MAORI PLACE-NAMES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 406, 3 April 1947, Page 5

MAORI PLACE-NAMES

Sir,-Viewed broadly, any attempt made by a pakeha to pronounce correctly Maori place-names, or, for that matter, any other "racial" place names, must be beset by many pitfalls. I am not suggesting that the task is altogether an impossible one. I have heard impeccable Maori pronunciation fall from European tongues, losing neither its beauty nor its meaning in the process. But such cases are exceptional. They arise, not from any "book study," however deep, but from long and intimate association with a race of men whose language-mother tongue-has not been contaminated by foreign influences. To set out in pakeha form the corre¢t pronunciation of Whangarei, which in itself can be nothing but e

pakeha-ism, is impossible without a real knowledge of the Maori language itself. It isn’t just the difference between "tomayto" and "tomarto." It amounts to the difference between two sets of vocal expression. "Whanga" is a bad beginning for a study of Whangarei, When a real Maori utters those first two syllables he lets fall from his tongue two very musical sounds, as nearly as they can be conveyed in our polyglot speech -"far-ngar". The oft-recurring "nga" in the Maori tongue is difficult if not altogether impossible for the pakeha tongue. The Maori will blend it with other syllables, leaving no rough edges. With the three syllables Wha-nga-rei (expressed in English) he will produce a complex musical sound which cannot fall otherwise than pleasantly on the ear. If we are searching for truth it will avail us little to hark back on old-time European versions. The old-time European corrupted a beautiful language by

means of honest endeavour. The Maori, more especially in the younger category, is doing it to-day, in an endeavour to appear modern, Yet place-names are only an item, worthy as the effort to unravel them may be. With all due respect to those who seek to do so, my advice, such as it is, would follow these lines: Find an old-time Maori-they still survive-and get him to say Whangarei. You will be surprised if not delighted, Even when

he pronounces "Whanga" as a single syllable you will get its music, and be pleased, if not chastened. The Listener can be commended for opening its columns to this subject. Trial and efror, if errors are corrected where possible, may help to carry the music of the Maori into words that are part and parcel of our everyday lives. It is easy to criticise, but how are we to know that the critic is an authority, "He is only groping if he seeks to build his case on simple ABC as we know it. I would . class as an authority one who can converse with an "old timer’ without wrinkling the old timer’s brow, and there are many or shall I say someof these in your midst. I have always found that the real lovers of the Maori language have white skins.

PRAIKA

EA

(Birkenhead).: