Māori', Department of Statistics,

New Zealand Official Yearbook 1988-1989, pp 217-227. (93rd Ed.),
Wellington, 1988

The Māori Language Act 1987 declared Māori to be an 'official' language and created a right to
use Māori in court proceedings. This article provides a perspective of the history, current use,
and likely future of te reo Māori in the light of the new legislation.

Māori* is the foundation language of New Zealand, the ancestral language of the tangata whenua
and one of the taonga guaranteed protection under the Treaty of Waitangi. It also provides this
country with a unique language identity in the rest of the world, as this is the only place where
Māori is spoken widely. In more tangible terms, the Māori language is a powerful social force
for the reconstruction of a damaged and deteriorated self-image among Māori youth, a vehicle of
contribution to society, and therefore a means of regaining dignity. Finally, human freedom is
dependent at all levels on choice and diversity; linguistic pluralism can be nothing other than a
guardian of individual freedom and identity against the forces of conformism.

Although detailed statistics are not yet available, it is estimated that some 50,000 New
Zealanders, almost all of Māori descent, are fluent speakers of Māori, while perhaps a further
100,000 understand the language. While such a figure exceeds the numbers of native speakers of
many other indigenous languages in the South Pacific and elsewhere, the picture is far less
reassuring when one considers the age profile of Māori speakers: about 40 percent are aged 55
and above, whilst approximately the same percentage are between 35 and 54 years of age. It is
equally alarming that there are probably 10,000 fewer fluent speakers of Māori today than just
10 years ago.

In terms of absolute numbers, Auckland has the lion's share of Māori speakers, accounting for
almost a third of North Island figures. But areas of concentration are also to be found in the
secondary urban centres and rural communities of Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and East
Cape.

The Language

Origins

New Zealand Māori is most closely related to language such as Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian
and Hawai'ian, and forms with them a language grouping known by linguists as Eastern
Polynesian. It is more distantly related to other languages of Polynesia, such as Samoan and
Tongan, and can eventually be linked with the languages of Melanesia, Indonesia, the
Phillippines, Taiwan and Madagascar.
Evidence for language groupings comes in part from shared vocabulary items. Allowing for
regular sound correspondences, which are the result of historically divergent sound changes
(e.g., Māori ng corresponds to Hawai'ian n or l, t to k, wh to h, and k to the glottal stop, written
as an apostrophe), the few examples in Table 1 give a hint of the vocabulary common to a wide
range of Polynesian languages. The language came to Aotearoa with the Polynesian migrations
of some 1000 years ago, which most likely began somewhere in the area now known as French
Polynesia. Since then, the language has developed independently of other Polynesian tongues to
become the Māori of today.
In more recent times, following the arrival of the Pākehā, English (and to a much lesser extent
other languages) have had some influence on Māori, especially in the area of vocabulary. Thus
from English were borrowed such items as hōiho 'horse', kura 'school', motukā 'car' and tāone
'town'. From French came mīere 'honey' (from 'miel') and wīwī 'French' (from 'oui oiu'), whilst
the word pīkiwhara 'big' (from 'bigfela') probably came from some version of South Seas Jargon,
the name given to the pidgin-type lingua franca used throughout the South Pacific, principally in
the latter half of last century, by sailors, merchants and other itinerant groups.

Table 1 - Comparison of vocabulary items from Pacific Languages

COOK IS
NZ MĀORI HAWAI'IAN SAMOAN TONGAN ENGLISH
MĀORI
hoa ''oa hoa soa hoa 'friend'
ingoa ingoa inoa igoa hingoa 'name'
kai kai 'ai 'ai kai 'food'
noho no'o noho nofo nofo 'sit'
rima rima lima lima nima 'five'
tangata tangata kanaka tagata tangata 'man'
wahine va'ine wahine fafine fefine 'woman'
wai vai wai vai vai 'water'
whare 'are hale fale fale 'house
whenua 'enua honua fanua fonua 'land'

