First Lessons In The Maori Language, by W. L. Williams, B. A

The object of the following pages is not to give anything like a complete treatise on the Maori language, nor even a complete outline of Maori Grammar; but rather to furnish, in as small a compass as possible, some practical hints on the ordinary modes of using the different parts of speech; and to clear away some of the difficulties which are most likely to occur to one who is making his first acquaintance with the language; and, I should add, to do this to the satisfaction, in some degree at least, of those who are willing to avail themselves of my guidance. How far I have succeeded such persons must decide.

There are doubtless some things—probably not a few—which are not even here alluded to, but which might be advantageously set down, even in a small work like this: but the task of selection has not proved altogether an easy one. I have had to settle a priori what points are, and what are not likely to present difficulty to an English student of the Maori language. In doing this I could not fall back on my own experience in learning the language, for Maori has never been exactly a strange language to me, and I have had but little opportunity of availing myself of the experience of others. I shall be glad therefore to receive any suggestions which may help in any way to render this little book more useful to those for whose use it is intended.

In conclusion, I may be allowed to offer one caution; and that is, that it is not easy to learn to speak a language merely from books. Books, properly used, are of great service; and in the present case Maunsell's Grammar will repay a careful study: but there is no school for learning to speak any given language like frequent intercourse with the people who use that language and no other.

Turanga, April 13, 1862.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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§ 1. The Alphabet consists of the following fifteen letters:

§ 2. Pronunciation. Those letters which have not the pronunciation marked in the above table may be pronounced as in English: t and r, however are articulated farther forward in the mouth in Maori than they are in English; and wh is not, as it is written, a letter compounded of w and h, but a simple consonant, the effect of breath emitted smartly between the lips; the same sound, in short, as is made in blowing from the mouth.

Ng, as used in Maori to begin a syllable, is found difficult by some people; but the difficulty may soon be overcome by bearing in mind that the position of the organs of speech is the same for this letter as for g and k, to which it stands in the same relation that m does to b and p, and n to d and t. Pronounce the three letters successively with the Maori vowel a, thus; ka, ga, nga, and practise this till the letter is mastered.

The vowels have each but one sound, though they may all vary in length in different words. When two stand together in a word, the first of the two is generally pronounced more strongly than the other. The doubling of a vowel amounts simply to a lengthening of it.

The consonants always stand singly, and every syllable ends with a vowel.

§ 3. Caution. Be careful always to give each vowel its own sound, and so to avoid confusion between ae and ai, as in the words waewae and wai; between ao and au, as in the words tao and tau; between ou and u, as in the words koutou and mutu.

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§ 4. The nouns have no inflexions, nor any distinctions of gender to affect grammatical construction.

Obs. The common interrogative pronoun aha, what, is treated as a common noun.

§ 5. Number. The number of a common noun is denoted

1. by a lengthened pronunciation of certain words for the plural, as in the following:

The word tamaiti, child, is only used in the singular, the plural being tamariki.

2. by the number of the definitive in connexion with the noun. See §§ 14, 15.

§ 6. Nominal prefix a. Use the nominal prefix a with names of persons

1. when they stand as subject in a sentence;

2. when they follow any of the prepositions ki, i, hei, or kei.

Use it with personal pronouns (except ahau) only when they follow the prepositions ki, i, hei, or kei; or when they are repeated by way of explanation: not ordinarily when they stand as subject in a sentence.

Use it with names of places and nouns of locality (§ 10) only when they stand as subject in a sentence, or are repeated by way of explanation.

§ 7. Ma. When any person is spoken of in connexion with others whom it is not necessary to specify put ma after the name, thus:

Also when addressing more persons than one it may be used with the different forms of address, thus:

With the pronouns Wai? and mea it makes a kind of plural.

§ 8. Personal Pronouns. The personal pronouns have three numbers, Singular, Dual, and Plural, as shewn by the following table.

TABLE OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

Of the dual and plural pronouns of the first person, taua and tatou include the person or persons spoken to, while maua and matou exclude them.

§ 9. The singular Personal Pronouns ahau, I, koe, thou, ia, he, become respectively -ku, -u, -na, when they follow the possessive prepositions a, o, of, na, no, belonging to, ma, mo, for, and the compounds ta, and to (which consist of the article te and the prepositions a and o). Owing to this irregularity the preposition and pronoun in each case are generally written as one word.

§ 10. Nouns of Locality, which have the nominal prefix a; § 6.

§ 11. When nouns are in Apposition (i. e. when a second noun is added to explain the first), repeat the preposition &c. of the first noun with the second, and place the most general noun first, the most particular afterwards.

In these examples, "toku hoa", and "tona tupuna", are more general terms than "Hemi" and "Paora", and they therefore stand first; and "ko" and "ma" are repeated with the particular names "Hemi" and "Paora".

