<font size="2">kweh (kia ora) Peter,</font><div><font size="2">so good the language is alive with your family</font></div><div><font size="2">If the Maori fail to revitalize...there is probably little hope for any of us.</font></div>
<div><font size="2">Because <b>mana</b> is strong and evident in Aotearoa.</font></div><div><font size="2">That "mana" is directly related to "whakapapa" as i understand it.</font></div><div><font size="2">and how does one translate such concepts?</font></div>
<div><font size="2"><b>mana</b> like essence , or powerful unseen reality?</font></div><div><font size="2"><b>whakapapa</b> is an ancestrial kind of rootedness ?</font></div><div><font size="2">We have words in our Wyandot language for similar concepts...but it seems to always</font></div>
<div><font size="2">translate out as "law/story/way"</font></div><div><font size="2"><b>whakapapa</b> can't be "obtained" by a Pahkia student taking a night course in Maori language.<br></font>Culture is imbedded in language and language is inseparable from culture.<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">THIS is what i mean when i express concern about a newer kind of notion</div><div class="gmail_quote">"I'll just take a language class" it might teach something but its not enough for survival.</div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">I was just forwarded a copy of "the Te Paparahi o Te Raki Tribunal Inquiry" Pat Hohepa,</div><div class="gmail_quote">by my good friend Manos Nathan, one who carved and supervised the carving of many of the </div>
<div class="gmail_quote">beautiful carved posts at the bay of Waitangi. It was an excellent report and raised good points</div><div class="gmail_quote">about <i>interpretation</i> of the Treaty of Waitangi.</div><div class="gmail_quote">
<br></div><div class="gmail_quote">Pat Hohepa stated:</div><div class="gmail_quote">"When a word is translated ,are you trying to fit it into the cultural context of the others language</div><div class="gmail_quote">
or are you shifting what it means in yours?" p.22.58</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">giving the example of <b>mua</b> - in front -- in Maori representing "the past"</div>
<div class="gmail_quote"> <b>muri </b> - behind - representing "the future"</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">try to wrap an anglophone brain around that one!</div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">Makes me think about a lot of our nation to nation indigenous treaties.</div><div class="gmail_quote">how much was signed with little clarity and a perceived insignificant gesture or scratch?</div>
<div class="gmail_quote">but once a chiefs x mark was put on paper</div><div class="gmail_quote">it became irrevocable within the foreign mindset and LAW.</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">I only hope for our Native American languages the same successes as the Maori.</div>
<div class="gmail_quote">Anyone who has seen the Haka performed can feel the <b>mana and Ihi in Aotearoa.</b></div><div class="gmail_quote"><b><br></b></div><div class="gmail_quote"><b>kia kaha, kia maia, kia <u>mana</u>wanui </b></div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">Richard Zane Smith </span></font></div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">Wyandote Oklahoma</span></font></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">
<br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 3:13 PM, Peter J Keegan <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pjkeeganwh@xtra.co.nz">pjkeeganwh@xtra.co.nz</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
Thanks Richard for you comments<br>
<br>
Maori doesn't face immediate extinction as the Waitangi Tribunal
report seems to imply.<br>
We should always be careful when reading these types of reports and
think carefully about<br>
who wrote them and what their real aims might be. <br>
<br>
The same Tribunal make important recommendations back in 1986, then
led to<br>
a Maori Language Act, Maori Language Commission and many other
indirect benefits.<br>
<br>
There is real concern though, about the decreasing numbers of
students entering<br>
kohanga reo and other forms of Maori-medium education, and that too
many<br>
in the Maori community just don't care enough about the language to
actually<br>
make the effort to learn it. <br>
<br>
The report does little to highlight the many gains that have made in
Maori language<br>
revitalization and I am sure that Maori is not too much different
from many other<br>
language revitalization programmes in that the way forward is never
easy,<br>
often one step forward and two steps back.<br>
<br>
I'll keep speaking Maori to my daughter, wife, whanau (family)
members<br>
and friends that speak the language and encourage others to start
learning.<br>
