Note the order of the language as well as the use of macrons in the Maori on this sign at Victoria University of Wellington
Source : Meredith Marra.
Example 11
The Academy of the Hebrew Language in Israel has tried to select indigenous words where possible, but widespread usage has led them to accept lipstick and pajama , for instance. Borrowed words are often integrated into Hebrew structure, however, so that check-im , ‘bank checks’, uses the Hebrew plural suffi x -im . (Note too the adoption of US spellings rather than British for pyjama and cheque. )
Hebrew faced the problem of fi nding words for everyday colloquial things which had previously been referred to in people’s vernacular languages. More often a language will need vocabulary for more specialised or formal domains, as was the case with Swahili, Tok Pisin and Malay, or for concepts and objects introduced from another culture, as with Navajo in
the USA. In New Zealand, the Maori Language Commission has often been asked for advice on vocabulary for new contexts and uses of Maori, as people want to use it for new functions such as writing offi cial documents, and teaching mathematics and geography.
Example 12
Te Kdmihana md Te Reo Maori or Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori
A specifi c example of the kinds of choices which faced the Maori Language Commission in this area is illustrated by the problem of providing Maori names for Government institutions, including themselves. They were called at fi rst Te Kdmihana md Te Reo Maori. Te reo is a widely known Maori phrase meaning ‘the language’, but the title also includes the word kDmihana which simply borrows the English word commission and adapts it to the Maori sound system. The transliteration is quite predictable, with k substituting for c , h substituting for s (since Maori has no [s], and [h] is the usual fricative substitution), and a fi nal vowel, since Maori is a language in which all syllables end in vowels. The Commission changed its name however to Te Taura Whiri i te Reo MAori (literally ‘the rope binding together (the many strands of ) the Maori language’). This is a Maori name for the Commission – not one borrowed from English. The commissioners felt that such a label had greater linguistic and cultural integrity, and this provides an insight into how they see their task. In advising others on usage, they are often faced with the dilemma of which of these options to recommend:
1. a word borrowed from English
2. an equivalent Maori word which is perhaps not well known or with a slightly different meaning which could be adapted
3. a word newly created from Maori resources.
The Commission takes the view that its task is not simply a mechanical one of making Maori a more suitable instrument for offi cial communication and modern education. It recognises another more symbolic and less instrumental dimension to its task. Consequently where possible the Commission uses native resources, trying to ‘remain true to the spirit of the language’; but of course this is not always achievable.
The Tiriti (‘Treaty’) o Waitangi , for example, the founding document of New Zealand, involved too well established a borrowing to attempt a change. (Waitangi is the place in New Zealand where the Treaty was fi rst signed on 6 February 1840.) The National Library, however, was translated rather metaphorically as Te Puna MAtauranga o Aotearoa (literally
‘the fount of knowledge of New Zealand’).
A nice example of the adaptation of an older Maori word with a slightly different meaning is the use of rangapE which has been offi cially adopted to translate the important concept of ‘partnership’ – important in the current political debate about the relationship between Maori and Pakeha in New Zealand. It is a word which meant ‘group’ or ‘company’ but which was not widely known and was little used.
Coining words is another solution. The term reo irirangi , literally ‘spirit voice’, uses native resources to label a modern object, the radio. Another example which demonstrates that even a Commission can have a sense of humour is the coinage pEkoro ure to translate ‘condom’.
PEkoro means literally ‘a long thin bag-shaped net for catching eels’ and ure is the word for
‘penis’.
Acceptance
I have provided some very specifi c examples in this section of the kinds of linguistic issues that language planners get involved with, illustrating mainly from Maori. The same issues have been faced by those involved in the development of the Navajo language in the USA, Aboriginal languages in Australia, Swahili in Tanzania and standard Norwegian in Norway. The next step in the process involves the politicians and the people as much as the sociolinguist.
Exercise 9
Can you identify which of the following words have been borrowed into Maori from English and guess the reasons for the borrowings?
(a) neke snake
(b) weka native woodhen
(c) parau plough
(d) pihikete biscuit
(e) whare house, hut
(f ) pia beer
(g) wai water
(h) pahi bus
(i) kuia old woman
(j) kümara sweet potato Answer at end of chapter
Example 13
(a) Getting a separate TV Channel was a major triumph for Welsh language activists.
This contributed greatly to the status of Welsh as a language to be taken seriously.
(b) Radio Vanuatu, a crucial means of inter-island communication, uses mainly Bislama, the national language. This enhances its status and inevitably contributes to the process of standardisation.
(c) Maori language supporters celebrated the launch of the fi rst Maori television station in March, 2004. Broadcasting in Maori and English, it has proved very popular, and according to media statistics, it reaches more than 1.5 million New Zealanders each month (about a third of the total population), including half of all Maori over fi ve years old.
The Maori Language Commission can recommend that certain linguistic forms be adopted by the media and used in schools, just as the Norwegian government regularly publishes its lists of approved words. But people have to accept and use them. This is what fi nally deter- mines whether a proposed form succeeds or not, and this applies as much to an individual word as to a new code selected to serve as a standard offi cial language. The adoption of forms by the media can contribute to the process. But fi nally the people will decide. The Norwegian government’s ambivalence between Bokmål and Nynorsk in Norway has been a source of
irritation to people. And the government’s regular pronouncements in the media on new
‘offi cial usages’ which represent attempts at compromise have not always been accepted. It is said that people often ignore the newspaper lists of offi cially approved forms and use the ones they happen to have learned in school. In such a situation, people fi nally vote with their tongues, and it seems Bokmål is emerging as the de facto written standard in many areas.
Nevertheless, it is generally true that government support plays an important part in gain- ing acceptance for a code. In China, Putonghua (or Mandarin) has been promoted by the Chinese government as the standard variety of Chinese since 1949 when the People’s Republic was established. The fact that many Chinese people already spoke this variety no doubt helped, but the government’s unwavering attitude and deliberate efforts to promote its use in a wide variety of contexts have led to its gaining wide acceptance among the 1300 million or so Chinese who make up the Republic. Putonghua uses the pronunciation of the Beijing dialect, the capital city, together with the grammar of the highly valued Northern Chinese dialects, and the vocabulary of modern colloquial Chinese. These choices have also helped people to accept it. A variety which begins with some status always has a useful head-start.
In Singapore, the government’s Speak Mandarin Campaign has been similarly successful in persuading the dialect-speaking Chinese population to switch within the space of a generation to Mandarin from Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, Hockchew, Hainanese, Hakka and other Chinese dialects. Phyllis Chew describes it as ‘perhaps the world’s most successful language-engineering campaign’. The percentage of Chinese households using Mandarin as the dominant language in Singapore rose from 13 per cent in 1980 to 45 per cent in 2000.
Exercise 10
What steps could a government take to spread the knowledge, use and acceptance of a language?
Answer at end of chapter