Linguistic ingenuity shown by the Māori is apparent in the adaption of words already extant in
the language which were given an additional meaning to coincide with a similar sounding
English word. Some examples are given in Table 2.
Table 2 - Post-European adaptation of extant Māori words
Extant Māori word Original meaning New meaning
huka 'snow frost' 'sugar'
'post with receptacle for
pouaka 'box'
cherished possessions'
pukapuka 'lungs' 'book'
Another influence of English on Māori was felt in the form of extending the meaning of an
existing word to include new, yet related, concepts. This is especially apparent in the language of
spirituality, where Christian values heavily modified the meanings of certain words, for example,
hara 'infringement' has taken on the sense of 'sin', īnoi 'request' now also carries the meaning of
'forgive, remove guilt'. On a more practical level, waka 'canoe' has come to mean 'car, means of
transport', whare wānanga 'school of lore for high-born males' now means 'university', while
whare takiura 'school of esoteric lore' means 'tertiary education institution other than university'.
It is to be noted that Māori possessed no written code before the arrival of Pākehā missionaries,
who saw in literacy a means of proselytising. The first document printed in Māori, a lesson book,
dates from 1815. Fortunately, those who developed the writing system were good linguists - their
legacy is a system founded on scientific principles, according to which one sound unit
corresponds to a single symbol (which in the case of ng and wh is a digraph). The only
shortcoming was the failure to systematically mark the vowel length. The Māori Language
Commission believes the marking of contrastive vowel length, using the macron to mark long
vowels, should be an integral part of the written code.
The Māori were eager to learn to read and write and it has been suggested that early on in the
cohabitation of Māori and Pākehā, the former had the higher rate of literacy in their respective
languages.

Structure

Looking at the internal structure of Māori, we see a phonological (or sound) system consisting of
just five vowels (each can be either short or long, the long vowel being marked with a macron)
and 10 consonants (h, k, m, n, ng, p, r, t, w, wh), which are arranged into syllables of either a
single vowel, a consonant plus a vowel or a consonant plus two vowels (i.e., a dipthong).
At the morphological (or word structure) level, Māori makes frequent use of reduplication (e.g.,
whero 'red'. wherowhero 'somewhat red') along with a small number of prefixes (e.g., māori
'usual', whakamāori 'translate', kaiwhakamāori 'translator') and suffixes (e.g., kite 'see', kitea 'be
seen', kitenga 'seeing') to form other words.
Whereas many European languages use suffixes to indicate such notions as plurality of nouns
(e.g., road, roads) and verb tenses (e.g., love, loved, loving), Māori expresses these nuances in
the third level of grammar, namely in syntax, where pre-posed function words convey a wide
variety of information (e.g., te kōtiro 'the girl', ngā kōtiro 'the girls', i waiata 'sang', kua waiata
'have sung'). In Māori, the basic word order at the syntactic (or sentence structure) level can be
stated as verb-subject-object. Thus, 'I'll see you' is rendered into Māori by ka kite au i a koe
(literally, 'shall see I you'). Māori is also noticeable for its frequent use of the passive
construction, where English would often use an active. So, for 'I have eaten the apple', we find
kua kainga e au te āporo (literally, 'has been eaten by me the apple').

Dialectal Variation

Little systematic study has been done on dialect variation within Māori. The most obvious
differences are to heard in intonation patterns, vocabulary (e.g., māhunga, mātenga [Northland]
'head'; kāore, karekau [Bay of Plenty], kīhai [Northland], e hē [Tūhoe] 'not'), morphology (e.g.,
pōhiri, pōwhiri [Waikato] 'invitation'; tīpuna, tūpuna [Waikato] 'ancestor'), and phonetics
(e.g., mahana, ma'ana [Taranaki, Whanganui] 'warm'; whakaaro, wakaaro [Whanganui] 'think';
pango, pano [Tūhoe] 'black'). Some syntactic variation does exist (eg., kāore e taea e koe, [Ngāti
Porou] kāore e taea i a koe 'you can't do it'), but is not as well understood as the preceding
phenomena. Dialectal differences are in no way significant enough to impede mutual
comprehension between Māori speakers of different tribal backgrounds.

