Revised Maori Dictionary

Te Ao Hou, 1972, Page 52

Revised Maori Dictionary Mr Bill Parker is pictured commenting on the new Maori dictionary during a Sunday evening news broadcast. The Government Printer has now issued the seventh edition of William's Dictionary of the Maori Language, and it appears at a time when there is a great enthusiasm for the learning of Maori. The sixth edition has been out of print since 1965. A revision rather than the reprint originally planned, the undertaking was arranged by the Department of Education's Advisory Committee on the Teaching of the Maori Language, which set up a Maori Language Dictionary Subcommittee with Professor Bruce Biggs as convener and Mesdames E. B. Ranapia and M. Penfold as members. Dr Pei Te Hurinui Jones was invited to join this subcommittee and became its chairman. Mr W. T. Ngata, a member of the subcommittee whose father, the late Sir Apirana Ngata, was chairman of an earlier revision committee, said that with each revision the demand for the dictionary had become greater. ‘We were fortunate,’ said Mr Ngata, ‘in having had on the subcommittee people like Dr Jones and Bruce Biggs, in particular, who gave their services over many, many months to bring this work up-to-date, especially the references. I believe this will prove to be a really good edition.’ Mr Parker said that the publication satisfied a need for the hundreds of students of the Maori language for a first-rate dictionary, and said that the use of the macron to indicate vowel length was necessary for students whose ears were not attuned to the language.