§ 12. Common Nouns and Adjectives. All common nouns may be used as adjectives.

§ 13. When speaking of a number of persons collectively, use the dual or plural pronouns followed by the name, or names, of the additional persons, introducing each name with ko.

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§ 14. Definitives are those words which shew how far, or in what way the signification of a noun is limited. The name therefore will comprehend what are commonly known as articles, possessive pronouns, possessive cases of nouns, and demonstrative pronouns. All these, with one exception, have two numbers, singular and plural; and all stand before the nouns with which they are connected.

§ 15. TABLE OF DEFINITIVES.

And so on with all the other personal pronouns, with names of persons, or places, with nouns of locality (§ 10), and with all common nouns when they follow any definitive except he, by prefixing ta, or to, for the singular, and a, or o, for the plural.

§ 16. Peculiarities of he and te. (a) Never use he after a preposition, but substitute tetahi, thus:

(b) When a common noun is used to denote a class, as the simple plural is often used in English, use te in the singular, and not he, thus:

§ 17. Possessive Prepositions following Definitives. (a) When a possessive follows he, always use either of the prepositions na, or no, never a, or o.

(b) When a possessive follows any other definitive, except he, always use either of the prepositions a, or o, never na, or no.

§ 18. Of the Demonstratives, tena denotes that the thing spoken of is near, or in some way connected with the person spoken to; tera, that it is at a distance from or unconnected with either the speaker or the person spoken to; taua, that it has been already mentioned. Ia is generally used distributively for each, both it and the noun being repeated. Tenei, tena, and tera may also be used in the same way.

Tera is often used in an emphatic way for the personal pronoun of the third person singular.

Tenei, tena, and tera often stand alone, the noun being understood, but taua is never used in this way.

§ 19. The Difference between a and o, which applies also to na, no, ma, mo, ta, to, is this; a is active, and o is passive, that is to say, a is used with reference to the agent, o with reference to the person or thing acted upon, thus:

They are also strictly correlatives, a having reference to the superior, and o to the inferior, thus:

Always use o in speaking of members of the body, clothes, houses, names, medicine, water for drinking, washing &c., but a in speaking of work, food &c.

Obs. To, thy, plural o, resembles tau rather than tou in the way in which it is used, though it often appears to be used indiscriminately for either.

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§ 20. Gender, Number &c. Adjectives have no distinctions of gender, number, or case, and always stand after the nouns which they qualify.

Note. There are some adjectives which in strict usage are only plural, and they always have the first syllable repeated.

§ 21. Degrees of Comparison are expressed by the adverbs atu, or ake for the comparative degree, and tino, or rawa, with the definite article te for the superlative degree. Tino or rawa, with the indefinite article he form an intense comparative.

Obs. Tino always stands before the adjective and rawa after it.

§ 22. When two or more adjectives are used to qualify the same noun, repeat the noun with each, or substitute mea for the noun after the first time.

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§ 23. TABLE OF CARDINAL NUMBERS.

Hia? how many?

§ 24. In Counting use ka before the numeral, thus:

In asking for any number of things use kia in the same way before the numeral, thus:

§ 25. With Nouns. When used in immediate connexion with nouns, let kotahi stand for one, not tahi, and put e before the others, from two to nine.

In speaking of persons, the numerals form rua to iwa inclusive, and the interrogative hia, may have toko- prefixed instead of e.

§ 26. Distributive. In using the numerals distributively prefix taki- to the simple numeral, thus:

§ 27 Ordinals used absolutely, i. e. not in immediate connexion with nouns, are expressed by the simple numeral with te, thus:

§ 28. As Adjectives. When using ordinals as adjectives in immediate connexion with nouns prefix tua- to the simple numeral from one to nine, thus:

Above nine, without tua-, thus:

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§ 29. Subject and Prædicate. The Subject in a sentence is that of which anything is said.

The Prædicate is that which is said of the Subject.

The Subject and Prædicate do not always occupy the same relative positions in English, for though the Subject is generally placed first, it is sometimes placed last, especially in poetry. It will be sufficiently accurate for the purposes of this chapter to consider the Prædicate identical with the most emphatic member of the sentence.

§ 30. Substantive Verb. In English, when the prædicate is not a verb, the verb "to be", commonly called the substantive verb, is used to connect the prædicate with its subject. This verb has no equivalent in Maori, but its place is supplied by the relative position of the different words in the sentence.

§ 31. In affirmative Sentences, the prædicate stands first, and the subject after it; and two nouns, or an adjective and noun, placed in these relative positions form a sentence although without a verb. In negative sentences, this relative position is apparently (§ 34) reversed.

Sentences of this kind are made either with, or without the particle ko.