Language Use Today

Marae
The last bastion against the continued encroachment of English into Māori institutions is the
marae, that area where the Māori celebrates the rites of passage in a very Māori way. To
encapsulate the notion of 'marae', no words are more appropriate than those of the late John
Rangiāniwaniwa Rangihau, who first spoke them in 1973, at a meeting attended by the then
Minister of Māori Affairs, Matiu Rata, in Rūātoki:
Marae are places of refuge for our people, and
provide facilities to enable us to continue with
our own way of life and within the total structure
of our terms and values. We need a
marae for a host of reasons:
that we may rise tall in oratory,
that we may weep for our dead,
that we may pray to God,
that we may house our guests,
that we may have our meetings,
that we may have our weddings,
that we may have our reunions,
that we may sing,
that we may dance,
that we may learn our history, and then know
that richness of life and the proud heritage
which is truly ours.
The marae is the only place where the Māori language is essential. All the formalities of the
marae-karanga (traditional call of welcome), pōwhiri (formal welcome), maioha (call of
response from visitors), poroporoaki (formal speech of farewell), whaikōrero (formal speech-
making) and waiata (traditional chant sung at conclusion of formal speech) - are in Māori,
although some marae, in a spirit of aroha, permit the use of English.

Whaikōrero

The act of oratory, which reached such heights in Polynesia, is one that only the skilled and the
learned can truly master. It requires a knowledge of tribal history, mythology, proverbs and
song; skills which are not easily acquired in a short time but from a period of observation and
attendance of hui throughout the country. As so very few of the population at large have access
to this kind of information, much of what the orators say is meaningless to the younger listeners.
It is not surprising that the young do not have access to this form of language, because it is the
young who do most of the work that ensures the comfort of the guest on the marae. Because of
their preoccupation with these chores they are never party to the learned exchanges which take
place on the marae. One must have served an apprenticeship, as it were, doing the more menial
chores. Eventually one graduates to the marae, and generally this is in early-to-late-middle age or
even older.
One may sit and observe but keep a respectful silence because of the other prohibitions such as a
son not speaking in the presence of his father, his father's or his mother's brothers, or his older
brothers, the sons of his father's older brothers or the sons of his mother's older brothers (this
holds even in relation to the tūpāpaku, or body, at a tangihanga). While this prohibition is no
longer strictly observed in some tribal areas, in others it is still adhered to. Under these
conditions, it is not surprising that some people do not make their maiden speech until they have
nevertheless acquired a great wealth of information from the period of observation.
Māori boarding schools, state schools which have active Māori groups, speech competitions,
such as the Pei Hurinui Jones, have all, in their way, accelerated the progress of orators who, in
the more formal marae context, would not be permitted to make a public utterance. It is
interesting to note that despite many of these younger people having mastered but the rudiments
of the art, there is acceptance that the marae has a different set of criteria.

Karanga

Whaikōrero is, in most tribes, the prerogative of the male, just as the karanga, in all tribes,
belongs to the female. In Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu, women were permitted to
whaikōrero but only under certain conditions - in the main, they were women of rank.
Women must karanga before the men can whaikōrero, that is, it is the voice of the women which
ritually clears the way for the men to be able to speak. The karanga is more than a call, it is that
part of the cermony of welcome whereby the women give vent to their feeling; it can be said to
be their form of whaikōrero. Women who are well versed in the art can bring a tingle to the spine
and a tear to the eye. Like the whaikōrero for men, the women must be versed in the history of
the tribe, whakataukī, and mythological allusion, in order to know how to couch the words being
called, for those women among the manuhiri are listening to find how best to respond. All the
information needed by guests on tribe, locale and other matters can be conveyed in the karanga
of the women. Like all the arts, language is essential.
The schools mentioned in the description of whaikōrero above also teach the art of waiata and
karanga. The prohibitions which apply to the orator also apply to the women who karanga, the
only difference being that where it was the male relationship that was the source of the
 prohibition above, in the case of women it is the female relationship.
There is concern that the audience that fully comprehends the whaikōrero and karanga with its
thrust and parry, its innuendo, its subtlety and nuances, is dwindling by the year. The language of
the marae with its imagery and allusion is available to a select few, the majority of whom are
well into middle age or even older. This does not augur well for the more specialised and
ritualistic aspects of language. So what can be done?
Tribes that have recognised the danger have taken initiatives to see that their young are initially
familiar with their own traditions. Tribal wānanga, where kawa, waiata and whaikōrero are
taught, are held on a regular basis throughout the country. In some ways, these will help, but the
essential ingredient is language, for without it, none of the marae rituals will endure or have
meaning to a generation who is speaking Māori less and less.

