THE MAORI TONGUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1937, Page 8

THE MAORI TONGUE.

ACCENT AND PRONUNCIATION. (To (he Editor.) that 7:uZ id '' exactly as written. Xow «.| , •> j!,?," 0 "^ a differe,,; way" to tI,S usual"o He » of coin-so, for the very simple reason that $ Ao-ranpi. ".no." puts «ee'' to slmw t e~'- 0 J? fairly Hear T think tl.at if ~,„ nothing will convince must pakehas that V Maori syllables end with a vowel i 1 „'/ with a consonant, and we shall liTl" hear "Manure ' etc. till the moo-cows come home. As to "niata (obsidian stone), with the accent on the eecond .yMable, it wmildS \el y jll teres t mer u> clcai* up mien for all iV, pronunciation of "Waitemata." If the' name was given because of certain oh.idian sioim sai< to ex.st ~ the upper part of the harbour, then it should have the accent on tlio trisyllable, as in "Wl.anjrn.nata," in which til linnl syllable always seems to be accented ~ ii ;•"■•,'■'";•• i" n " l,tly s °- l " ,twii » shall decide this burning question T I never yet found two experts who could agree as to the pronunciation of Viaitcmata. I often wonder if the original name could have heen Wai-o-te-mata, with the last syllable accentei I think the "spark ing water' idea is all fud-V Uhat does "J.C." say? He knows the oU Place very well. I think. Bring out one of those ancient chiefs of yours, "J.C." Ten a! KOHERO-MAORI.