The Press THURSDAY, APRIL 20,1967. Non-U Maori

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31349, 20 April 1967, Page 14

The Press THURSDAY, APRIL 20,1967. Non-U Maori

The odd thing about the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation’s attempt to preserve the Maori pronunciation of Maori place names was not that it decided to take an almost lone stand against popular corruptions but that it gathered so little support from those who could have exerted a helpful influence. The N.Z.B.C. pronunciations were not widely approved. They were at least beginning to sound familiar to most people and were being emulated by some. If others who cared about the Maori language and who had the means or the position to give a lead—teachers and public speakers, for example—had consistently followed the example of the N.Z.B.C. the corporation might not have thrown in the sponge. If the non-U advocates of “ Wakatip ”, “Paraparam”, and “Otahu” prevail, will they also eventually expect phonetic spelling of corrupted Maori? Why should they not? The spelling of Otakou was formally and universally changed to Otago in 1848. That, perhaps, was more understandable, for the new spelling closely followed the pronunciation of Otakou in the southern Maoris’ dialect. Is it really easier—if that is the test—to . say Rang-g-yawra than it is to say Rangiora? The corporation has capitulated too soon, perhaps on the verge of evoking wider respect for the Maori language. The duty it owes to English is never questioned. During recent years, in which its services have been expanded with uncomfortable rapidity, the corporation seems to have been unable to maintain its earlier high standards of diction by its announcers and news readers. But this is not to be attributed to any official complaisance about lower standards of pronunciation but to unavoidable arrears in staff training. Common mispronunciations of English are disagreeable to'the European ear. Broadcast errors are as distracting —and as regrettable—as the errors of spelling and syntax that, under the pressure of edition deadlines, inevitably creep into newspapers. The point is that most people care enough about their own language to deplore its misuse, whether through accident, ignorance, or carelessness. New Zealanders ought to have the same regard for the language of Maoris.