§ 32. Use "ko", when the prædicate is either

§ 33. Without "ko". Make a sentence without ko when the prædicate is either

In both these cases, the verb or adjective is treated as a noun.

§ 34. Prædicate of many Words. When the prædicate consists of many words, the most emphatic word generally stands alone in the place of the prædicate, the rest being placed after the subject. This is the case when the prædicate contains an explanatory or a relative clause; or a clause in any other way dependent on the principal word. This also accounts for the apparent reversing of the positions of subject and prædicate in negative sentences, the negation being the most prominent thing in such sentences.

§ 35. Negatives. The negatives of sentences with ko are always made with ehara ... i, ko being dropped.

The negatives of sentences without ko are made sometimes with ehara ... i and sometimes with kahore. Those of class 1, in § 33 are always with ehara ... i.

Of those in class 2, § 33, when the preposition is na, or no, the negative is made with ehara ... i, and the preposition dropped.

When the preposition is ma or mo signifying for, use ehara i te mea, retaining the preposition.

When the preposition is hei signifying at, or in possession of, use kauaka.

When the preposition is kei, or i signifying at, or in possession of, use kahore for the negative, with the preposition i only and never kei.

§ 36. Interrogative Sentences do not differ in form from those which are not interrogative. Those which are not essentially such from the meaning of the words, are shewn to be so by the tone with which they are uttered. Those which are essentially interrogative are those which contain an interrogative pronoun or adverb.

§ 37. The Time of these "sentences without verbs" may, as far as the form of the sentence is concerned, be either past, present, or future. When it is not shewn by the essential meaning of any of the words it must be gathered from the context. If no clue to the time is given, what is said will be understood in present time.

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§ 38. Voice and Tense. The only inflexion of the original form of the verb is in the formation of the Passive Voice, and consists in the addition of a Passive termination to the Active form.

Differences of Tense are denoted by certain auxiliary particles, the same form in each case serving for all persons and numbers. Some of these particles vary, or are differently used in negative sentences, and some of the tenses have their own peculiar negative adverb, and admit of no other, as will be seen in the following example.

§ 39. Indicative Mood.

§ 40. Remarks on Tenses. The Present and Perfect may be also used either in Past time, or in Future time, when they respectively become either (a) Past Imperfect, and (b) Past Perfect, or (c) Future Imperfect, and (d) Future Perfect.

In the Future the addition of tera gives emphasis.

The Transitional denotes a transition or change from one state or action to another; or the commencement of a new action or condition, and may be either (e) Past or (f) Future: the actual time to be determined by the context.

In the two last examples, "he went", and, "I shall build", both denote the commencement of a fresh action.

§ 41. Subjunctive Mood.

In the Present and Past it is implied that the contrary to the alternative expressed is the fact. In the Future simple uncertainty is expressed.

§ 42. Optative Mood.

§ 43. Imperative Mood.

§ 44. Infinitive Mood. This is merely the verb treated as a noun, always attended by one or other of the definitives.

§ 45. Passive Voice. The passive voice is formed generally by the addition of one of the following terminations to the active: -a, -ia, -hia, -kia, -mia, -ngia, -ria, -tia, -whia, -na, -ina. No rule can be laid down which termination is to be used with any given verb: some form the passive with one only, others again with several; the passive termination, therefore, of each verb must be learnt with the active.

Those verbs which have the first syllable doubled in the active drop the repetition in the passive; thus pupuri becomes (not pupuritia, but) puritia.

§ 46. The Tenses of the different moods in the Passive voice are formed in the same way as in the Active, the passive form of the verb being merely substituted for the active,—puritia for pupuri.

The Imperative Passive is not, like the Imperative Active, confined to the second person, but is more commonly used in the first or third person, the command at the same time being addressed to the second person.

§ 47. Uses of Active and Passive. The Passive Voice is generally used when the action is emphatic rather than the agent, and therefore is much more frequently required than the Active Voice in strictly active verbs. But when an active verb follows a neuter verb and is in apposition with it, it will retain the active construction of the neuter verb.

§ 48. Transitive Prepositions &c. Every active verb is connected with its object, or the thing acted upon, by either of the prepositions i, or ki; some verbs requiring one, some the other, and some again taking either. These prepositions in some cases may be translated by an English preposition; but in most cases they merely represent the connexion between the verb and its object, and may therefore be called transitive prepositions.

Every passive verb is connected with the agent by the preposition "e", which is rendered "by" in English.

§ 49. Agent emphatic. When special emphasis is to be laid on the agent an irregular construction is used, the preposition na being placed before the subject in the past tense, and ma in the future. In sentences of this kind the subject, being the most emphatic member of the sentence, stands first, and the object either before or after the verb, but without any transitive preposition. This construction is not properly used with neuter verbs.

