Pronunciations

[NZ Hopeful]

So if I have understood this correctly, by the end of the year my family will become...
Div, Cleer, Mukell, Bicky and Jeck?

Yis! Thats right

[JayBee]

I picked up "Safari Pete's" Oz and NZ adventures book from one of the hostels we stayed at and it has a useful little section of "Kiwi Dictonary"
including;

bun button - been bitten by an insect
suchs peck - half a dozen beers
sex - one less than sivven!

I'm still wondering how to pronounce the place Te Puke though ...

[lockstock]

I wondered why my neighbour asked me if I had any pigs. For the washing.

And back to property sales, you have to admire those magniificent dicks.

[IanW99]

Ourquest has reminded me that although most times when you see wh together then it is the 'f' sound but there are times when it is still a 'w'

The most obvious one to us in Wellington is for the suburb of Whitby which of course is pronounced the same as in the UK and not fitby .

Ian

[KerryS]

I wondered why my neighbour asked me if I had any pigs. For the washing.

And back to property sales, you have to admire those magniificent dicks.

I was asked on entering the country for the first time as a backpacker whether I had any pigs. I thought the customs officer was a bit mad - where on earth would I have secreted livestock in my backpack? And then he saw my blank look and said "Pigs - for your tint." And I realised he wanted to see if my tent pegs were clean...

I was also confused when asked if I wanted to see a new neighbours dick - as apparantly it was enormous. I wondered I was going to be privvy to some strange party piece!

Whoever asked about Te Puke it is pronounced Tay Pook-e.

[dharder]

Ourquest has reminded me that although most times when you see wh together then it is the 'f' sound but there are times when it is still a 'w'The most obvious one to us in Wellington is for the suburb of Whitby which of course is pronounced the same as in the UK and not fitby .

But surely it is only Maori names where the 'Wh' is an 'f', and English names are just that, English names?

I don't actually find Maori names that hard to pronounce, it is a rather phonetic language after all. I can't roll an 'r', that makes it difficult for me, but once you know the couple of odd bits (like the 'wh'), it seems doable.

Now the Kiwi English, that is a completely different story...

Daniela

[jo b]

This has always amused me.

How can anyone confirm that WH is pronounced F in maori. They didn't have the english language or alphabet, so how could anyone confirm it.

Also my kiwi nieces always say this and also say that the maori were sayiong ugga bubba until the british settlers arrived. Not my opinion just passing on a comment

Jo

[dharder]

How can anyone confirm that WH is pronounced F in maori. They didn't have the english language or alphabet, so how could anyone confirm it.

Also my kiwi nieces always say this and also say that the maori were sayiong ugga bubba until the british settlers arrived. Not my opinion just passing on a comment

Not entirely sure what you are getting at (or rather, your niece), why would they say 'ugga bugga'?

I know the 'wh' and 'f' are a bit of a doubtful case, but mainly, at some point someone sat down and listened to what was said and wrote it down in phonetic spelling. At the time, they must have thought 'wh' conveyed most accurately what the initial sound of 'whakatane' for example sounded like, but maybe it was one of those in-between sounds that even a phonetic alphabet has problems with (like the Spanish 'd'). I also don't think it is supposed to be a 'proper' F, but maybe the the F gets closest.

Finding ways to write down an essentially only oral language is always tricky and loaded with all sorts of baggage (who gets to write it down, why, will there be a standard, who decides). But since it is still spoken today, has regional variations, and develops through time, I don't really think we need to confirm a pronunciation as such (not like Latin, where really we can't be sure because no one speaks it anymore).

I hear New Zealanders saying that the efforts to produce Maori names correctly has improved greatly over the years, and people are now trying to be more authentic in the News, for example. But since people haven't tried before that, I'm sure what is considered authentic Maori pronunciation may not actually be what people considered it 70 years ago.

I'm looking for a Maori language learning course for kids, has anyone come across a good one?

Daniela

[IanW99]

But surely it is only Maori names where the 'Wh' is an 'f', and English names are just that, English names?
...

Of course you are correct, but it does sort of depend on if you know that it is an english or maori name doesn't it?

Anyhoo just an observation that I thought some might find interesting

Ian

[tomo1340]

I wonder if the wh to f thing works on the principle of making the f shape with the mouth but breathing a sort of wh instead. Does that come close.

Going OT for a sec, what strikes me as odd is 'Dora the explorer' you get all the mexican pronunciations in the program, but if you buy the magazine you get the Spanish phoentics. For example 'Gracias' would have the c lisped almost into a th sound- Grathias. Whereas the Mexican would be 'Grassias'.