Māori language
Polynesian language spoken in New Zealand / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Māori (Māori: [ˈmaːɔɾi] ⓘ), or te reo Māori ('the Māori language'), commonly shortened to te reo, is an Eastern Polynesian language and the indigenous language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. A member of the Austronesian language family, it is closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian. The Maori Language Act 1987 gave the language recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages alongside New Zealand Sign Language which was added as an Official language in New Zealand in 2006. There are several regional dialects of the language, all of which are mutually intelligible.[5]
Māori | |
---|---|
Māori, te reo Māori | |
Pronunciation | [ˈmaːɔɾi] |
Native to | New Zealand |
Region | Polynesia |
Ethnicity | Māori |
Native speakers | Some 50,000 people report that they speak the language well or very well (2015)[1] 186,000 self-report some knowledge of the language. (2018)[2] |
Latin (Māori alphabet) Māori Braille | |
Official status | |
Official language in | New Zealand |
Regulated by | Māori Language Commission |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | mi |
ISO 639-2 | mao (B) mri (T) |
ISO 639-3 | mri |
Glottolog | maor1246 |
ELP | Māori |
Glottopedia | Maori [3] |
Linguasphere | 39-CAQ-a |
IETF | mi-NZ |
Māori language distribution within New Zealand | |
Māori is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger [4] | |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
Prior to contact with Europeans, Māori lacked a written language or script.[lower-alpha 1] Written Māori now uses the Latin script, which was adopted and the spelling standardised by high-ranking Northern Māori in collaboration with English Protestant clergy in the 19th century.
Māori was often spoken by government officials until the 1870s,[7][8] when it declined due to the increase of the European population and linguistic discrimination, including the Native Schools Act 1867, which barred the speaking of Māori in schools.[9][10] The number of speakers of the language fell sharply after 1945,[11] but a Māori-language revitalisation effort that has begun since the late 20th century has helped to slow the decline. The Māori protest movement and the Māori renaissance of the 1970s caused greater social awareness of and support for the language.[12] The spread of kōhanga reo, or Māori-language kindergartens, has helped increase the number of native speakers.
The 2018 New Zealand census reported that about 186,000 people, or 4.0% of the New Zealand population, could hold a conversation in Māori about everyday things. As of 2015[update], 55% of Māori adults reported some knowledge of the language; of these, 64% use Māori at home and around 50,000 people can speak the language "very well" or "well".[13] Ideological support for the Māori language remains high among Māori and relatives so among other New Zealanders in general, with the number of second language students increasing by 76% between 2013 and 2023.[14][15] In Māori culture, the language is considered to be among the greatest of all taonga, or cultural treasures.[16][17]
Māori is known for its highly metaphorical poetry and prose,[18][19] often in the form of karakia, whaikōrero, whakapapa and karanga, and in performing arts such as mōteatea, waiata, and haka.[20]