Performing Arts

The Māori dance and song arts can be divided into four main categories, waiata (traditional chant
and contemporary compositions that are traditional in style), haka (the posture dance often
erroneously considered to be a war dance and the exclusive domain of the male), poi (a dance
employing a light ball with a short or long string attached to it, swung and twirled rhythmically to
the accompaniment of a song), and waiata-ā-ringa (the contemporary action song).

Waiata

These are chants performed in the traditional style always in unison and unaccompanied by any
musical instrument. Each tribe has its own repertoire, with many of its chants composed centuries
ago. There are a great number of these chants, with their number being added to by the
contemporary compositions being performed in the traditional style. The themes of the
contemporary chant are quite different from those handed down through generations, but just like
traditional style. The themes of the contemporary chant are quite different from those handed
down through generations, but just like traditional waiata, they relate events of importance to the
generation concerned.
While many tribes do have a repertoire of chants peculiar to them, there are many chants that
have become common property. This has happened where the chant concerned has an attractive
air or because the lyric of the chant expresses the sentiments of a tribe so well that it is taken over
by others. It is considered a mark of flattery for a tribe to want to sing another's chants.
To the unfamiliar listener, traditional Māori chants sounds tuneless, dull and monotonous but, in
fact, each one has its own distinctive air. Despite this, traditional chant is enjoying a revival
among the young, an interesting development when one considers how accustomed most are to
hearing contemporary western airs and rhythms.
While these contemporary rhythms are beginning to have an influence on the way the younger
generation performs traditional chant there is still a great deal that has remained unchanged in
terms of tempo and performance. There is at the same time a school of thought that believes that
for the chant to survive, consideration should be given to adapting the rhythm and the air to make
them more appealing to the young. This is unlikely to happen in the near future, as the field is
still dominated by conservatives who feel that the chant ought to be performed in the way the
composer intended.
What is more difficult for the young to pick up are the half and quarter notes more easily
discernible by experienced listeners, who were accustomed to hearing these chants being sung by
the experts of their day and age. Consequently there is a tendency for the younger generations to
render the notes full tones rather than the more correct quarter and half tones. Despite this, many
of the young are serious in the desire to master the subtlety and nuance of traditional chant.
Of all the Māori performing arts, the chant is the least choreographed, for there are no set
movements as with the poi, the haka and the waiata-ā-ringa. In the chant, the performer
emphasises words or phrases with appropriate gestures when the mood takes him or her. It would
be unusual to see all the members of a group performing the same movements at the same point
in the chant, and if that were the case it would be likely that the meaning of the chant should be
lost to the performer.
The chant will continue to survive while etiquette demands that such chants be performed at the
end of a formal speech. Once that is no longer the case, the less demanding action song, a hymn
or one of the many popular songs may take the place of the traditional chant. In some tribal areas,
this change has already occurred.

Haka

There is a proverb which says: "E tū i te tū a Tāne-rore, e haka i te haka a Tāne-rore, kaua i te tū,
i te haka a te keretao" (Adopt the stance of, and dance like, Tāne-rore, not be limp like a puppet.).
This is an admonition to the male dancer, urging him to adopt a graceful, but masculine, stance
rather than a soft, gentle one. His hands should always be strong in all the actions executed and
yet should continue to quiver to show that, in the dance, Tāne-rore is still acknowledged.
Today the haka is often regarded as the exclusive domain of the male, and, quite erroneously, as a
war dance. Any haka performed with weapons is called a peruperu, whakatū waewae, tūtū
ngārahu or pūohotau. These latter haka are performed mainly on ceremonial occasions and are
generally haka of welcome. Many are traditional in that they have been handed down for
centuries, but the haka taparahi is enjoying a popularity unequalled before. It is used as a vehicle
for protest, praise and congratulation, just as it was in former times, and is very popular with
wider audiences.
It should be noted that there are haka in which women have the prominent part, as exemplified by
the women of the East Coast and their haka pōwhiri.

