My friend sent me a link to Maori Television.http://www.maoritelevision.comWhile watching many of the videos, I noticed their accent in te reo maori had, as I've noticed before in the past, influence of the English language, at least their English accent, or rather kiwi accent. It helps when you get to see some of the shows (te reo) that focuses on learning the language and they write it out. It is the vowel sounds that are noticeable, at least for the Maoris. And they had one native speaker, an elderly woman whose vowels were different from all the others. Hers sounded more Polynesian, or rather less Kiwi, if that's the best way to describe it. Still Maori though.With Hawaiian, as I've stressed over & over to others, it is the consonants that people don't get. In fact, that one guy on that Te Reo show was very good with his "K" sound, sounded very throaty, and almost like our 'okina as in the word mo'opuna which is their mokopuna.But it is this consonant inaccuracy that leads others, particularly those who want to be "decolonized" if that's the best way to describe it, that the missionaries changed the language, at least that's their theory, and worse, that the Hawaiian language had a G, B, V, R and T. How can they had it before when the language was never written before? lolAnyway, would be nice to get the original pronunciation, but if no can...at least UNDERSTAND it, the history of it, and how the sounds are actually done. Then go ahead & mispronounce all you want, but at least understand it.
Ah, see that is one I never knew of, haole/ha'ole. I mean, I knew of the evolution of it, but assumed that haole is the current word & carries all the meanings that was attached to it since the beginning.
Oh, I just rembered 2 things. Molokai & Moloka'i, something I still need to verify w/ Aunty Kauwila Reyes, my cousins' tutu & who taught me Hawaiian. Her parents' were recorded in interiews & housed @ the Bishop Museum. Good ole mana'e...gotta love that place.
And the other thing was totou (or was it tatou) for maori and korua for our kakou & 'olua. You would think that the "ou" is pronounced the same but that's what caused me to write about this & English' influence on the native language.
You are correct. When I used to visit Molokai, I still get in the habit to use mana'e referring to the eastend I got from my family there. I had to chuckle with that. At home in Wahiawa, Oahu, I learned to words very well from Tutu man; po'opa'akiki and lapuwale. LOL... I knew I was hard-headed but not good fo nothing; just kolohe. I also learned the subtle difference of haole, ha'ole, and hao-le and their definition. Interesting. mahalo hou for more input on this.
A oia e Tane! I still like to say NA'E for our "east" which is specific for Molokai versus....whatever else is used in Hawaiian. And then you have like you mentioned, meikei, etc. I grew up learning from a kupuna who said la'ua, ka'ua and later in the 90s I heard others saying it w/ that glide....lau+a, kau+a. Then a few yrs ago I read about those pronunciation differences.
But having the regional dialects of our nation spoken by our ancestors is one thing. To have our olelo makuahine change in pronunciation due to English influence is another. It seems inevitable unless we can get more native speakers teaching the correct pronunciation at a young age, or people who pick up languages well.
It's not that they had those letters but the sounds of them or at least a close variant. We do know there were 5 major dialects throughout the islands. The missionaries were trying to universalize it for a standard and used the letter that sounded closest to its sound in order to simplify it in their ears for their written language; thus condensed it in elementary form. English itself has many dialects and spellings, even with the same word. Hawaiians trying to universalize our language like the missionaries seem more critical of our language than those English speaking countries. You say either; I say either (eye-ther). Li'dat! lol...
Mahalo for bringing this to the fore, as in forefront. lol... regionalism plays a part and so we shouldn't be too critical of ourselves in speaking our language as a living one.
maika'i, maikai, meikei no. No?
You are correct that the purpose is communication and that your thoughts are understood; which matters. The tone of the language holds the mana.
Comments
Oh, I just rembered 2 things. Molokai & Moloka'i, something I still need to verify w/ Aunty Kauwila Reyes, my cousins' tutu & who taught me Hawaiian. Her parents' were recorded in interiews & housed @ the Bishop Museum. Good ole mana'e...gotta love that place.
And the other thing was totou (or was it tatou) for maori and korua for our kakou & 'olua. You would think that the "ou" is pronounced the same but that's what caused me to write about this & English' influence on the native language.
Tane
But having the regional dialects of our nation spoken by our ancestors is one thing. To have our olelo makuahine change in pronunciation due to English influence is another. It seems inevitable unless we can get more native speakers teaching the correct pronunciation at a young age, or people who pick up languages well.
Mahalo for bringing this to the fore, as in forefront. lol... regionalism plays a part and so we shouldn't be too critical of ourselves in speaking our language as a living one.
maika'i, maikai, meikei no. No?
You are correct that the purpose is communication and that your thoughts are understood; which matters. The tone of the language holds the mana.