Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 June 1981 — Te Reo Maori -- A New Lease On Life [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Te Reo Maori -- A New Lease On Life

MAURI TU, MAURI ORA MAURI MOE, MAURI MATE The active spirit lives The sleeping spirit dies One hundred years ago all Maoris spoke their native language. Today perhaps 10 percent of Maoris speak Maori as a first language. How this change occurred, what is being done about it, and what may happen in the future is the subject of this article.

The first real assault on the Maori language occurred in the late 19th century with the passage of the Europeanization Act by the eolonial government. The act sought to promote the "civilization" of Maoris by replacing their native language with English. The primary emphasis was through the schools where several generations of Maoris were physically punished for speaking Maori at school. It was not until the 1930's and 1940's that the Europeanization policy began to succeed. Young Maoris were brought up to believe that speaking Maori "would not get them a job." These people became part of the Maon urban migration that occurred in the 1950's. The movement to the cities of Iarge numbers of Maoris seeking jobs brought the two New Zealand races and societies

into closer contact than had occurred previously. For Maoris, English became not just the language of the school but also of the factory, the public bar, and eventually the home, particularly as interracial marriages became more eommon. The children of these city Maoris grew up speaking little or no Maon at home and none at school. On leaving school many found that speaking only English was no guarantee of a job; Maoris were generally the last hired and the first fired at any job site. The result was a rootless generation of second class citizens, condemned by the color of their skin and not knowing what it was to think, speak or be Maori. In 1970 a group of young Maoris in Auckland formed Nga Tamatoa (the young warriors) to confront the Pakeha (European) society with Maori issues, particularly those of land and language. The university education and training of group members, combined with their use of protest tactics led to their being abused by the authorities and criticized by older, more conservative Maori leaders.

An early project of Nga Tamatoa was the organization of a nationwide petition on Maori language by group member Hana Mere Jackson. The petition sought to have Maori language taught in New Zealand schools at the primary level. The petition, with over 30,000 signatures, was presented to Parliament on September 14, 1972, the first Nahonal Maori Language Day (later becoming Nahonal Maori I_anguage Week). Part of Nga Tamatoa's language program was to train fluent Maori speakers to teach the language in schools. Skillful Maori teachers and teacher trainers trained the experts on Maori language - elders who often had little formal

education - to teach Maori. This very successful program was eventually taken up by the government, although only for secondary schools. Thus the number of students learning Maori in schools gradually grew in the 1970's as more teachers were trained. Maori is now being taught in a number of secondary and some primary schools throughout New Zealand. However, eonfining the language to the classroom for grades and exams threatens its survival. To counter this threat, a number of parallel initiatives taken by the Government and by Maoris themselves seem likely to insure that this textbook Maori will be accompanied by plenty of activity in Maori society "to talk Maori about."

In education the government has initated a bilingual education project at Ruatoki (in the Bay of Plenty), where Maori is still the first language for the children. The children are taught in Maori and taught English as a second language only, rather than expecting them to leam reading, writing and arithmetic in a new language from their first day at school. The Maori Affairs Department has also initiated the Tu Tangata program. One of the program's activities is to take young Maoris from the city back to their tribal roots and introduce them totheir heritage. Loeal tribes have cooperated enthusiastically with the project, with elders teaching their mokopunas (grandchildren) about arts and crafts, tribal history, and the land. Finally, many tribes have entered the business world, establishing land corporations, farms and factories. For example, in 1952 the Whakatohea tribe was granted a $40,000 cash settlement in recompense for 143,870 acres of land confiscated by

the govemment last century. For 25 years this has been used to buy farm land. More recently the Tribal Trust Board, whieh administers the holdings, branched into industry and built two factories whieh employ tribe members in Opotiki. Coupled with these activities has eome redevelopment of the maraes. Maoritanga (Maori identity) and Maori language are intimately related with these exciting developments. Children entering schools today will find when they leave that Maori language learned in school will be essential if they wish to move freely in Maori society. What of the future? The assault by the monoculture has been slowed but by no means stopped. Nevertheless, the next few years promise rapid developments as Maoii society goes out and creates its own opportunities rather than waiting for eonscessions to be handed out. Recognition of the Maori language as New Zealand's second national language by the year 2000 is a realistic goal.

By that time possibly 30 percent of the New Zealand people will be of Maori descent. A large proportion of these will speak Maori, at least as a second language. A goodly proportion of nonMaori society will also have learned the language, both inside and outside the schools. The ability to speak Maori will thus be a part of life for many, if not most, New Zealanders, and that fact will have to be recognized at the national level. Bioline: Miehael Walker is part Maori descent and is a member of the Whakatohea tribe from the eastern Bay of Plent y in New Zealand. He is currently at the Universify of Hawai'i where he is studyingfor a PhD in Zoolog y on an EastWest center scholarship.