Poi

Just as the haka is considered to be essentially the domain of the male, so the poi is the domain of
the female. Its sole function is to provide an accompaniment to the chant or modern type of song
and to allow women a chance to exhibit their beauty. Some tribes have said that it was once the
domain of the male, but this seems to have only been the case among the tribes of the eastern
seaboard. The tribes of the West Coast of the North island use the poi not only for entertainment
but also for the rites of passage such as the welcoming of guests, the celebration of important
events and the farewelling of the dead.
Over the years, the poi has become more and more 'busy' as the composers try to create new and
more difficult and original figures. It is an item that enjoys great popularity. The two tribal areas
that have dominated the poi, with very different styles, are Te Arawa and those of Taranaki and
Whanganui.
Waiata-ā-ringa

This is the most recent development in Māori dance and was given form early this century by one
of the most famous sons of Aotearoa, Sir Apirana Ngata. Waiata-ā-ringa came into being at a
time when Māoridom was at its lowest ebb and was considered to be one way in which self-
esteem and self-worth could be re-established.
Waiata-ā-ringa used traditional movements, evolved new ones and were performed to many tunes
borrowed from Tin Pan Alley. Composers justified this on the grounds that the tunes were
immediately recognisable to the young and would therefore make them more eager to learn and
to involve themselves in the new dance form. Since its inception, waiata-ā-ringa has enjoyed
great popularity with a wider audience.
The 'golden age' of waiata-ā-ringa was the period from World War I to the end of World War II.
Many songs were composed to farewell the soldiers who went to battle, to pray for their well
being while at war, to encourage them in their efforts, to welcome those who returned, and to
mourn for those who did not. Today the action song, like the haka, is being used as a vehicle for
protest and praise, as well as other occasions considered important by the composer. The function
of the action song is to convey through the actions the meaning of the words.
Some critics feel that, since the end of World War II, the action song has been on the decline in
terms of its lyric beauty. Many of the songs composed during World War I are still very popular,
although many of those being performed at present have been composed within the last 20 years.

Competition

For many years competition in song and dance has played a part in the retention of arts. There are
tribal, regional and national competitions. Just as there are people who enjoy competition, there
are opponents who say it is to the ultimate detriment of the arts.
Whatever the opinion expressed, competitions are popular with the people at large and receive
great support. As a result, however, teams are becoming more and more regimented, and thereby
losing their passion and excitement - essentials of the Māori dance arts, and the very emotions
they should also arouse in an audience. If the wana (passion) and ihi (excitement) are missing, the
group is considered mediocre. This has happened in some dances in competitions, when failure to
use language in performances has meant a loss of vitality.
The Aotearoa Traditional Māori Performing Arts Festival was instituted in 1972 as the New
Zealand Polynesian Festival. Originally it was held annually, but has since become biennial. It
was conceived as a measure to raise the standard of performance, to encourage groups to revive
and learn the traditional chants of their own tribal areas and to actively discourage
the use of the tunes from Tin Pan Alley. This aim has been substantially achieved but the
negative aspect has been the standardisation of performance, the concentration on costume and
the relegation of language and lyric to a position of secondary importance.

Tourism

A strong influence on the state of dance is the impact of tourism. Many groups feel that they must
adapt their performance to suit the tourist, and their costumes to look appealing.
However, what is attractive to one culture might not be so to another, and many tourists would
prefer to see what the Māori audience sees, with all the appropriate information given by
someone capable of doing so, to enable the audience to enjoy the performance. Not all forms of
song or dance, of any culture, are immediately attractive to the ear or the eye of the uninitiated.
Dance arts could seek to make tourists better informed so that they will appreciate what standards
and ideals there are.
The song and dance arts are on the rise, but the use of language is on the decline, although there
are many among the conservatives who brook no departure from the conventions observed over
the centuries.

Kōhanga Reo

The most visible and widely felt manifestation of the resurgence of interest in the Māori language
is without a doubt the kōhanga reo or language nest. The first Kōhanga Reo was set up in 1981;
by the end of 1987, just six years later, there were 522 established throughout the country,
catering for over 11,000 children. This network of early childhood education centres was
developed as one answer to the drastic decline in the number of Māori-speaking youngsters
growing up in New Zealand.
The basic policy of kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa Māori is to impart traditional Māori values
and knowledge to pre-schoolers using Māori as the only language of instruction. A lack of
resources, both human and physical, means that this ideal of a monolingual learning environment
is not always realised - fluent speakers no longer abound, while in many cases, the salaries on
offer to teaching staff are insufficient to attract personnel with a thorough knowledge of the
language and of childhood development (with special reference to language acquisition), and the
required teaching skills.
Despite these shortcomings, kōhanga reo offers an essential link in bridging the intergenerational
rupture that has occurred in the passing down of native language skills, and is receiving strong
support from the community as a whole for the promise it holds.

