Māori language facts for kids

Māori, also known as te reo ("the language"), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of New Zealand. Since 1987, it has been one of New Zealand's official languages. It is closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian. The number of speakers of the language has been in sharp decline since the end of World War II, but a language revitalization effort halted its extinction, and the language has been undergoing a revival since about 2015.

A national census undertaken in 2013 reported that about 149,000 people, or 3.7 per cent of the New Zealand population, could hold a conversation in Māori about everyday things. As of 2015^[update], 55 per cent of Māori adults reported some knowledge of the language; but of these speakers, only 64 per cent use Māori at home and only around 50,000 people can speak the language "very well" or "well".

There was originally no native writing system for Māori. Missionaries brought the Latin alphabet with them around 1814, and linguist Samuel Lee worked with chief Hongi Hika to systematize the written language in 1820. The resultant phonetic spellings were remarkably successful, and written Māori has changed little since. Māori distinguishes between long and short vowels; the long vowels are usually written with a macron.

Images for kids

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  "First Lessons in the Maori Language", 1862, by W. L. Williams, third Bishop of Waiapu

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  Bastion Point land rights activists with Māori-language signs

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  Bilingual sign in Broadwood, Northland.

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  Part of the annotation to a Ralph Hotere exhibition at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, written bilingually in English and southern Māori. Note several regional variations, such as Nohoka (Nohoanga, a place or seat), tikaka (tikanga, customs), pako (pango, black), and whaka (whanga, harbour).