Pukapuka Tuhituhi

 

Ināianei kua kainga taku rorohiko e he pāpahu i tātahi. 

 

Or: "my computer was eaten just now by some dolphins at the seaside."  But that's a lie, because it wasn't, as I'm typing on it right now.

 

Māori is a flavorful language.  It has just ten consonants and five vowels, giving it a sonic aesthetic which seems smooth and gleaming.  There is an illusion of simplicity--indeed, for many years Westerners thought the language was inferior--whereas languages like German and Georgian are quite upfront about being complex and difficult.  Prtskvna!  But Māori, though straightforward in some aspects, has its own quirks, like having to memorize the unpredictable passive form of every single verb.  (This weekend, we have to go back through with a dictionary and do this for all the verbs we've learned.)

 

My favorite word so far is "notebook," or pukapuka tuhituhi.  "Computer," rorohiko, from the sentence at the top, is "lightning brain." Also fun are the borrowings from English, as the sounds have changed to fit the syllables Māori has available.  Some goodies:

 

tāone -- town

reme -- lamb

hipi -- sheep

waea -- wire

tūru -- chair (I assume this comes from "stool")

motokā -- car

wīwī -- French person (from "Oui oui")

haina -- sign

haina -- China (the two haina's are Cali's favorite)

hāhi -- church

whutupaoro -- football

karaehe -- glass (yes, that comes from "glass"... g -> k; l -> r; s -> h)

 

It's almost like an argument that Western culture has assimilated into Māori culture, though that doesn't hold much water beyond these words.

 

In the politicized atmosphere of Māori-Kiwi relations, learning Māori feels a bit like trespassing.  Unlike English or Chinese or even Finnish, which have spread all over the world, Māori remains closely tied to these islands and the identity of the native population.  In studying Māori, one seems implicitly to want to take part in the cultural life of the Māori people, which maybe is something they never asked you to do.  I mean, the Māori have given up so much since the Pākehā (white people) came, maybe they don't want to share what they have left.  The Māori we've met so far, though, have been incredibly welcoming, and I think most are just looking for respect.

 

What people probably wonder more is, "Why are these Americans interested in Māori?"  It makes sense for a New Zealander to want to pick up Māori: it's an official language, there are signs written in it, you'll have some friends who probably speak it, and you can understand the names of towns, roads, and landmarks.  But once we leave New Zealand...whelp...  Secret code with Alpha Theta people?

 

Maybe the reason I'm wondering all this is because our teacher, Professor Mutu, is a bit of a firebrand.  In the Māori language class, she seems quirky and a little strict, so overall I like her as a teacher.  She hasn't been like, "You white people definitely cannot learn this language well."  She even makes sure to explain some Kiwi terms for us Americans.  But in the Māori culture class (which the linguistics people aren't taking), she has talked about how the Pākehā can never understand certain things and automatically have suppressive tendencies.  Apparently she's in favor of taking back all Māori land and making the whites and Asians leave, and argues that since her people are not in a position of power, none of her opinions can be considered racist.  I'm not going to issue an opinion on that, as I can't begin yet to understand the racial dynamics of this country. 

 

But I must say that Dr. Mutu reminds me of another controversial doctor...



 

 

And this is the part of the blog where I get kicked off the program.