Features of Maaori English

Focusing on the mother tongue?

• The revival of Maaori is often described as a successful example of language revival.The focus has been on speakers of te reo

• But is there a way for Maori to speak te reo Paakehaa in a way to signal Maaori identity?

• Yes! There is, bro.

Discourse or Pragmatic features• 1. Discourse particle EH/AYE and other tags –isn’t, • I won't make that mistake again eh• this school was very traditional eh• 2. High rising terminal intonation• he used to call into the pub to see my mum and

stepfather • and no that's gone out to every other • 3. Discourse particle Y'KNOW• the local Māori didn't take too - y'know - take too

kindly to that•

Possible phonological features• 7. ING reduction [n] for [ŋ] - turning, talking• 8. Initial T non-aspiration [t] not [th] for /t/ - time, type• 9. Final Z devoicing [s] or [˚z] for /z/ his, goes• 10. TH affrication or stopping [t] or [tθ] for /θ/• think through• 11. DH affrication or stopping [d] or [dð] for /ð/• these, them• 12. I decentralisation [i] for /ɪ/• big did• 13 U fronting: /ʉ/ or [y] for /u/• too, doing, making the diphthong /əʉ/ know, no

Is Maaori English more ‘musical’?

• Maaori English has a different rhythm and melody to more Pakeha/standard varieties of NZE

• 2 reasons• The pitch patterns – rising and falling of the

voice is clearer in MaaoriE. Pitch raising is steeper and pitch lowering is deeper.

Reason 2: stress

• English stress pattern impacts on vowels– Stressed syllables are longer and louder– The least stressed syllable is shorter– Because there is less time to produce the vowel

they are reduced to a central vowel

– Economy v economic

Maaori stress

• Stress in te reo Maaori never lengthens a syllable• Never has syllable reduction due to no stress

• Syllables come in two lengths • Long – long vowels and dipthongs• Short – short vowels• Wāhine ‘women’ wahine ‘woman’

• Maaori English is informed by the stress rules of te reo

• Less reduction of unstressed vowels, and less lengthening of stressed syllables.

• Creates a more staccato or abrupt rhythm.• Add the more melodic pitch pattern and you

have a more musical accent

Possible grammatical features• 4. TAG questions (REALLY?)• it's not a very good omen really, is it?• that's government really for you, isn't it?• 5. HAVE deletion• you got no right being in here• you gotta get up on your feet and go for it• 6. THERE'S + plural complement• there's people at work who cna help me• there's very few New Zealanders working

within the government anymore

Pragmatic particles/devices• Discourse or pragmatic particles don’t add directly to the

semantic or propositional meaning of a sentence.• They tell the listener how to interpret speaker intentions, or

orientations.• Speaker intentions – well hesitancy

• Some particles are speaker orientated– I think, I mean,

• Some particles are addressee/listener orientated– you know, eh?

• these ones invite feedback, presume shared knowledge

Pragmatic particles/devices• Discourse or pragmatic particles don’t add directly to the

semantic or propositional meaning of a sentence.• They tell the listener how to interpret speaker intentions, or

orientations.• Speaker intentions – well hesitancy

• Some particles are speaker orientated– I think, I mean,

• Some particles are addressee/listener orientated– you know, eh?

• these ones invite feedback, presume shared knowledge

Maori uses of pragmatic devices

• If Solidarity between speakers is of utmost importance to Polynesians in communication (Metge and Kinloch 1984):

• Q: Do Maori use addressee orientation devices more frequently than Pakeha?

• Stubbe looked at eh and you know in a corpus of conversations (casual setting) and interviews (formal setting)

• Looked for evidence for variation across ethnicity Maori versus Pakeha, age - young versus middle aged, and gender male-female

Pragmatic devices/10 000 words – Pakeha and Maaori

• Conversation Interview• Maaori Pakeha Maaori Pakeha

Eh 36 4 1.5 0You know 78 30 41 21Tags 2 22 1 0.5All AODs 116 56 43 22I think 24 34 29 44

• There seems to be a strong correlation between ethnicity and the usage of eh, you know and a strong correlation between ethnicity and frequency of Addressee oriented devices