Moriori language facts for kids

The Moriori language was a Polynesian language. It was very similar to the Māori language of New Zealand. The Moriori spoke this language. They are the native people of the Chatham Islands. These islands are called Rēkohu in Moriori. They are located east of New Zealand's South Island.

The History of the Moriori Language

The Chatham Islands were first visited by Europeans in 1791. William R. Broughton from Great Britain landed there on November 29. He claimed the islands and named them after his ship, HMS Chatham. Some of Broughton's crew members married Moriori women.

Challenges to the Moriori People and Language

In 1835, two Māori tribes, Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama, arrived. They caused great harm to the Moriori people. About 300 Moriori were killed. This was about one-sixth of their total population. Many who survived were forced into slavery.

The Moriori were not allowed to marry other Moriori. They also could not have children with each other. This made it very hard for their culture and language to survive. By 1862, only 101 Moriori people were left. By the 1870s, very few people still spoke the Moriori language.

How We Know About the Moriori Language Today

Our knowledge of the Moriori language comes from three main sources.

• In 1862, some Moriori elders wrote a letter to Governor George Grey.
• Samuel Deighton, a local judge, collected Moriori words. He published them in 1887.
• Alexander Shand gathered many Moriori texts. These were published in 1911.

The exact time the Moriori language stopped being spoken is not known. However, Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Baucke (1848–1931) was the last person known to speak it.

Samuel Deighton's list of Moriori words was later published again. It was part of Michael King's book, Moriori: A People Rediscovered (1989).

Efforts to Revive the Language

In 2000, the language was recreated for a movie. This was for Barry Barclay's documentary The Feathers of Peace. It showed how Moriori people first met Europeans and Māori.

Since 2001, the Moriori people have been working to bring their language back. They have created a collection of Moriori words. There is also an online database of Moriori words called POLLEX. You can even find a language app for Android phones.

In 2021, a new app called Ta Re Moriori was launched. Its goal is to teach the Moriori language to many new people.

Moriori Population Today

The 2006 New Zealand census showed 945 people who said they had Moriori family ties. This was a big jump from only 35 people in the 1901 census. In the 2013 census, 738 people identified as having Moriori ancestors. However, members of the Moriori imi (their word for tribe) believe there are as many as 3,500 Moriori people today.

Moriori Alphabet

The Moriori alphabet uses letters similar to English. Here's how some letters are pronounced:

• a - [a]
• e - [ɛ]
• i - [i]
• o - [ɔ]
• u - [u]
• ā - [aː]
• ē - [ɛː]
• ī - [iː]
• ō - [ɔː]
• ū - [uː]
• p - [p]
• t - [t]
• k - [k]
• m - [m]
• n - [n]
• ng - [ŋ]
• wh - [ɸ]
• h - [h]
• w - [w]
• r - [r]

How Moriori Compares to Māori

Words in Moriori often have different vowels than their Māori versions.

For example:

• The word a in Moriori is e in Māori.
• Ka in Moriori is ki in Māori.
• Eriki (lord, chief) in Moriori is ariki in Māori.
• Reimata (tear) in Moriori is roimata in Māori.
• Wihine (woman) in Moriori is wahine in Māori.

Sometimes, a vowel is dropped before or after a consonant. This creates a "closed syllable." This is similar to some Southern dialects of Māori. For example:

• Na (from ena)
• Ha (from aha)
• Rangat (from rangata)
• Nawen (from nawene)
• Hok (from hoki)
• Or (from oro)
• Mot (from motu)

Consonants like [k], [h], and [t] can sometimes sound a bit different. They might be spoken with extra breath or with the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth. An example is Motchuhar instead of Motuhara.

See also

In Spanish: Idioma moriori para niños