Abstract
The indigenous language of the small Kāi Tahu kāik (village) of Ōtākou was a dialect of the Māori language (te reo), the mother tongue of the community when villagers encountered Europeans in the late eighteenth century. However, within 150 years of contact with Europeans, the language was dead. The majority of Ōtākou’s native speakers had died out by the early twentieth century, with the kāik’s last native speaker passing away in 1969.
This thesis investigates the contributing factors to the rapid loss of the Māori language at Ōtākou. To date there has been no specific case study within the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand that looks at the trajectory of language loss, resulting in the death of the Māori language in a Māori community.
This research is unique in that it tells the past narrative of the story of te reo Māori loss in one particular village, Ōtākou. The thesis focuses on the various forces that led to Ōtākou people speaking only English to their children. These forces include colonisation, the impact of religion, education as well as environmental factors such as the introduction of illness, land loss resulting in poverty, and an inability to support whānau emotionally and economically. However, the people of Ōtākou also aspired to become political and local leaders in a changing world where the English predominated. Finally, two world wars drove home the final blow to the language, with the loss of native speakers who fell overseas. Consequently damaged soldiers then returned to a grieving community who had lost their cultural leadership.
In addition to examining the international and national literature on language death, and undertaking a deep exploration of archival sources, I also undertook personal communication with Ōtākou whānau, including interviews with elders who were the children or grandchildren of the last native speakers of te reo Māori from Ōtākou. (I was able to make these connections through my lived connections and whakapapa links to the village.) These discussions focused on their experiences of growing up at Ōtākou and any enduring memories they had of their elders and tikaka (customs) at Ōtākou. All five of the elders interviewed have now passed on.
This thesis investigates how te reo Māori died at Ōtākou and suggests that Māori abandoned the language because at that time, sustaining te reo Māori proved far too difficult. English was eventually prioritised over the use of te reo Māori. Despite this loss, many aspects of Māori cultural practice, and associated vocabulary, have survived within the community or have adapted successfully within an evolving culture. They have endured because Ōtākou Māori values them and can sustain them without extraordinary resources being applied or inordinate attention. Some are still fundamental to survival, underpinned by economic drivers, while others allow Ōtākou Māori to distinguish themselves from the coloniser and mainstream Aotearoa/New Zealand culture.
Te reo Māori did not persist as a cultural practice at Ōtākou. If the last native te reo Māori speakers were not conscious of their choices they were at a crossroads, faced with two languages and each with two different thoughts and beliefs. Te reo Māori began its decline during the late nineteenth century within the political climate of the period that failed to deliver any strategy to prevent the inevitable loss; indeed, there was government emphasis on the eradication of te reo Māori than preservation. Kāi Tahu iwi lost their last native te reo Māori speaker at Temuka in December 2011, who had imbibed the language as an infant. Along with other Kāi Tahu, some at Ōtākou have strived to revive te reo Māori as a living language at the kāik. While this is something that I am also personally involved in, this research focuses on the history that led to the loss and death of the te reo Māori at Ōtākou.