Aisha Campbell
At times, the marae ātea sounds like the sea and at times it sounds like the bush.
Kōrero flows, then chirps, then sways, then rolls, then rustles, then roars.
It's a shared language being spoken from unified orators who line the paepae of Tūrangawaewae Marae.
But each becomes distinct when they make their stand and voice their unique dialect. Dialect that echoes its native environment and personifies the whakapapa of its orator and his people.
As a push for the revitalisation of te reo Māori continues, many second-language learners are showing interest in reclaiming the local dialects to which they affiliate.
“There is beauty in celebrating the various forms of reo. It links us back to our tīpuna and their world in which our language was shaped and evolved,” says Paulette Tamati-Ellife.
But in a time when the language in general remains vulnerable, and the fight for its survival is enduring, is trying to preserve dialects worth the effort? Is it even possible?
All languages have dialects. Think of the Scottish and their lilting English, with trilled r’s, clipped vowels and distinct vocab.
“C’mon in fur a wee cuppa, ye’ll be frozen stiff oot there.”
Surprise, surprise, the indigenous language of New Zealand is no different. Journey around Aotearoa and you’ll undoubtedly hear variation in the te reo Māori spoken among the differing regions... But that’s if you can find people speaking the language in the first place.
Nā te aha te reo Māori i mimiti ai?
Why did the number of te reo Māori speakers decline?
The decline in the number of te reo Māori speakers has an elaborate history that is beyond this article. In summary, colonisation was the root of the language's demise. Urbanisation, assimilation policies, and an imposing notion of English language supremacy are among the many ways the language was suppressed.
Concern grew among Māori leaders in the 1970s. They were not only losing their native means of communication, but also the history, whakapapa, tikanga and worldview that te reo encompasses.
Their response was powerful language revitalisation initiatives that emerged in the following decade, including the kōhanga reo movement, the Te Reo Language Claim (Wai 11) and Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori.
"I want everyone in New Zealand to have the same opportunity I have had – of speaking Māori and English equally well," said Doctor Huirangi Waikerepuru, leader of Wai 11.
Enter today, and this same sentiment persists in thousands around Aotearoa who hope the language will not only survive, but thrive, for generations to come. However, revitalising a language is not easy, and revitalising dialects is even harder.
He aha te mita?
What is dialect?
Click below: Discover how dialect is defined, what features differentiate various dialects and examples of these variations in te reo Māori.
Peter Keegan, a linguist and lecturer at the University of Auckland, has researched the ‘renewed’ interest in Māori dialects. He says that second-language learners are using dialect as an “overt identity iwi marker”.
“A lot of young people want to identify with a particular iwi and that's one way of doing it. Another way is tā moko, how you dress, who you hang out with, what music you listen to. These are, to me, external markers of identity.”
Keegan says linguists tend to recognise te reo Māori as having an east-west split between dialects, with slight further variation within these regions and even within iwi.
However, the historical decline in te reo speakers also led to a decrease in dialect variation. This is termed ‘dialect levelling’, which is a precursor and component of language standardisation.
Missionary teachings, the expansion of Māori literacy rates and increased geographical mobility are colonial influences that also contributed to the standardisation of te reo Māori.
Language revitalisation initiatives have contributed to the standardisation of te reo Māori too.
For instance, Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission) has promoted certain orthographic conventions. These conventions are abided by its collaborators, such as government departments and media, resulting in the materiel by these institutions using a ‘standard’ form of te reo, which happens to derive mainly from eastern dialect varieties.
Keegan believes that standardisation is a necessary undertaking.
“Every language around the world that survives standardises a particular dialect...Ultimately, the priority should be language preservation. And if you are learning, learn as much as you can before you focus on dialect nuances.
“If you've got a government that's promoting official language, official literature, legal literature, an education system, you want to do that in a standard way. And then if any particular group wants to translate that into their own dialect, they're free to do so.”
Keegan admits that he is indifferent to dialect preservation but recognises that they are sacred to some people, and for them, it is a big issue.
“It’s the bigger iwi groups that seem to be becoming more dominant and it's the smaller iwi groups that are struggling a lot.
“I worry that the big group is going to end up in a different world than places like Taranaki that would come quite vulnerable once the few language leaders are lost.”
He ngākau uruwehi
A fearful heart
One of those worried about the future of their dialect is Abel Johnston of Ngāti Porou.
