MAORI PRONUNCIATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 8

MAORI PRONUNCIATION.

METHODS OF THE PAKEHA. (To the Editor.l Dr. Moore's letter is in pleasing contract to those of some of your other correspondent*. He regrets that most Maori words and place names are so badly mispronounced by the average pakeha. 1 agree, of course, bat the remedy is not easy. It certainly does not lie in pronouncing the words as they are written and without regard to the stressing of the syllables. As to "Ahipara." I have actually heard an experienced native interpreter from that district, a friend of miae, pronounce it with the accent on the second syllable, and his excuse was that everybody up there (meaning the pakehas) did thin, and if he gave it the right pronunciation they would prolwbly not know what be meant, or perhaps think he -vas putting on "side"'! If the first syllable in this word is accented, m it should be. it is almost impossible to mispronounce it. Doesn't your correspondent agree? Dr. Moore mentions Hare (or Hari) Hongi (Mr. .Stowell. not Howell). Here is a man who knows. Xo one would challenge his knowledge as to pronunciation of Maori words and their meaning. He just knows; but lam not sure that he has made a study of accent of syllables, either in Maori or English, any more than a Maori does. Like the Maori, be siniplv says the words correctly always, and is a mine of knowledge respecting Maori lore and traditions. Dr. Moore's attempt to show (by spelling) the pronunciation of the rowel* in Maori words is very good, but I am sorry to say he is wrong in respect to the "e** sound. It certainly is not "a"' as in "nay." It is almost exactly identical with the sound of "e" in "Ted."' "red." "end." etc. "Rewa.** for instance, is not pronounced "Ray-wah." bnt "Reh-wflh."* with the "e" a« in "red."' I think, on further consideration. Dr. Moore will agree I am richt. "Tikema" at the end of his letter i* obviouslv a misprint for "Tihema" (December). ' KORERO MAORL