Show Notes
Tena tatou! This week I wanted to speak on some of the genius of te reo maori, and how useful I have found our use of personifying our environment and everyday phenomena has been in my own life.
Whakatauki - Taringa muhu kai (Ears groping for food.) [Te Kohikohinga Whakatauki a Raupo, pg 9]
Whakautu Patai - "Me kaua..." - Is this correct? No. This is incorrect. Te Whanau Wiremu has this to say: [A Dictionary of the Maori Language, pg xviii] "Weak (Hortatory or Deliberative.) Me karanga ia. - He had better call; let him call. (Not used in the negative.)"
if you want to express the idea of something that should not be done. Below is a great example from the Maori Newspaper The Maori Messenger. Te Karere Maori (1855-61) (MM.TKM 3-4/1855) [Te Aka, example 2] "Kaua koe e whakaae kia whai mana i a koe ngā tāngata whakaaro kore, engari, kei ngā tāngata whakaaro, kei ngā tāngata e arotau ana ki tō mātou reo (MM.TKM 3-4/1855:9). / Do not let thoughtless people be in power, but people of thought, people who look kindly on our language."
Wetereo: "Idiomatically, common nouns can be personified, that is, treated as if they were people" "Kua rongo maua ko taringa. Kua puta a Pito." [A Maori Reference Grammar, pg 34]
"Te Paki o Hewa" [Kohikohinga Whakatauki a Raupo, pg 10]
More from A Maori Podcast
E hoa ma! I'm excited to share with you the Maori language challenge I've set for myself. Basically, I'm introducing an old custom, an old practice that was quite common amongst our tupuna. That is implementing tapu onto our speech.
Kia ora e te iwi! I was so fortunate to speak with my new friend Ronik and talk about his journey towards speaking te reo Maori.