“I think we run a risk of losing elements which make te reo Māori special as it relates to illusion and metaphor and the complexities of the language, the niceties of the language, the formalities of the language, when we talk about things like standardisation,” Johnston says.
Johnston was raised by his grandmother, the last native te reo Māori speaker in his family.
His te reo competence as a kid was “not good, but [he] could have a conversation and beat [his] way through it”.
He eventually gained language proficiency at university, but his nan had passed away by this time, taking her distinct Ngāti Porou dialect with her.
Its absence in Johnston’s own language was heavy. Longing to connect to his tūpuna and tūrangawaewae, he taught himself his grandmother’s tongue.
“There's much more connection to identity when we speak our own reo as opposed to a standardised one.
“In terms of me getting mine, there's not that many Ngāti Porou speakers around, so it was mostly online.”
He picked up the dialect’s cadence, rhythm, pronunciation and distinct words through watching video series such as Te Reo Ake o Ngāti Porou and listening to his elders on Sound Vision Archives. He also "read and read and read".
“Eventually, you start to get an idea of what language was like and so all those things [dialect features] start to coalesce.”
Despite showing that a passionate soul can obtain their dialect, Johnston's tone grows heavy when contemplating the future of Te Reo Ake o Ngāti Porou.
“It’s dying. It’s dying very quickly. The state of our language is really, really, dire.”
Some networks have come together to try and promote Ngāti Porou reo, but Johnston says it's difficult to do anything when they’re “running off the thought of an oily rag”.
He exhaustively lists other threats to dialect preservation: scarce iwi engagement, a shortage of ‘good teachers’, te reo complacency, and a lack of iwi partnership in reo programs. These threats are mirrored around the country.
The commonly employed prescriptive approach to teaching te reo Māori is also an impediment, he says.
"I think we're not doing enough of that strategic and harder problem-solving for these problems.”
He kai kei aku ringa
There is food at the ends of my hands
Despite uncertainty among some about the future of dialects, others feel optimistic that preservation will ensue.
In 1900, a medical student at the University of Otago recorded that no person in the area under the age of 16 could speak te reo Māori.
Today, the language of Ngāi Tahu flows around Te Waipounamu, cascading the northern mountains brimming Kaikōura and blows through the southern sanctuary of Rakiura.
Paulette Tamati-Ellife, manager of Kotahi Mano Kāika (KMK), is among those who have been paving the way for the revitalisation of te reo o Ngāi Tahu for 25 years.
KMK is the Ngāi Tahu language revitalisation strategy that began at the start of this millennium, aiming to have 1000 homes speaking te reo Māori by 2025.
“Kotahi Mano Kāika is a kaupapa, but I call it a movement because the whānau signed up to it, and they were raised in it. Regardless of whether they were living in Auckland, Bluff, West Coast, Dunedin, Tamuka, the initiatives that we ran brought those families together.”
Wānanga, holiday programmes, kura reo, resource development and funding community-led reo projects are among their initiatives that promote intergenerational transmission of the language.
As te reo Māori began to weave through participants’ homes, Ngāi Tahu reo soon became a particular focus
“In 2009, we hosted our first Kura Reo Kai Tahu that was using our own Kāi Tahu reo teachers and using Kāi Tahu reo materials. [We were] looking at archives, exploring the unique features of our dialect, and really looking at whakapapa, whakatauki, whakatauāki from our tīpuna; trying to lock those in, get them used, bring them back to life again.”
Tamati-Ellife echoes Johnston on the enduring challenges of dialect revitalisation, but she believes we should not make these challenges a deterrent.
“Dialect doesn’t need to be a big issue.
“Thinking about say Te Taura Whiri, when they are developing a corpus for things such as new technology; they’re suggestions. They’re providing those kupu and iwi can adapt them. [For example] they provided hangarau, we say hakarau.
"Fiercely, we were never one people. We've always had those iwi identities, hapu identities, and we are too far in to try and homogenise ourselves now anyway."
More than 1500 whānau have engaged with KMK since its inception and are committed to using te reo as their home’s primary language.
Te Ao Hurihuri
The Everchanging World
Archives to Artificial Intelligence
Using artificial intelligence (AI) for language learning has become instrumental to te reo Māori revitalisation.
Last year, Te Hiku Media produced a speech recognition AI that can transcribe te reo with over 90% accuracy. The media organisation is also in partnership with a group of Auckland University researchers who are developing an AI-powered te reo Māori pronunciation coach.