Māori Language Act 1987

On 29 April 1986, the Waitangi Tribunal handed down its findings relating to te Reo Māori,
which included several recommendations to the Government covering the use of Māori in Courts
of Law, government departments, local authorities, other public bodies, in education and in
broadcasting.
Although calls had been made over a number of years for legislation to recognise the status of the
Māori language in New Zealand, it was the tribunal's finding that finally prompted the drafting of
the Māori language Bill, which was later enacted as the Māori Language Act 1987. The Act did
not implement all of the tribunal's numerous recommendations. Nevertheless it does contain three
important provisions:

• It declares Māori to be an official language of New Zealand.

• It confers upon a wide range of participants the right to speak Māori in certain legal
proceedings; and
• It establishes the Māori Language Commission (te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori) and
defines its functions and powers.
It is ironic that Māori is in fact the only language in New Zealand that has received explicit
official status in legislation. English, which dominates indisputably the linguistic landscape of
this country, is de facto the language of officialdom. Indeed, awarding an official status to a
language appears to do little more than confer upon it a symbolic value.
It is not easy to say, however, that it is without indirect effect. In a social climate already more
disposed to recognise Māori values, it invites all New Zealanders to consider what the rightful
place of the language is in contemporary society.
The only language right specifically legislated for concerns the courts of law. The Act states that
in any legal proceedings, the following persons (i.e., any member of the court, any party or
witness, any counsel, etc.) may speak Māori, whether or not they are able to understand or
communicate in English or any other language". When a Māori speaker chooses to exercise this
right, the onus is on the presiding officer to ensure that a competent interpreter is on hand to
translate. The law confers neither the right to be addressed in Māori nor to have one's testimony
recorded in Māori.

Te Taura Whiri I Te Reo Māori

The Mission of te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commission) is to contribute to
the growth and maintenance of the Māori language as a living, widely used means of
communication with a legal status equal to that of English.
Its functions are fourfold:

• To promote the Māori language amongst New Zealanders in general, but more
particularly in those communities where its use is strongest; to encourage and assist
government departments and other public institutions in the development of Māori
language services; and to liaise with existing Māori language organisations with a view to
co-ordinated action;

• To formulate and implement policy which will enhance the position of Māori as the
language of the tangata whenua of Aotearoa, and give effect to the objectives of the
preceding item;

• To carry out research into matters related to the promotion of Māori. (Sound policy
decisions require good background research;

• To assess the competence of candidates wishing to act as interpreters and translators,

and to issue certificates to the successful candidates;

• The Commission consists of a full-time commissioner and four other members who
meet at least once a month. Under the Commission proper is a permanent secretariat, which
carries out corporate services, undertakes research and implements policy decided upon by
Commission members.

Language Policy

The Māori Language Commission has already established policies and broad objectives in
several key social areas and some of these are summarised below.
Public Institutions

If the Māori Language Commission is to promote the use of Māori over the widest possible range
of situations, public institutions will need to be encouraged to offer full services in Māori. Even if
a voluntary approach to such services succeeds, it may be that future amendments to the Māori
Language Act will confirm the right to speak Māori (and to have it used in reply) in a much
broader range of situations than is presently the case.
Encouraging the establishment of Māori language services means pointing out the moral
obligations imposed by the Treaty of Waitangi - the accord by virtue of which the tangata
whenua agreed to a partnership with the pākehā and the benefits of a diverse society, where
individuals and groups feel that their identity is respected and their specificity catered for.
Some people have expressed fear that the promotion of the Māori language is equivalent to
requiring them or their children to become personally proficient in Māori. In reply it may be
pointed out that institutional bilingualism is not individual bilingualism. Bilingual institutions
will offer services in both Māori and English and will be staffed by personnel who, as
individuals, may be bilingual or monolingual. In such institutions, the ability to speak Māori (or
effectively, to be bilingual in Māori and English) must be recognised and rewarded as a valued
skill.
As well as promoting services in Māori, the Māori Language Commission will encourage people
to use these services. Socio-linguistic behaviour is to a large extent the result of habit, moulded
by attitude; habits are difficult to break and attitudes slow to change. Initially, many Māori
speakers will feel embarrassment at demanding services in Māori, simply because that has not
been the standard practice. If the cycle 'no-demand-therefore-no-supply' is to be broken, Māori
will have to take it upon themselves to create the demand. This clientele will expect from the
authorities concerned a willingness to advertise the availability of services in Māori and an
openness to approaches in Māori, but it will nevertheless require a certain courage to demand
these services, especially in an over-the-counter situation.

