Cook Islands Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language that is the official language of the Cook Islands. Cook Islands Māori is closely related to New Zealand Māori, but is a distinct language in its own right. Cook Islands Māori is simply called Māori when there is no need to disambiguate it from New Zealand Māori, but it is also known as Māori Kūki ʻĀirani (orMaori Kuki Airani) or, controversially,[3] Rarotongan. Many Cook Islanders also call it Te reo Ipukarea, literally "the language of the Ancestral Homeland".
| Cook Islands Māori | |
|---|---|
| Māori, Maori Kuki Airani, Māori Kūki ʻĀirani | |
| Native to | Cook Islands, New Zealand |
| Region | Polynesia |
Native speakers | 13,620 in Cook Islands, 96% of ethnic population (2011 census)[1] 7,725 in New Zealand, 12% of ethnic population (2013)[2] |
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Cook Islands |
| Regulated by | Kopapa Reo |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | rar |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:rar – Rarotongapnh – Tongareva (Penrhyn)rkh – Rakahanga-Manihiki |
| Glottolog | raro1241 Southern Cook Island Maoripenr1237 Māngarongaroraka1237 Rakahanga-Manihiki |
| ELP | Southern Cook Islands Maori |
| IETF | rar-CK |
Cook Islands Māori is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
| This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. | |
Cook Islands Māori became an official language of the Cook Islands in 2003; from 1915 until then, English had been the only official language of the Cook Islands.
The Te Reo Maori Act 2003 states that Māori:[4]
- means the Māori language (including its various dialects) as spoken or written in any island of the Cook Islands; and
- Is deemed to include Pukapukan as spoken or written in Pukapuka; and
- Includes Māori that conforms to the national standard for Māori approved by Kopapa Reo.
Pukapukan is considered by scholars and speakers alike to be a distinct language more closely related to Samoan and Tokelauan than Cook Islands Māori. It belongs to the Samoic subgroup of the Polynesian language family. The intention behind including Pukapukan in the definition of Te Reo Maori was to ensure its protection.
The dialects[5] of the East Polynesian varieties of the Cook Islands (collectively referred to as Cook Islands Māori) are:
Cook Islands Māori is closely related to Tahitian and New Zealand Māori, and there is a degree of mutual intelligibility with both of these languages.
The language is theoretically regulated by the Kōpapa reo māori board created in 2003, but this organisation is currently dormant.
There is a debate about the standardisation of the writing system. Although the usage of the macron (־) te makarona and the glottal stop amata (ʻ) (/ʔ/) is recommended, most speakers do not use the two diacritics in everyday writing. The Cook Islands Māori Revised New Testament uses a standardised orthography (spelling system) that includes the diacritics when they are phonemic but not elsewhere.[citation needed]
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
| Plosive | p | t | k | ʔ |
| Tap | ɾ | |||
| Fricative | f[a] v | s[b] | h[c] |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Close-mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
Cook Islands Māori is an isolating language with very little morphology. Case is marked by the particle that initiates a noun phrase, and like most East Polynesian languages, Cook Islands Māori has nominative-accusative case marking.
The unmarked constituent order is predicate initial: that is, verb initial in verbal sentences and nominal-predicate initial in non-verbal sentences.
