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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 21. 5th September 1973

The local Maori people are bilingual

The local Maori people are bilingual

This is principally in the colloquial Maori e.g. buying their stores, groceries from Pakeha storekeepers. Everything Pakeha such as bread — paraoa, shoe — hu, boot — putu, lolly — rare, and so on. Store — toa. hotel — hotera, beer —pia, whiskey — weheke or wihiki, wine — waina, and so on. They could alto hold their own in discussions as in Community 73 on Sunday night with the Pakehas. My sister was Chairman.

On Sunday the young local chief took six of us from the group to the monuments near the road just outside the local hall and explained each one of them to us. One of them belonged to a high local chief who died In 1875. And then I asked in Maori "Ko wai nga uri a te rangatira nei kei te ora tonu inaianei?" (Who are the descendants of the chief living here locally today?) Reply "Ko nga uri ko Namana (Norman), ko Hirini (Sidney) me Paraire (Friday). me te Wano ma." (The descendants are Norman, Sidney, Friday. Wano and others.) Hemi; "Ka pewhea a Ahenata?" (What about Ahenata?) Reply. "Me Ahenata. kei konei a Ahenata" (She's here, direct descent [code switch]). Ko E. W. koianei te "Eldest" (code switch again) I. W. married (code switch) T. "another wife" (code switch) koiraka "the Son" (code switch) ko I, M " Some of this 'codeswitching' was in an attempt to be polite to the pakehas who were listening.