For a variety of reasons that include the limitation of human resources, the experimental nature of
any policy, and the demographic reality of the country, Māori language services will at first
probably be concentrated in areas where they are more likely to be called upon.
One of the most important services that can be offered is that of having available at any given
time someone competent to deal with a Māori-speaking client, whether it be over the counter, on
the telephone or by correspondence (written or electronic). An important point to be remembered
here, and one that was noted by the Waitangi Tribunal and taken up in the Māori Language Act,
is that ideally any New Zealander should feel able, as the client, to use either English or Māori,
irrespective of his or her knowledge of the other language. Here, the 'right to use' a language
includes the right to be addressed in that language in return.
An essential ingredient of these 'immediate' services (as opposed to 'deferred' services) is
goodwill. The availability of such services will need to be well publicised, and the client will be
invited, by way of prominently displayed notices perhaps to employ the language of his or her
choice. The service will in turn need to be dispensed willingly and promptly.
"Deferred" services include material printed in Māori, such as signs, information pamphlets,
forms. This type of service is the easier to offer, since it consists of one-off products, but it may
be considered secondary to the more important task of ensuring a face-to-face service in Māori.

Broadcasting
In an enlightened democracy (one where, although government is by the majority, that majority
nevertheless recognises the right of minorities to be different) media coverage reflects the diverse
make-up of its society. Māori in New Zealand have 'special' minority status as tangata whenua.
At present, there is a daily television news programme in Māori (Te Karere), along with two
weekly current affairs and cultural events programmes (Waka Huia and Marae) and children and
youth entertainment programmes (Tikitiki, Pūkana). The Māori Language Commission advocates
an increase in the time allotted to Māori television/Radio to a level more proportionate with the
Māori population in the general population, with some primetime viewing/listening hours. Māori
media should in turn be controlled by Māori and designed for Māori consumption (not precluding
pākehā participation).

Education

Where kōhanga reo have managed to produce youngsters fluent in the Māori language, good
work is often undone simply because there are so few primary & secondary schools in which
these children can continue to receive instruction in Māori. The Māori Language Commission
supports the establishment of exclusively Māori-medium schools (Kura Kaupapa Māori), for it
believes that only in this way will the language be retained. For there to be success, the teachers
have to be appropriately trained, and must banish English in all teaching situations, from kōhanga
reo to university and beyond.
The Picot report (Report of the Task-force to Review Education Administration, 1988, para.7.7.5)
recommends a mechanism that allows minority groups, unable to have their values reflected in
existing structures, to withdraw and set up their own institutions, funded by the state.
Teachers who are fluent enough to be of use in the classroom need to speak Māori at all times.
However, prior to being sent to the schools, they will need to be trained, so that they can carry
out their role with competence and confidence. A problem that has occurred in the past with
fluent speakers in the schools is that they were not adequately trained, and not given support in
the classroom or appropriate recognition. If these deficiencies were to be rectified, the situation
would be vastly improved. If not, the language will perish. An additional problem faced by these
teachers is the dearth of educational and other material published in Māori.

Conclusion

Language is central to the cultural identity of both the individual and the community to which he
or she belongs. Not only does a language express the realities of a particular group, but it also
marks one's membership of that group, both from within (since the language is shared) and
without (since it highlights one's difference).
If a language is lost, the cultural identity of the group is considerably weakened, which in turn
alters the very nature of the society of which that group is part. In light of this, it may be
considered important to retain and promote the Māori language, in order, amongst other things, to
develop a diverse and harmonious society.

KO TE REO TE HĀ TE MAURI O TE MĀORITANGA.

Language is the very life-breath of being Māori.