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st inclusive | au | tāua | tātou1 |
| 1st exclusive | māua | mātou2 | |
| 2nd | koe | kōrua | kōtou |
| 3rd | aia | rāua | rātou |
| Pronoun | Cook Islands Maori | English | Word-to-word and gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| au | Ka ʻaere au ki te ʻāpiʻi āpōpō listenⓘ | I'm going to school tomorrow. | (unaccomplished asp.)/ go / I / (prep. goal/destination) / the / learn / tomorrow |
| Ka ʻārote au inanaʻi, nō te ua rā, kua ʻakakore au | I was going to do the ploughing yesterday, but gave it up because of the rain. | (unaccomplished asp.) / plough / I / yesterday / because (origin) / the / rain / day /(perfect asp.) / give up (litt. "do nothing") /I | |
| koe | Kua kino iā koe tō mātou mōtokā | You damaged our car. | (perfect asp.) / bad / by / you /(possession)/we (exclusive) /car |
| Ko koe ʻoki, te tangata tā te ʻakavā e kimi nei | You are the person the police are looking for. | (subject marker) / you / also / the / man / (possession) / the / police / (progressive asp. with "nei") /look for/here and now. | |
| aia | ʻEaʻa ʻaia i ʻaere mai ei | Why did he/she come? | why (ʻeaʻa... ei) / he or she / (accomplished asp) / go / towards me / |
| Kāre ʻaia i konei | He/she is not here. | (negation asp.) / he or she / (marking position) / here |
| Pronoun | Cook Islands Maori | English | Word-to-word and gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tāua | ʻaere tāua ! | Let us go! | go / we two (inclusive) |
| Ko tō tāua taeake tērā ake | Here come our friends. | (subject marker) / (possession) / we two (inclusive) / friend or relative of the same generation (brother, sister, cousin either sex) speaking, but not in laws./ that (deictic)/ a little time (or distance)away | |
| we two, us two (he/she and I) | Ka ʻoki māua ko Taria ki te kāinga listenⓘ | Taria and I are going back home. | (unaccomplished asp.)/ return / we two (exclusive) / with / Taria/ (prep. goal)/ the / home |
| To tāua taeake tērā ake | Here come our friends. | (subject marker) / possession / we two (exclusive) / friend / that (deictic)/ a little time (or distance away) | |
| Kōrua : you two | ʻāe ! kua rongo kōrua i te nūti! | Hey! Have you heard the news? | hey (interj) / (perfect asp.) / hear / you two / (object marker) / the / news / |
| Na kōrua teia puka | This book belongs to you two. | (Possession) / you two / this (deictic) / book | |
| Rāua : they, them (the two of them) | Tuatua muna tēia, ka akakite ʻua atu au kia rāua | This is a confidential matter, I shall only tell it to those two. | speak, speech / secret / this / (unaccomplished asp.) / reveal (make known) / only / away (from the speaker)/ I / (prep. ki+a)towards (someone)/ they two |
| No ʻea mai rāua ? | Where have the two of them been? / What have they been doing? | from / (time and space interr.) / (indicating progression of time towards present) / they two |
| Pronoun | Cook Islands Maori | English | Word-to-word and gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tātou : We, us (you -2 or more- and I) | Koʻai tā tātou e tiaki nei | Who are we waiting for? | Who (subject marker+identity interr.) / (possession) / we, all of us (inclusive) / (progressive asp.) / wait for / here and now |
| Kāre ā tātou kai toe | We have no more food. | (Negation asp.) / (possession) / we, all of us (inclusive) / eat, food / remain, remaining, the rest | |
| Mātou : we, us (they and I) | Ko mātou ma Tere mā i ʻaere mai ei | We came with Tere and the others. | (subject marker)/ we (exclusive) / with, and / Tere / (part used only after persons meaning those in company with / (accomplisshed asp.) / go / (movement towards speaker) / (emphasis marks) |
| Kua kite mai koe ia mātou | You saw us. | (perfect asp.) / see(towards speaker) / you / at someone (i+a) / we (exclusive) | |
| Kōtou : (all of you) | E ʻaere atu kōtou, ka āru atu au | You go on, and I'll follow. | (imperative asp.)/ go / (away from the speaker) / you all / (unaccomplished asp.) / follow / go / (away from the speaker) / I |