And now, instances of people using AI to revive and promote dialects have begun to emerge.
Associate Professor Dr Te Taka Keegan, alongside master's student Kingsley Eng, has developed an AI-generated voice that speaks his Waikato-Maniapoto dialect.
Keegan believes that young people form a stronger connection with their identity when engaging with their own mita; therefore, the permeating tool of AI should be developed in ways to support this vision.
The project was supported by Te Ipu o Te Mahara, the Artificial Intelligence Institute at the University of Waikato.
Keegan says the Waikato-Maniapoto AI tool will be a template that other iwi can use and adapt to their own mita, strengthening the potential for dialect preservation around Aotearoa.
Left - Dr Te Taka Keegan received the Prime Minister's Supreme Award in 2017 for his commitment to teaching and learning. Photo: Supplied
Mita in the media
Watch how an iwi radio station has promoted their local dialect for over two decades
Ka pū te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi
As the old net withers, it is cast aside, and the new net takes its place
Carrying the language of your ancestors is a component of embracing your whakapapa. Whakapapa is intrinsic to Māori cultural prosperity.
Needless to say, achieving this reality requires the intergenerational transmission of te reo... which is also a vital means for dialect preservation.
A special place in Taranaki has recognised just that.
Nestled in the outskirts of Ngāmotu stands Te Kōpae Piripono. Te reo Māori effortlessly drifts throughout the puna reo from the voices of tamariki in tune with their tūpuna.
The Māori total-immersion Early Childhood Centre was established in 1994 with a primary aim at the time to revitalise te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in Taranaki.
“Ko te take o te whenua, te take o te tangata,” says Director of Te Kōpae Piripono Dr Aroaro Tamati, alluding to the impacts of the late 1800s Māori land confiscations.
“The issues around land have negative implications for people. Those implications are the loss of language and culture.
“That loss of land has meant that iwi around Taranaki have been in survival mode, and so te reo Māori has suffered. Many whānau don't even have te reo, let alone Taranaki reo, so that was our first port of call.”
Taranaki mita is intentionally a part of the centre’s education program and the main dialect of teaching and learning.
"They are [mostly] tamariki from Taranaki, so then it goes without saying that having tamariki with Taranaki reo is huge in the identity space.
“They need to actually know who they are, where they're from, where they belong —and of course, language is central to that. This sets them up for life... They are our leaders of tomorrow.”
Watch: Dr Aroaro Tamati receives an award from NEITA for teaching excellence
The centre is strict on maintaining an immersion environment. Everyone must speak te reo Māori around the children.
But Tamati recognises that people from all locations and iwi are a part of Te Kōpae Piripono, including the kaiako, so incorporating Taranaki reo is something that they “have to work at every day”.
And when it comes to te reo o Taranaki early-learning resources, Tamati says they have been “virtually non-existent".
However, the centre has brought to life the repeated suggestion of adapting old and new resources, waiata and kōrero into versions that reflect their dialect.
Even so, the most important means of language transmission is normalising te reo Māori in conversation and “attuning” the children's ears to “that way of speaking”. Kaiako are thus their most valuable teaching resource.
“Hearing our tamariki speaking Taranaki reo is the most wonderful thing. It warms my heart," says Tamati.
“We are effectively rebuilding Taranaki Māori community by what we're doing in the early years.”
Ake Ake Ake
A forever language
It's difficult to ignore the frequent headlines spotlighting resistance against te reo Māori.
But Peter Keegan sheds light on a situation where the linguistic expression of Māori indigeneity and whakapapa appears under threat.
"Apathy is your worst enemy.
"What's happening from the current government is galvanising a lot of young people to do something more about the language, which they may not have done previously."
He rā ki tua
Better days are coming
Tūrangawaewae Marae sounded like hope, diversity and unity this year as Te Arikinui Kuini Ngāwai Hono i Te Pō made her first royal address.
In this kōrero, she declared that being Māori is not purely having an enemy or a challenge to overcome. She said there are many ways one can manifest being Māori and began to recite a few.
"Taku Māoritanga kei roto i taku kōrero Māori," Te Arikinui listed first, in her vivid Waikato-Tainui mita.
Being Māori is speaking our language.
Our language. One that is adorned with diverse dialects, and although their future is uncertain, the desire for their retention is certainly alive.
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Kuputaka
Glossary
Source: Te Aka Māori Dictionary. Click here to learn more about these kupu Māori.