Cook Islands Māori

Cook Islands Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language that is the official language of the Cook Islands. Cook Islands Māori is closely related to New Zealand Māori, but is a distinct language in its own right. Cook Islands Māori is simply called Māori when there is no need to disambiguate it from New Zealand Māori, but it is also known as Māori Kūki Āirani (or Maori Kuki Airani) or controversially Rarotongan. Many Cook Islanders also call it ''Te reo Ipukarea'', literally "the language of the Ancestral Homeland".

Official status

Cook Islands Māori became an official language of the Cook Islands in 2003; from 1915 until then, English had been the only official language of the Cook Islands.

Te Reo Maori Act definition

The Te Reo Maori Act 2003 states that Māori:

Pukapukan is considered by scholars and speakers alike to be a distinct language more closely related to Sāmoan and Tokelauan than Cook Islands Māori. It belongs to the Samoic subgroup of the Polynesian language family. The intention behind including Pukapukan in the definition of Te Reo Maori was to ensure its protection.

The dialects of the East Polynesian varieties of the Cook Islands (collectively referred to as Cook Islands Māori) are:
* Rakahanga-Manihiki
* Penrhyn (Tongarevan or Mangarongaro);Tongarevan is sometimes also considered as a distinct language.
* Southern: Rarotongan, Ngā Pū Toru (the dialects of Atiu, Mitiaro and Mauke), Aitutaki, Mangaia.

Cook Islands Māori is closely related to Tahitian and New Zealand Māori, and there is a degree of mutual intelligibility with both of these languages.

The language is theoretically regulated by the ''Kopapa Reo'' created in 2003, but this organisation is currently dormant.

Writing system and pronunciation

There is a debate about the standardisation of the writing system. Although the usage of the macron (־) ''te makarona'' and the glottal stop ''amata'' () () is recommended, most speakers do not use the two diacritics in everyday writing. The Cook Islands Māori Revised New Testament uses a standardised orthography (spelling system) that includes the diacritics when they are phonemic but not elsewhere.

Consonants

# Present only in Manihiki
# Present only in Penrhyn
# Present only in Manihiki and Penrhyn

Vowels

Grammar

Cook Islands Māori is an isolating language with very little morphology. Case is marked by the particle that initiates a noun phrase, and like most East Polynesian languages, Cook Islands Māori has nominative-accusative case marking.

The unmarked constituent order is predicate initial: that is, verb initial in verbal sentences and nominal-predicate initial in non-verbal sentences.

Personal pronouns

#you -2 or more- and I
#they and I

Tense-Aspect-Mood markers

Most of the preceding examples were taken from
Cook Islands Maori Dictionary
', by Jasper Buse with Raututi Taringa edited by Bruce Biggs and Rangi Moekaa, Auckland, 1995.

Possessives

Like most other Polynesian languages (Tahitian, New Zealand Māori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan ...), Cook Islands Māori has two categories of possessives, "a" and "o".

Generally, the "a" category is used when the possessor has or had control over the initiation of the possessive relationship. Usually this means that the possessor is superior or dominant to what is owned, or that the possession is considered as alienable. The "o" category is used when the possessor has or had no control over the initiation of the relationship. This usually means that the possessor is subordinate or inferior to what is owned, or that the possession is considered to be inalienable.

The following list indicates the types of things in the different categories:

* ''a'' is used in speaking of
** Movable property, instruments,
** Food and drink,
** Husband, wife, children, grandchildren, girlfriend, boyfriend,
** Animals and pets, (except for horses)
** People in an inferior position

: Te puaka a tērā vaine : the pig belonging to that woman;
: ā Tere tamariki : Tere's children;
: Kāre ā Tupe mā ika inapō : Tupe and the rest didn't get any fish last night

: Tāku ; Tāau ; Tāna ; Tā tāua ; Tā māua…. : my, mine ; your, yours ; his, her, hers, our ours…

: Ko tāku vaine tēia : This is my wife;
: Ko tāna tāne tērā : That's her husband;
: Tā kotou apinga : your possession(s);
: Tā Tare apinga : Tērā possession(s);

* ''o'' is used in speaking of
** Parts of anything
** Feelings
** Buildings and transport (including horses)
** Clothes
** Parents or other relatives (not husband, wife, children…)
** Superiors

: Te are o Tere : The house belonging to Tere;
: ō Tere pare : Tere's hat;
: Kāre ō Tina noo anga e noo ei : Tina hasn't got anywhere to sit;

: Tōku ; Tōou ; Tōna ; Tō tāua ; Tō māua…: my, mine ; your, yours ; his, her, hers ; our, ours …

: Ko tōku are tēia : This is my house;
: I tōku manako, ka tika tāna : In my opinion, he'll be right;
: Tēia tōku, tērā tōou : This is mine here, that's yours over there

