Maori language

“ Scarcely any part of Maori is more worthy of attention than the prepositions. In no language, that we are acquainted with, are their powers so extensive. While, in common with those of English and Hebrew, they serve to express those relations, which in some languages are chiefly marked by the different endings of the nouns, they extend their influence still farther, and are, in many instances, of material importance in determining the time of the sentence in which they are placed. ”

“ This taboo naturally produced a plentiful crop of synonyms in the Maori language, and travellers newly arrived in the country were sometimes puzzled at finding the same things called by quite different names in neighbouring tribes. When a king comes to the throne in Tahiti, any words in the language that resemble his name in sound must be changed for others. In former times, if any man were so rash as to disregard this custom and to use the forbidden words, not only he but all his relations were immediately put to death. ”

“ Whilst in New Zealand careful attention has been paid by competent scholars to the musical Maori language, it can hardly be claimed that the Australian family of languages has ever been scientifically studied, though there is a heap of printed material—small grammars and lists of words—rudis indigestaque moles. There is no doubt that the vocabularies used in different parts of Australia and Tasmania varied greatly, and equally little doubt that the languages, in structure and perhaps originally in vocabulary, were more or less connected. ”

“ The Maori tongue is akin to several of the South Sea dialects. The language of the distant Sandwich Islands corresponds most nearly to it. A Maori and a Hawaiian can understand one another to a great extent. It is strange that intervening groups should be inhabited by people of wholly different races, who speak in altogether different tongues. ”

“ Moreover, to know the language of a people is a great assistance to the entire understanding of them, their needs and characteristics. My Maori helped me enormously, and the language, with its rich folk-lore and tradition, fascinated me as I grew in knowledge of it.'
The main stronghold of Heke and Kawiti was a pa designated, in Maori, Ruapekapeka, of which the English equivalent is 'Bat's Nest.' Here the Maoris were in martial clover, having reasoned with themselves: 'We'll build a pa the Pakehas can't take, if we are behind its walls. ”

“ In those languages the verb is a leading word in the sentence, and by it exclusively is the office of affirmation or predication performed.
In Maori, on the contrary, a pure genuine verb is by no means of frequent occurrence: almost any word denoting a thing, or quality, is capable of sustaining that office; and predication is as frequently implied as expressed. In considering, therefore, the Maori verbs, we shall have to examine, not only those words which have been invested with the properties belonging to that class; but also those forms in which no mark of predication is expressed. ”

“ The tribes were also informed that legions of angels would some day appear and assist the Hauhau to annihilate the Pakeha. Once that degenerate lot had been got rid of, the angels would escort from heaven an entirely new brand of men, who should teach the Maori all the Europeans knew, and more. [Pg 257] Unconsciously prophetic, the final promise in this farrago of nonsense was that all Maori who fulfilled certain conditions should be instantly endowed with power to understand and speak the English language. The new men were evidently to resemble the Briton! ”

“ From the preceding table the student will see that Maori has the power of increasing its adverbs to any extent, and that the chief process by which a word may be converted into an adverb, is by placing it in immediate connexion with the verb or adjective.
It should, perhaps, be here noticed, 1st, that Maori inclines to this mode of construction. Thus, where we should say, the women and the children must all roll the log; a native would most probably employ the adverb; e. g., Huri tane huri wahine. Such a mode of construction, though loose, is, however, concise and emphatic. ”

“ It is a very common thing in Maori to put into the third person a pronoun which has reference to either the first or second; e. g., hei rama aha? tana koke noa atu,—nana tana rakau, a light for what purpose?—his stumbling away—his is his own stick, i. e., "What do I want of light?—I can stumble out my way—I am accustomed to that kind of work;" ko te rangi mahi kai tenei ma tona tinana, this is the day for procuring food for his body; i. e., for ourselves; kei tena tangata pea, it rests perhaps with that individual; i. e., with you; tona tangata kaha ko koe, you are his strong man ”

“ Verbs which assume the form of a noun.—It has been already observed that Maori inclines to the substantive form; and that such is only natural will be obvious to anyone who will reflect that it is more {151}easy for an unpolished mind to conceive of things as existences, than to trace them through the various modifications of act denoted in a verb. In many instances, indeed, a New Zealander is compelled to adopt this form, in consequence of the Maori verb not supplying any satisfactory form for the infinitive mood, and the participles. ”

“ The simple prepositions may be combined in the same way with raro, to signify under, beneath &c.; with roto, to signify in, into, inside &c.; with waho, to signify without, outside, from without &c.
Mua and Muri are only used in series 2.
XII. Have, Had &c. § 71. The Verb "to have" having no equivalent in Maori, its place is supplied by the following expedients.
1. By the use of the possessive definitives (§ 15) the time (present or past) being gathered from the context. ”

“ Repetition of Verbs.—The same verb will frequently be repeated in Maori when contingency, intensity, distribution, diversity, &c., are intended, and, particularly, when the speaker desires to be impressive and emphatic; e. g., Ko te mea i tupono i tupono: ko te mea i kahore i kahore, (the karakia Maori) is all a work of chance: sometimes there is a successful hit, sometimes a failure, lit., that which hit the mark hit it, that which did not did not ”

“ An accurate acquaintance with these epea pteroenta "winged words" of discourse, is in most languages of very difficult attainment: but in Maori, particularly, do they require our study; that language not conceding to the verb the same prominent place that it occupies in other languages, and rather, (as we have already observed,) transacting the business of predication by pronouns, particles, &c. ”

“ The answer to a question will always, in its construction, correspond to the question; e. g., Na wai i tango? Na Hone, Who took it? John. I a wai taku pu? I a Hone, With whom was my gun? with John.
§ 5. There is no form in Maori corresponding to that contained in the following expressions, "Land of Egypt," "River Euphrates." To translate these by "Whenua o Ihipa," &c., would be to represent Egypt, and Euphrates, as individuals possessing that land, and that river. To render them by apposition would we fear not much improve our Maori diction ”

