PRONUNCIATION OF MAORI
Sir,-Since my notes on How to Pronounce Maori appeared in The Listener several people have expressed their appreciation of it and a wish that trouble would be taken to pronounce Maori correctly for, as one said, "It is easier to pronounce Maori correctly than incorrectly." Only one correspondent, an authority on the Maori language, criticised any use of the words awe and caught to represent the sound of the Maori vowel O. He writes: " Would you say Rawtawrua? I am sure you wouldn’t." Well, I think I would, only I would cut short awe and caught for the O sound in both is long. Ko in Kohanga (nest) is long and I contend that kawhanga is correct in sound. The sound, as I pointed out, is the same whether it be short or long. In my letter I said, much too briefly, that the consonant Wh is not F, as usually pronounced now by the young. Wh, in my opinion, is the same sound as Wh in when. At any rate, to avoid the F sound one should open one’s mouth in pronouncing the
Maori consonant Wh.
R. T.
KOHERE
(East Cape)
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19401108.2.9.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 72, 8 November 1940, Page 4
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195PRONUNCIATION OF MAORI New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 72, 8 November 1940, Page 4
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