Vocabulary

Pia : Polynesian arrowroot

Kata : laugh at; laughter; kata āviri : ridicule, jeer, mock

Tanu : to plant, cultivate land

angaanga : work, job

Pōpongi : morning

Tātāpaka : a kind of breadfruit pudding

ura : dance, to dance

Tuātau : time, period, season ; ē tuātau ua atu : forever

īmene : to sing, song

Riri : be angry with (ki)

Tārekareka : entertain, amuse, match, game, play game

Dialectology

Although most words of the various dialects of Cook Islands Māori are identical, but there are some variations:

Demographics

Notes

Sources

*
Cook Islands Maori Database Project
', An online project created to build a collection of Cook Islands Maori Words based on existing print dictionaries and other sources.
*
Cook Islands Maori Dictionary
', by Jasper Buse with Raututi Taringa, edited by Bruce Biggs and Rangi Moekaa, Auckland, 1995.
* ''A dictionary of the Maori Language of Rarotonga'', Manuscript by Stephen Savage, Suva : IPS, USP in association with th
Ministry of Education
of the Cook Islands, 1983.
* ''Kai Korero : Cook Islands Maori Language Coursebook'', Tai Carpentier and Clive Beaumont, Pasifika Press, 1995. (A useful learning Method with oral skills cassette)
* ''Cook Islands Cook Book'' by Taiora Matenga-Smith. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies.
* ''Maori Lessons for the Cook Islands'', by Taira Rere. Wellington, Islands Educational Division, Department of Education, 1960.
* ''Conversational Maori, Rarotongan Language'', by Taira Rere. Rarotonga, Government Printer. 1961.
* ''Some Maori Lessons'', by Taira Rere. Rarotonga. Curriculum Production Unit, Department of Education. 1976.
* ''More Maori Lessons'', by Taira Rere. Suva, University of the South Pacific.1976
* ''Maori Spelling: Notes for Teachers'', by Taira Rere. Rarotonga: Curriculum Production Unit, Education Department.1977.
* ''Traditions and Some Words of the Language of Danger or Pukapuka Island''. Journal of the Polynesian Society 13:173-176.1904.
* ''Collection of Articles on Rarotonga Language'', by Jasper Buse. London: University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. 1963.
* ''Manihikian Traditional Narratives: In English and Manihikian: Stories of the Cook Islands (Na fakahiti o Manihiki)''. Papatoetoe, New Zealand: Te Ropu Kahurangi.1988
* ''Te korero o Aitutaki, na te Are Korero o Aitutaki'', Ministry of Cultural Development, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. 1992
* ''Atiu nui Maruarua : E au tua taito'', Vainerere Tangatapoto et al. University of South Pacific, Suva 1984. (in Maori and English)
* ''Learning Rarotonga Maori'', by Makiuti Tongia, Ministry of Cultural Development, Rarotonga 1999.
* ''Te uri Reo Maori (translating in Maori)'', by Makiuti Tongia, Punanga o te reo. 1996.
* ''Atiu, e enua e tona iti tangata'', te au tata tuatua Ngatupuna Kautai...(et al.), Suva, University of the South Pacific.1993. (Maori translation of ''Atiu : an island Community'')
* ''A vocabulary of the Mangaian language'' by Christian, F. W. 1924. Bernice P. Bishop Bulletin 2. Honolulu, Bernice P. Bishop Museum.
* E au tuatua taito no Manihiki, Kauraka Kauraka, IPS, USP, Suva. 1987.

External links

Cook Islands Maori Database

Dictionary of Cook Islands Languages.

Te akataka reo Rarotonga; or, Rarotongan and English grammar by the Rev Aaron Buzacott of the London Missionary Society, Rarotonga. 1854. Old grammar in english and Rarotongan

"Tuatua mai!" Learn Cook Islands Maori

Te Reo Maori Act 2003

SBS Cook Islands Maori Radio Program.
Updated each week

Cook Islands Biodiversity : Natural History Māori Dictionaries


Cook Islands Maori Dictionary
Online version of Jasper Buse and Raututi Taringa Dictionary

Cook Islands Ministry of Cultural Development

Te Reo Māori Kūki Āirani i roto i te Kurakarāma o Aotearoa (Cook Islands Maori in the New Zealand Curriculum)


at the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre

Box of 324 index cards of plant and animal names
archived with Kaipuleohone
* Paradisec ha
an open access collection of Cook Island Maori materials
* Materials on Cook Islands Maori are included in the open access rthur Capellcollection
AC1
held by Paradisec.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook Islands Maori
Languages of New Zealand
Languages of the Cook Islands
Tahitic languages