“ As e in poetical, there; e. g., tena, renga-renga, kete, rere.
Few sounds in Maori are more frequently mis-pronounced by foreigners than e. Tohe, ngare, kumea, hoea mai te waka, te reinga, te rangi, rewera, korero, have been all so carelessly pronounced as to sound to the native ear as if spelt, tohi, ngari, kumia, hoia mai ti waka, to reinga, to rangi, Rewara, kororo. The reader should also be careful not to give e the dipthongal sound of ei; as in ne the interrogative particle, &c. ”

“ But taken as a whole, and after making due allowance for the lapse of time, environment, change of language, etc., it will be found that the accordance of traditions collected from different branches of the race is remarkable.
It is difficult for a civilized people which habitually uses writing in recording events, to conceive of the powers of memory possessed by people who have nothing but the memory to trust to. Some few instances of this may be mentioned: A Maori and his wife dictated to Mr. ”

“ Use it with names of places and nouns of locality (§ 10) only when they stand as subject in a sentence, or are repeated by way of explanation.
Examples.
Ka ora a Hoani, Hoani is well.
Kei a Tamati to hoiho, Your horse is in the possession of Tamati.
Ma Pita tenei, This is for Pita.
He taone a Akarana, Auckland is a town.
Homai ki a au, give it to me.
Ka wera a waho o te rakau, the outside of the tree is burnt.
§ 7. Ma. When any person is spoken of in con [8] nexion with others whom it is not necessary to specify put ma after the name, thus:
Kahutia ma, Kahutia and his companions. ”

“ The British New Zealander is not especially race-tolerant, nor has he always been an idealist. The surprising thing is that the Maori’s rise from death to life came about largely through the genius of certain Maoris, of one generation at least, who seized the opportunity and so brilliantly improved it that their zeal revived the flagging soul of a conquered people. ”

“ Most of the rising generation are able to read and write in their own tongue, if not in English also; for they all have been, or go, to school. They cannot readily articulate all our sounds, but education is doing much to remedy this; also, they are rather inclined to adhere to their own idiom, which is, of course, to be expected. Very few of the elder Maori have these Pakeha accomplishments, or care to exercise them. A queer pride and prejudice keep them from attempting to learn or speak English. But I have found that a good many of them know a great deal more than they are disposed to allow. ”

“ The Polynesians, as scientists call them, know themselves, and therefore their tongue as Maori. And just as “British” to an Englishman is a word of pride, and “American” to our patriotic schoolboys and orators the greatest word ever coined, so “Maori” actually means first-class, excellent, fine. The Maoris were hundred per centers before the Chosen People.
I have lived much with Maori folk in many archipelagos and listened for years to their soft and simple, sweet and short words. Their speech is like the rippling of gentle waters, the breezes through the breadfruit-trees. ”

“ It is true that the Maori question, with all its hopes and fears, has practically come to an end. The bubble of Maori civilization has burst, the idea, that seemed at one time not unlikely to become an actual fact, of a native race becoming truly Christianized and civilized, and prospering side by side with their white brothers, has gone where many a noble and well-fought-for idea has gone before. The true level of the Maori, intellectually and morally, has become tolerably well known ”

“ In the year 1937 the Dominion spent well over £1,000,000 on education, building, sanitary improvements and pensions for the Maoris. Public schools were thrown open to their children. Industrial training fostered the Maori’s natural ingenuity with tools. Too much, perhaps, was being done for the native; [Pg 250] it is only human for a spoon-fed people to do as little as possible to lift the spoon.
On the Pacific New Zealand is unique: her million-and-a-half Europeans outnumber her natives by tremendous odds. ”

“ From the end of last century down to 1840, a few individual white men took up their residence among the Maori here and there. These Pakeha-Maori, as they are called, were runaway sailors, or such as had been shipwrecked or made prisoners, or were wild, adventurous characters who preferred the savage life to the restraints of civilization. They married Maori women, raised families, and conformed to all the native customs, sometimes becoming chiefs and leaders in war. ”

“ Moreover, knowing the prayerbook, it is comparatively easy to read with due emphasis; talking in ordinary conversation is quite another matter. I speak to them in English, which they can follow fairly well. Every Maori takes part in the responses, which are rendered in most musical fashion, all together, as if they had been purposely trained, for their sense of rhythm and time is very keen. ”

“ There are, it is true, a good many Maori who adhere to primitive custom. Here and there you may find a kainga, containing from a score to a hundred souls, where there is not much apparent advance from the state of things fifty years back. But even here you will find that men and women turn out in European clothes, on occasions of state; [Pg 87] that the children receive schooling of some sort; that there is a surprising degree of intelligence and knowledge of the great world and its ways; and that there is a fervent, and often dogmatic, Christianity among the inhabitants. ”

“ The ancient habits of that interesting and progressive race, the Maori, who preceded white people in New Zealand, were shown in some remarkably realistic and unique carvings and paintings. The Maori has long since passed the savage state and has shown his ability to attain the highest stages of modern civilization. The contrast between the position of the Maori in 1840 and in 1904 constitutes a remarkable progress in racial development. ”

“ Although the old Maori are commonly spoken of as savages, they certainly did possess a degree of civilization of their own. They had a traditional history, a well-defined mythology, a code of laws based on the tapu, a perfect tribal organization, [Pg 144] industries and arts of no mean kind. Among them were men, renowned long after their death in song and story, as great statesmen, warriors, poets, artists, and so on. Their dwellings are of simple construction, but they are superior to Irish cabins by a long way. Many of them were extravagantly decorated with carvings and ornaments. ”