| Ko kōtou koʻai mā i aere ei ki te tautai? listenⓘ | Who did you go fishing with? | (Subject marker) / you all / who (identity interr.) / in company with / (accomplished asp.) / go / (emphasis) / (goal/destination) / the / fishing | |
| Rātou : they, them (more than two) | Kua pekapeka rātou ko Tere | They and Tere have quarrelled. | (perfect asp.)/ trouble / they all / (subject marker)/ Tere |
| Nō rātou te pupu māroʻiroʻi | They have the strongest team. | (Possession) / they all / the / team (litt. group of people) / strong |
| Marker | Aspect | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Tē... nei | present continuous |
Tē manako nei au i te ʻoki ki te ʻare : I am thinking of going back to the house |
| Kia | Mildly imperative or exhortatory, expressing a desire, a wish rather than a strong command. |
Kia vave mai! : be quick ! (don't be long!) |
| e | Imperative, order |
e ʻeke koe ki raro : you get down |
| Auraka | interdiction, don't |
Auraka rava koe e ʻāmiri i tēia niuniu ora, ka ʻutiʻutiʻia koe : don't on any account touch this live wire, you'll get a shock |
| kāre | indicate the negation, not, nothing, nowhere |
Kāre nō te ua : It will not rain |
| e... ana | habitual action or state |
E ʻaere ana koe ki te ʻura : Do you go to the dance? |
| Ka | Refers prospectively to the commencement of an action or state. Often translatable as the English future tense or "going to" construction |
Ka imene a Mere ākonei ite pō : Mary is going to sing later on tonight |
| Kua | translatable as the English simple past or present tense (with adjectives) |
Kua kite mai koe ia mātou : You saw us |
Most of the preceding examples were taken from Cook Islands Maori Dictionary, by Jasper Buse with Raututi Taringa edited by Bruce Biggs and Rangi Moekaʻa, Auckland, 1995.
Like most other Polynesian languages (Tahitian, New Zealand Māori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan ...), Cook Islands Māori has two categories of possessives, "a" and "o".
Generally, the "a" category is used when the possessor has or had control over the initiation of the possessive relationship. Usually this means that the possessor is superior or dominant to what is owned, or that the possession is considered as alienable. The "o" category is used when the possessor has or had no control over the initiation of the relationship. This usually means that the possessor is subordinate or inferior to what is owned, or that the possession is considered to be inalienable.
The following list indicates the types of things in the different categories:
Although most words of the various dialects of Cook Islands Māori are identical, there are some differences:
| Rarotonga | Aitutaki | Mangaia | Ngāputoru | Manihiki | Tongareva | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tuatua | ʻautara | taratara | araara | vananga | akaiti | speak, speech |
| ʻānau | ʻānau | ʻānau | fanau | hanau | family | |
| kūmara | kūʻara | kūʻara | kūmara | kūmara | kumala | sweet potatoes |
| kāre | kāʻore, ʻāʻore | eʻi, ʻāore | ʻāita, kāre | kaua, kāre | kore | no, not |
| tātā | kiriti | tātā | tātā | tātā | tata | write |
| ʻura | koni | ʻura | ʻingo, oriori, ʻura | hupahupa | kosaki | dance |
| ʻakaipoipo | ʻakaipoipo | ʻāʻāipoipo | ʻakaipoipo | fakaipoipo | selenga | wedding |
| ʻīkoke | koroio | rakiki | tūngāngā | hikoke | mokisi | thin |
| ʻare | ʻare | ʻare | ʻare | fare | hare | house |
| maʻata | ʻatupaka | ngao | nui, nunui, ranuinui | kore reka | polia | big |
| matū, pete | ngenengene | pori | poripori | menemene | suesue | fat |
| Place | Cook Islands Māori-speaking population |
|---|---|
| Cook Islands | 13,620 |
| New Zealand | 7,725 |
| New South Wales | 1,612[7] |
| Queensland | 1,609[8] |
| Victoria | 1,468[9] |
| Western Australia | 308[10] |
| South Australia | 63[10] |
| Australian Capital Territory | 28[11] |
| Northern Territory | 21[12] |
| Tasmania | 10[13] |
This practice conflicts with that of community members, who use the name Rarotongan to specifically refer to the variety spoken in Rarotonga. Non-Rarotongan Cook Islands Māori speakers can be offended by this conflation... Therefore, the name "Rarotongan" should be only be used to refer to the Rarotongan variety and never to Cook Islands Māori as a whole.
