Ma whero ma pango ka oti ai te mahi (With red and black the work will be complete.)

The traditional kowhaiwhai patterns on the inside of the meeting houses which are red and black colours.

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Greetings to you all. The theme of 2019 is Kia Kaha te reo Māori (Let’s make the Māori language strong).

In Aotearoa (New Zealand), there are many Māori Deaf people/Deaf Māori people living here and not every one of them does not know te Reo Māori within their families and schools. Only a small number of Deaf Māori people can understand in te Reo Māori, let alone, they can not hear the sound of pronunciation or understand the dialect/accents from each iwi (extended kinship group, people, tribe from a common ancestor).

Many years ago, there was no te reo Māori sign language/concepts within the Deaf community and the Deaf schools. Prior to my research and I did an interview me tetahi wahine koroheke (with an elderly woman) in Kapiti near Wellington during my visit to cousins. This elderly woman passed away within three years after our interview. She mentioned there were several families who had got Deaf Māori members – Ngāti Ruakawa, Ngāti Mutunga and one or two other parts of the iwi. Unfortunately, this history was not written in the record anywhere because it was oral history by her family. I found several articles from the Papers Past, the National Library of New Zealand Archives from 1839 to 1950. In one of the articles, there was a Deaf Māori man who got in trouble with other Māori people over the land dispute and his communication was ‘gesture’ through an interpreter who can understand his Deaf gesture. The area was Himatangi, Parakaia, Otaki and here is the link to the Paperpast Native Lands Court. Please refrain the wording ‘Deaf and dumb’ in the article as it was wrong to label the person who was Deaf in the old days.

Today many Deaf Māori people want to learn te reo in concept signs and to teach their young generation. To sign in Māori sign concepts is fine, have a look at the links to the video.

Māori Deaf Sign Concepts https://www.facebook.com/eyefilmsproductions/videos/912693602428571/

I pasted the pictures of NZSL/te reo Māori sign concepts as in Kaumātua (Māori elders in Māori society, and are held in high esteem. They have a variety of roles in their whānau (wider family), hapū (sub-tribe) and iwi (tribe). The link can be found in Kaumaatua

Notice the different signs when using Kaumātua.

What about writing down in te reo? Do they understand the rule of te reo Māori, dialect/accent, grammar and syntax (verb-subject-object), singular/plural etc?

When to pronunciation any Māori such as ….the rule is to use long vowel such as in ‘aa’ is pronounced like the English word – calm, or in ‘ee’ is pronounced like the English word – air.  When using the short vowel such as ‘a’ is to pronounce like the English word – cup.

People, Places,

Māori = Maaori

Ngāpuhi = Ngaapuhi

Kīngitanga Day – Kiingitanga Day

Well, there is so much to teach many Deaf Māori people and their children now and in the future.