§ 50. Imperative Future. Another irregular construction is that of the Imperative Future with me, in which the verb is active in form but passive in sense.

This is not used with a negative.

The verb ai, "there is", "it is" &c.

§ 51. Indicative Mood.

§ 52. Subjunctive Mood.

§ 53. Optative Mood.

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with the verb substantive.

§ 54. The place of the substantive Verb in connexion with Adjectives and Participles, is supplied by the verbal particles, the adjective or participle being treated as though it were a verb. It will be seen by the following example of the adjective ora, well, in health, that the notion of becoming, which is peculiarly the characteristic of the transitional, runs more or less through almost all the tenses.

The present tense with e—ana is not required with participles.

[A] By participles here are meant, not participles derived from verbs, as in the European languages, but a class of words of independent origin which can only be rendered into English by participles. Such are oti, completed; makona, satisfied; pau, consumed; &c.

§ 55. Indicative Mood.

§ 56. Subjunctive Mood.

§ 57. Optative Mood.

§ 58. The remarks made on the tenses of the verbs in §§ 40, 41 are applicable also here.

§ 59. Preposition i. Adjectives and participles are followed by the preposition i (not e, which belongs only to passive verbs), to denote the agency or instrumentality by which the effect has been or is to be produced.

§ 60. Explanatory Verb. Sometimes a verb in the infinitive mood is added to a participle by way of explanation, and in that case the preposition will be different according as the agent is placed after the participle, or after the verb. If after the participle, it will be i: if after the verb, it will be e.

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§ 61. There are no Relative Pronouns in Maori. Their place is supplied either by the position of the words forming the relative clause; or by the personal pronoun of the 3rd person singular; or again, by the use of certain particles.

§ 62. Who. When the relative in English is the subject of a verb in the relative clause:

(a) That verb may be placed immediately after the antecedent portion of the sentence without any expressed subject.

(b) If the relative clause is past or future, the construction mentioned in § 49 may be used; the pronoun of the third person singular serving for all persons and numbers.

§ 63. Whom, or which. When the relative in English is objective, and is governed by a verb or by one of these prepositions: by, by-means-of, on-account-of, by-reason-of; the verb in the relative clause is followed by nei, na, ra, or ai, without a preposition; and in the present tense ana after the verb is omitted. For the force of nei, na, and ra, see § 18. Use ai only with the past and future. The subject of the verb in the relative clause may either be expressed directly, or it may be implied in a possessive definitive placed before the antecedent.

§ 64. Inverted Construction. In those cases in which the relative is governed by the verb in the relative clause the construction may be inverted, by making the verb passive (§ 47), with the relative as its subject.

§ 65. Whose, for whom &c. When the relative in English is possessive, or governed by any other preposition than those enumerated in § 63, use the personal pronoun of the third person singular for all persons and numbers with the requisite preposition.

§ 66. Whosoever. There is no equivalent in Maori for the word whosoever: it must therefore always be resolved into "the man who", "the persons who", "if any man" &c., but not into "he who", or "those who".

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§ 67. Position. The following adverbs, tino, very; maatua, first; and ata, gently, quite, always stand before the words which they qualify; other adverbs after the qualified words.

§ 68. Added Terminations. Other adverbs, which have reference to the manner, intensity &c. of an action when they qualify, have the passive termination -tia added to them when used with passive verbs, and the termination -tanga when used with verbal nouns.

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§ 69. Simple Prepositions.

§ 70. Complex Prepositions. These are irregular modes of using some of the nouns of locality enumerated in § 10.

In the second of these series o may be substituted for i, in which case the construction will be regular.

The simple prepositions may be combined in the same way with raro, to signify under, beneath &c.; with roto, to signify in, into, inside &c.; with waho, to signify without, outside, from without &c.

Mua and Muri are only used in series 2.

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§ 71. The Verb "to have" having no equivalent in Maori, its place is supplied by the following expedients.

1. By the use of the possessive definitives (§ 15) the time (present or past) being gathered from the context.

2. By the use of the prepositions kei, i, hei, respectively for present, past and future.

3. By using the verb ai (§ 51) followed by the preposition ma or mo.

4. By using the adjective whai, which signifies possessing, the thing possessed being used as another adjective qualifying whai.

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In pronunciation, unless a word is otherwise marked, always accentuate the first syllable.

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SIR GEORGE GREY, K.C.B.,

GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE COLONY OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, AND HER MAJESTY'S HIGH COMMISSIONER.

A Handbook of African, Australian, and Polynesian Philology, as represented in the Library of His Excellency Sir George Grey, K.C.B., Her Majesty's Commissioner of the Cape Colony. Classed, annotated, and edited by Sir George Grey, and Dr. H. J. Bleek.

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