Te Reo Māori

Kāi Tahu Reo At Ōtākou with the quick introduction of Christianity by the missionaries our ancestors quickly took up writing with gusto and between whānau and archives we have an extensive library of manuscripts, waiata, whakapapa and other information in te reo Māori.

However we haven't had the intergenerational transmission of language in the home for 3-4 generations or more. Our last native speaker who was raised at Ōtākou was Tarewai Wesley and he died in 1969.

We have been fortunate that in more recent times some of our people have made huge efforts to try and learn te reo Māori and have varying levels of fluency. Our matriarchs such as Aunt Magdalene Walscott and Aunt Mori Pickering (nee Ellison) and other kaumatua such as Aunt Jean Duff (nee Bragg), Tatane Wesley, George Ellison, Boyd Russell and the list goes on couldn't speak Māori. Although they may have had exposure to many native speakers as children and rakatahi through to the 1960's they were not able to pass te reo on to their children as a first language. Some of the following generation have spent time learning te reo Māori, Khyla Russell and Raewyn Harris (nee Russell) attended Te Ātaarangi in Poneke in the 70's, Edward Ellison has attended many wānaka since the early 80's and others likes of Kuao Langsbury picked up some ceremonial te reo and this has all been in a time when events like the exhibition of Te Māori forced our people to learn and also the Ngāi Tahu claim was also at its concluding peak. This generation have possibly had the least exposure and the most difficult road to walk in learning te reo Māori.

The following generations have had more opportunities to learn and some of our people have gone through the kohanga reo and kura kaupapa, others have attended university to learn and many have entered varying wānaka around the country. Tahu Potiki has dedicated years to learning te reo and researching Kāi Tahu reo (please visit http://www.otakourep.co.nz if you would like specific Kāi Tahu reo information from Tahu's papers and research)

There are now younger whānau attempting to raise their children in te reo by speaking Māori to their children in an effort to recreate language as a normal language within the home. Please contact Paulette Tamati-Elliffe at paulette@ngaitahu.iwi.nz<../../index.htmla> if you would like to know more about the Ngāi Tahu language initiative called Kotahi Mano Kāika.

Learning te reo Māori isn't something all of our people have taken on. Within our local Ōtākou community and on the marae, whānau have committed to areas that they value and live by like mahika kai, going to the titi islands, protecting our tuaki, digging our graves, looking after our kāuta and the list goes on. However there are those whānau who have had the fortune and time and hunger to learn te reo and commit to it as a spoken and living language.

To conclude it is important for you to know that Ōtākou supports the dialectual "K" and the revitalisation of our kīwaha, whakataukī, kupu ake etc... There is copious evidence in our manuscripts, waiata, placenames and so forth that we also had a distinct dialect and idioms and words that were quite unique to Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe and Waitaha. Please see Tahu Potiki's site for information on dialect and history around the language – http://www.otakourep.co.nz

It is important to note however that our language is not so unusual as to not be understood at all by other iwi throughout New Zealand. Fortunately our close links to Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou have provided us with an opportunity to examine the language similarities in genre, style, grammar, idiom, proverbial sayings and text. Our languages are strikingly similar because of our genealogical links and this is evident in manuscripts, waiata and mōteatea, parliamentary letters and particularly in the scores of past Māori Newspapers.

If you have questions about Kāi Tahu dialect or Māori language please contact Te Runaka o Ōtākou and you will be forwarded to the right sources for information and or explanation.

Letter

This is an example of a letter written by H.K.Taiaroa in 1852. This is really a model example of our Kāi Tahu reo of that time. There are some distinct features that are identifiably Kāi Tahu. Here is a list of some of the features in the letter :

Māruaroa – this is our word for the month March
Kā – the 'K' instead of the 'Ng'
Kurapa mai – a word unique to our iwi that can be translated as – 'make haste'/ 'quick'
Tou – this is the same as tonu and is also a feature in te reo o Ngāti Porou
Kauraka – this is the same as 'Kaua'
Mātau – this is the same as 'mātou'

TE 1 O KĀ RĀ O MĀRUAROA 1852

E hoa e te Makarini.

Kāore anō tō pukapuka kia tae mai ki ahau, ka oti pea te tahae e kā kaitiaki pukapuka. Kurapa mai tētahi pukapuka i a koe, kia kurehu tou mai, kia roko au i tā kōrua kōrero ko te Wahapiro.

E tama, e Wani, nā taua takata nā, nā te Wahapiro ki a koe.

Kauraka hoki a roa atu, kia wawe te roko atu mātau.

Ka mutu

Nā tōu hoa aroha

Nā Taiaroa