KEY POINTS:
Once again we celebrate Maori Language Week. The activities for the week are promoted jointly by the Maori Language Commission, Te Puni Kokiri and the Human Rights Commission. The latter organisation regards the right to speak one's language as a basic human right.
The theme for 2008 is "Maori language in the home". It is a theme which aligns with the teachings of world-renowned linguist Joshua Fishman, who argues that in order for a language to survive there must be intergenerational transmission in the home.
I was born in 1952 and raised by my grandparents in Mahia, a rural Maori community. I regard myself as fortunate to have grown up in a Maori-speaking household. In 1959 we migrated to Omahu, a semi-rural Maori community on the outskirts of Hastings where I had much greater exposure to the English language.
At school the teachers and other children spoke only English. My grandparents bought a radio but the only Maori language broadcast in those days was a five-minute news bulletin on Sunday evenings. Not surprisingly, English became the main language of communication by us, the younger members of our whanau.
In the 1970s the New Zealand Council for Educational Research provided evidence to show that urgent intervention was required to stem the demise of the Maori language. Only 18-20 per cent of all Maori could speak their own language and these were mainly elderly folk who lived in rural areas. By 1996 this figure had plummeted to 8 per cent.
Today, some positive trends indicate that intergenerational transmission of Maori language is under way. Data from the 2006 Census show that 24 per cent of Maori could hold a conversation in Maori about everyday things and that 10 per cent of them speak the language on a regular basis in the home. Significantly, an increasing proportion of these are young people.
In 1970 I went to Victoria University and joined the Te Maori Society set up by Koro Dewes. We teamed up with Auckland-based Nga Tamatoa and carried out petition drives to gather support for having Maori language taught in schools. We collected over 30,000 signatures for the petition spearheaded by Hana Jackson (nee Hemara).
We presented the petition to Parliament on September 14, 1972, an action that led to the establishment of the first Maori Language Day which has now evolved into the Maori Language Week we celebrate today. This led to the development of pilot bilingual schools in the early 1980s and then kohanga reo (whanau-based pre-school institutions where children are taught in Maori, not English), kura kaupapa and wharekura (total immersion primary schools and high schools) and wananga (Maori-focused tertiary institutions).
Maori have been highly political in their struggles to save their language. In 1985, a claim headed by Huirangi Waikerepuru and others of Nga Kaiwhakapumau i Te Reo Maori and by the New Zealand Maori Council was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal. The claim was that the Crown had breached the Treaty of Waitangi in failing to protect the Maori language as a taonga (treasure).
Recognition of this failing resulted in the passing of the Maori Language Act in 1987, whereby the Maori Language Commission was established and Maori recognised as an official language of this country.
In 2003 the Government revised their Maori Language Strategy with the vision that, by 2028, the Maori language would be widely spoken. With the establishment of the Maori Television Service in 2004, and the increased presence of Maori radio networks, the chances of this vision being realised are greatly improved.
To achieve the 2028 vision, however, more New Zealanders need to learn the Maori language. To start with, it can be made much more widely and fully available to the nation's children in mainstream schools. It is not uncommon for children overseas to know more than one language. Learning another language increases intellectual capacity and opens the mind up to another culture.
The results of a survey into attitudes towards the Maori language from 2000-2006 are encouraging. The support by non-Maori for Maori language being spoken in public doubled from 40 per cent to 80 per cent, with 76 per cent of respondents being supportive of Maori radio and 70 per cent being supportive of the Maori Television Service.
The Maori language and culture give this country its uniqueness which may be why increasing numbers of non-Maori New Zealanders are learning the language. The 2006 Census data shows 16 per cent of those people who indicated they could speak Maori were non-Maori. This is a great start.
Other positive indicators for the Maori language include advancements in the area of information technology which will really push the Maori language out into the international arena and cyberspace. The surveys show a great increase by Maori in the use of Maori language when emailing.
Microsoft have developed a Maori language version of some of its products; and on Wednesday a Maori language version of Google will be launched. This is all good news and bodes well for the future.
However, there is one particular indicator I remain concerned about - the quality of Maori language being produced. The language used by my grandparents 20 years ago has changed greatly with today's generations. There is a vastly different type of proficiency today. There is a need for New Zealanders, both non-Maori and Maori, to strive for excellence in Maori language proficiency. The emphasis of the Government's strategic focus needs to extend now, from quantity to quality.
We do have reason to look forward optimistically though, with the knowledge that the efforts of the Maori language activists of the 1970s, of subsequent Maori language revitalists, of non-Maori supporters and of Government have not been in vain and are now starting to pay off. There is no room for complacency, however. Let's continue to build and strengthen our nation together. Let's continue to teach and learn the Maori language and in doing so find out more about Maori culture - they are potentially two of New Zealand's greatest untapped resources.
* Dr Joseph Selwyn Te Rito is a senior research fellow at Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, a Centre of Research Excellence based at The University of Auckland.
