MAORI PLACE NAMES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 5, 7 January 1937, Page 6

MAORI PLACE NAMES.

ACCENTS AND VOWELS, (To the Editor.) Jt is an obvious waste of time to engage in a controversy with a correspondent who continues to assert that Maori place names are pronounced as written, and that there is practically no accent.oil syllables.' Both these statements'are entirely opposed to fact. In the very, word he instances, "Pukekohe,". ; there is a. "u," but it is, of . course, not spoken as "u," but'"oo," as it always is in Maori; nor is ,the "e" in "Pukekohe" pronounced as "e," so this stuff about speaking the words as written is just so much nonsense. "Listener" is. even more astray about the accent, for. again in "Pukekohe," if the third syllable, "ko," is not accented the word is mispronounced, as is any word' pf more than one syllable- in Maori or English if the right syllable is not accented, and accented in exactly the same degree. Wc all know, of course, of the varying sounds of the vowels in English, but this is beside the point entirely; the poiut is that in Maori they are-certainly not pronounced as spelt, as the merest novice can see at a glance. To pronounce Maori words correctly one must first learn, the vowel sounds, and accent the right syllable where there is more than one in a word, and again, the vowels are certainly not pronounced as written. Let "Listener" get that out of his head he starts on the visiting Australians who, it is said, are not above suspicion even in respect to the English vowel sounds! KORERO MAORI. Whilst both "Listener" and "Korero Maori" evidently have some knowledge of the subject, their ideas on Maori pronunciation would add difficulty to • anyone anxious, or desirous, to learn how to pronounce placenames. "Korero Maori" is unfortunate in Tuesday's letter. He mis-spells one example •he gives. "Xgaire." It should be spelled Ivgaere, and means quaking morass. He -uses Wanganui as another,example; it is not a. Maori word at' all. It is merely the pakelia low literisation of the Maori name for that river, "Waenganui," "the midst." Whilst Wanganui might possibly bo rendered as Maori by putting "h" .between the "w" and "a." it is extremely doubtful that the Maoris ever used it. "Listener" is grievously wrong when lie says that .Maori is .phonetic. The Maori had no written language. The Europeans who compiled one for him did the best they could with the English letters, but they did not meet with much success. The vowels., in Maori, all have two sounds, a long-and a short. "Listener" claims there is no equivalent to the "u" in tune; ."puke" (hill) is pronounced exactly the same. Maori children were, taught to say the alphabet before Tasnia'n sighted tlicse shores. But only one sound is given the vowel when the | alphabet is repeated. As a toddler (60 years ago) I used to join in the chant with the tamariki (children). It ran thusly, first the'vowels were repeated, ah, ay, ee, o (as in sock or rock); 00. Then they were repeated again with , .each consonant before the vowel, ha, ka,' ma, na, ■ pa, ra. ta, wa, wha,: r nga. There is little difficulty (contrary to "Listener's" assertion) in pronouncing the "nga." We have the exact sound in "ringa rosy" of our childhood; leave out the "ri" and you have the Maori "nga" exactly. The "wha'.' or "wh" is somewhat of our "pli," but with far less,of the "£" sound. Where most English people err is in assuming that words must have a,sound that is expressed by the English alphabet.' In many Maori words the letters "r" and "k" respectively have the sounds of "1" and "g" to our English cars. As for' accent," the Maori'- invariably stresses the first syllable excepting when the word is preceded by the prefix "wliaka." One has only to hear a pakelia say . a Maori word and then hear a Maori-repeat it to realise at once what -1 am contending. , Maori place names have a fascination for me. The old, Maori named-everything. The names -were always piven for a reason, either real or fancied. And the Maori had an aptness. ( What could be better than Waikato (flowing water), Waipa (dead or sluggish watei), Taranaki (bare peak), Kuapelm (belching cavity), or the Sugar Loaf at'Xew Plymouth harbour, Paritutu (very erect rock). Many names have been -abbreviated .and otherwise altered, so that the meanings are lost, even to very old Maoris in the locality. Words have', in some eases, a different meaning nowadays to what they had 100 years ago. Our own language has examples of that. Coleridge used the word "bitfch" as a term of endearment to a young lady. A present day flapper would'not feel complimented by it. . KORO-HEICE.