Cook Islands Māori

 ( Languages Of New Zealand ) 

Cook Islands Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language that is an official language of the Cook Islands. It is closely related to, but distinct from, New Zealand Māori. Cook Islands Māori is called just Māori when there is no need to distinguish it from New Zealand Māori. It is also known as Māori Kūki Āirani (or Maori Kuki Airani), or as Rarotongan. Many Cook Islanders also call it Te Reo Ipukarea, which translates as 'the language of the ancestral homeland'.

The Te Reo Maori Act states that Māori:

The unmarked constituent order is predicate initial: that is, verb initial in verbal sentences and nominal-predicate initial in non-verbal sentences.

1. you -2 or more- and I
2. they and I

Generally, the "a" category is used when the possessor has or had control over the initiation of the possessive relationship. Usually this means that the possessor is superior or dominant to what is owned, or that the possession is considered as alienable. The "o" category is used when the possessor has or had no control over the initiation of the relationship. This usually means that the possessor is subordinate or inferior to what is owned, or that the possession is considered to be inalienable.

The following list indicates the types of things in the different categories:

• a is used in speaking of
• Movable property, instruments,
• Food and drink,
• Husband, wife, children, grandchildren, girlfriend, boyfriend,
• Animals and pets, (except for horses)
• People in an inferior position

Te puaka a tērā vaine : the pig belonging to that woman;

ā Tere tamariki : Tere's children;

Kāre ā Tupe mā ika inapō : Tupe and the rest didn't get any fish last night

Tāku; Tāau; Tāna; Tā tāua; Tā māua…. : my, mine; your, yours; his, her, hers, our ours…

Ko tāku vaine tēia : This is my wife;

Ko tāna tāne tērā : That's her husband;

Tā kotou apinga : your possession(s);

Tā Tare apinga : Tērā possession(s);

• o is used in speaking of
• Parts of anything
• Feelings
• Buildings and transport (including horses)
• Clothes
• Parents or other relatives (not husband, wife, children...)
• Superiors

Te are o Tere : The house belonging to Tere;

ō Tere pare : Tere's hat;

Kāre ō Tina noo anga e noo ei : Tina hasn't got anywhere to sit;

Tōku; Tōou; Tōna; Tō tāua; Tō māua…: my, mine; your, yours; his, her, hers; our, ours …

Ko tōku are tēia : This is my house;

I tōku manako, ka tika tāna : In my opinion, he'll be right;

Tēia tōku, tērā tōou : This is mine here, that's yours over there

• Pia : Polynesian arrowroot
• Kata : laugh at; laughter;
• kata āviri : ridicule, jeer, mock
• Tanu : to plant, cultivate land
• angaanga : work, job
• Pōpongi : morning
• Tātāpaka : a kind of breadfruit pudding
• Tuātau : time, period, season;
• ē tuātau ua atu : forever
• īmene : to sing, song
• Riri : be angry with (ki)
• Tārekareka : entertain, amuse, match, game, play game

• Cook Islands Maori Database Project, an online project created to build a collection of Cook Islands Maori words based on existing print dictionaries and other sources
• Cook Islands Maori Dictionary, by Jasper Buse with Raututi Taringa, edited by Bruce Biggs and Rangi Moekaa, Auckland, 1995.
• A dictionary of the Maori Language of Rarotonga, Manuscript by Stephen Savage, Suva: IPS, USP in association with the Ministry of Education of the Cook Islands, 1983.
• Kai Korero: Cook Islands Maori Language Coursebook, Tai Carpentier and Clive Beaumont, Pasifika Press, 1995. (A useful learning method with oral skills cassette)
• Cook Islands Cook Book by Taiora Matenga-Smith. Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies.
• Maori Lessons for the Cook Islands, by Taira Rere. Wellington, Islands Educational Division, Department of Education, 1960.
• Conversational Maori, Rarotongan Language, by Taira Rere. Rarotonga, Government Printer. 1961.
• Some Maori Lessons, by Taira Rere. Rarotonga. Curriculum Production Unit, Department of Education. 1976.
• More Maori Lessons, by Taira Rere. Suva, University of the South Pacific.1976
• Maori Spelling: Notes for Teachers, by Taira Rere. Rarotonga: Curriculum Production Unit, Education Department.1977.
• Traditions and Some Words of the Language of Danger or Pukapuka Island. Journal of the Polynesian Society 13:173-176.1904.
• Collection of Articles on Rarotonga Language, by Jasper Buse. London: University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. 1963.
• Manihikian Traditional Narratives: In English and Manihikian: Stories of the Cook Islands (Na fakahiti o Manihiki). Papatoetoe, New Zealand: Te Ropu Kahurangi.1988
• Te korero o Aitutaki, na te Are Korero o Aitutaki, Ministry of Cultural Development, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. 1992
• Atiu nui Maruarua: E au tua taito, Vainerere Tangatapoto et al. University of South Pacific, Suva 1984. (in Maori and English)
• Learning Rarotonga Maori, by Makiuti Tongia, Ministry of Cultural Development, Rarotonga 1999.
• Te uri Reo Maori (translating in Maori), by Makiuti Tongia, Punanga o te reo. 1996.
• Atiu, e enua e tona iti tangata, te au tata tuatua Ngatupuna Kautai...(et al.), Suva, University of the South Pacific. 1993. (Maori translation of Atiu: an island Community)
• A vocabulary of the Mangaian language by Christian, F. W. 1924. Bernice P. Bishop Bulletin 2. Honolulu, Bernice P. Bishop Museum.
• E au tuatua taito no Manihiki, Kauraka Kauraka, IPS, USP, Suva. 1987.

• Dictionary of Cook Islands Languages.
• Te akataka reo Rarotonga; or, Rarotongan and English grammar by the Rev Aaron Buzacott of the London Missionary Society, Rarotonga. 1854. Old grammar in English and Rarotongan
• "Tuatua mai!" Learn Cook Islands Maori
• SBS Cook Islands Maori Radio Program. Updated each week
• Cook Islands Biodiversity: Natural History Māori Dictionaries
• Cook Islands Ministry of Cultural Development
• Te Reo Māori Kūki Āirani i roto i te Kurakarāma o Aotearoa (Cook Islands Maori in the New Zealand Curriculum)
• Collected songs and legends from the southern Cook Islands (c. 1883–1912) at the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
• Box of 324 index cards of plant and animal names archived with Kaipuleohone
• Paradisec has an open access collection of Cook Island Maori materials
• Materials on Cook Islands Maori are included in the open access Arthur collection ( AC1) held by Paradisec.