Knowra Māori language Māori language Māori, or te reo Māori, is the Indigenous Polynesian language of the Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand. It is one of the country’s official languages.
Māori phonology : The sound system of Māori, including its vowels, consonants, and patterns of syllable formation. Its five-vowel system and open syllables give spoken Māori a distinctive sound.
Proto-Polynesian language : The reconstructed ancestral language from which the Polynesian languages developed. Māori descends from the Polynesian languages that emerged from this ancestor.
Māori language decline : The reduction in Māori speakers and intergenerational transmission, especially during the twentieth century. Declining transmission made community-led recovery an urgent priority.
Te reo Māori in New Zealand education : The teaching and use of Māori in New Zealand schools and tertiary education. Education ranges from Māori as a subject to full Māori-medium instruction.
New Zealand English : The variety of English spoken in New Zealand, shaped by Māori, British, and other influences. It has long dominated public life while also incorporating Māori words and pronunciations.
Māori grammar : The rules governing word forms, sentence structure, and grammatical relationships in Māori. Particles and word order convey relationships that English often marks with inflections.
Eastern Polynesian languages : A subgroup of Polynesian languages spoken across the eastern Pacific, including Māori and Hawaiian. Māori shares a closer linguistic history with these languages than with western Polynesian ones.
Māori language revitalization : Efforts to increase Māori language learning, use, and transmission across homes, communities, and institutions. Revitalization aims to restore Māori as a language of everyday life.
Māori-medium education : Education in which Māori is the principal language of teaching and learning. It creates settings where Māori can serve as a language of knowledge across subjects.
New Zealand Sign Language : The sign language used by Deaf communities in New Zealand and one of the country’s official languages. It shares official-language status with Māori but has a distinct history and modality.
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