<br>
Peter J Keegan (Auckland, New Zealand/Aotearoa)<br>
<br>
(Waikato-Maniapoto/Ngati Porou (-tribes I belong to)) <br><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<br>
<br>
On 22/10/2010 5:39 a.m., Richard Zane Smith wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">Kweh all,
<div>just some thoughts....</div>
<div>I know linguists can't hep but be linguists, as artists can't
help but be artists.</div>
<div>but when i read about the threat of EVEN the Maori language
extinction,</div>
<div>it really got me thinking.</div>
<div>Many are busy creating indigenous words for NON-indigenous<i>
thought paradigms</i>.</div>
<div>At an immersion school in Aotearoa I visited, students
science classes were being taught</div>
<div> with a myriad of NEW designed Maori words to describe
atoms,particles etc...</div>
<div>in other words "things" that many of our indigenous cultures
never <i>broke down</i></div>
<div>in a traditional context other than perhaps stories about
"how things are all connected"</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Might this forced and continual translation of noun based
colonized terms into indigenous terms</div>
<div>be actually turning our languages into "<b>codes</b>" to
basicly think <i><b>the same thoughts</b></i></div>
<div>but to represent them as indigenous characters and sounds?</div>
<div>Are we paradigm shifting basic-thought pattern of OUR
languages when we do this?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Ok, now we will all have gadgets to text message in
Cherokee,Swahili,Chinese, English,Mohawk</div>
<div>but what if the whole IDEA of text messaging isn't weighed
"culturally" and every NEW gadget is now "NDignized" just like
we have Nammy Awards instead of Grammy Awards, Native RAP
version of Ghetto RAP, An NDN version of every WHITE thing the
dominant (even parasitical) culture comes up with. What are we
doing? Are we thinking about what we are doing?</div>
<div>Aren't we the people who are supposed to lead the way to LIFE
sustainability?</div>
<div>The dominant system of conquest is still marching, and its
cancerous to our planet.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We KNOW in our minds that a language survives/thrives only
in <i>context</i> of its own healthy culture.But unless children
grow up imbedded in Wyandot culture(life/ways), </div>
<div>going to school and learning to speak Wyandot does not a
Wyandot make. </div>
<div>They are only speaking Wyandot code .<b><i> the new code
talkers?</i></b></div>
<div>If this is true, dying languages are only PART or symptomatic
of a bigger problem.</div>
<div>Our minds are changing, our children's minds are changing,
and if we want them to be strong in their languages they are
going to need <b>a whole lot more</b> than Wyandot language
classes.</div>
<div>or free gadgets to do Wyandot texting. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The reason the languages are dying is because there is a <b>replacement
</b>of thinking.</div>
<div>Its EASIER ,maybe even more appropriate? to use English when
students are dissecting </div>
<div>a frog because its the nature of that kind of thinking to
dissect things and solve problems by taking things apart. Is
that OUR way? </div>
<div>When we Wyandotized the process of dissecting a frog, we lose
Wyandot paradigm.</div>
<div>If you dissect a frog and learn science that can cure cancer
thats wonderful,</div>
<div>Kids should learn that ALSO.</div>
<div>
but I'm just wondering the benefit of mixing.blending thinking
paradigms.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Traditionalist always tell me - ceremony has to stay OUT of
politics</div>
<div>for that very reason...the various "thinkings" don't mix
well.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I heard just at ONLA from a Cherokee language teacher in
Talequah </div>
<div>that a modern childs attention span is now <b>9 seconds .</b></div>
<div><b>why? </b><b>Its the average time it takes to send a text
message.</b></div>
<div>what are we doing folks? Are we simply getting on board this
Titantic</div>
<div>because OUR language needs to be on the ship??</div>
<div>Maybe we need to strengthen our cultural
roots/languages/arts/communities</div>
<div>and be VERY selective/careful about introducing all these new
shiny toys?</div>
<div>Shall we talk about the addiction of<i><b> "the new"</b></i>
? </div>
<div>uuuh ...some other time...</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>just some thoughts, i don't know the answers </div>
<div>I'm someone who still plays in the mud ....for a living!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Richard Zane Smith </div>
<div>Wyandotte Oklahoma</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
</div></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br></div>