title: When your maunga is a mountain but your moana is not a sea; Insights from the perception of synonymy of te reo Māori loanwords and New Zealand English lexical equivalents

authors: Pohl, Alexander

abstract: Languages and their speakers are in ongoing contact with one another, which inevitably leads to a flow of words being borrowed from one language into another (Haspelmath 2009; Winford 2010). One perspective that has comparatively seen less attention in language contact research concerns how loanword relate to existing lexical alternatives. In recent years, language contact research has thus seen a paradigm shift towards an onomasiological perspective (see Anderson et al. 2017; Crombez et al. 2022; Zenner et al. 2023). Within this shift, most studies looking at lexical variation between loanwords and their near synonyms equivalents employ corpus linguistics methods (e.g. Onysko & WinterFroemel 2011; Soares da Silva 2013). 

This project presents a large-scale experimental approach from a case-study involving Māori loanwords borrowed into New Zealand English (NZE). Māori loanwords are ubiquitous, salient and probably still increasing within the NZE lexicon (Macalister 2007; Trye et al. 2019). Regarding onomasiology, Māori loanwords have been glossed and explained in different ways, and to date, there has been to our knowledge almost no research focused specifically on the relationship between loanwords and their near synonyms. 

Here, we report on a Qualtrics experiment devised to probe the perceived relationship between 60 Māori loanwords (spanning established semantic categories: flora and fauna, material culture, and social culture) and their NZE equivalents, as ascertained from published sources. The synonymy judgments were elicited for pairs (e.g. whānau – family), using an analogue slider (ranging from 0 = non-synonymous to 100 = fully synonymous; see Figure 1). Because synonymy judgements are subjective, we also included ten fillers, to help us calibrate and interpret participant judgements. The 60 words were divided into two-word lists in order avoid fatigue, resulting in a within participant design. The target demographic for our population of interest consisted of young adults (18-24 years). 

Following cleaning and exclusions (e.g. participants who ignored filler items), the final dataset contained 260 participants. Inspecting the dataset showed a skew towards female participants, and for this reason, we focus our statistical analysis on this core sample, while keeping an eye on the full dataset containing all participants. Preliminary findings suggest that young adults think Māori loanwords are (highly) synonymous with NZE lexical alternatives. These findings will be further scrutinised with regression techniques and qualitative analyses of the comments provided in an open answer section of the questionnaire.

text: When your maunga is a mountain but your moana is not a sea; Insights from the perception of synonymy of te reo Māori loanwords and New Zealand English lexical equivalents Languages and their speakers are in ongoing contact with one another, which inevitably leads to a flow of words being borrowed from one language into another (Haspelmath 2009; Winford 2010). One perspective that has comparatively seen less attention in language contact research concerns how loanword relate to existing lexical alternatives. In recent years, language contact research has thus seen a paradigm shift towards an onomasiological perspective (see Anderson et al. 2017; Crombez et al. 2022; Zenner et al. 2023). Within this shift, most studies looking at lexical variation between loanwords and their near synonyms equivalents employ corpus linguistics methods (e.g. Onysko & WinterFroemel 2011; Soares da Silva 2013). 

This project presents a large-scale experimental approach from a case-study involving Māori loanwords borrowed into New Zealand English (NZE). Māori loanwords are ubiquitous, salient and probably still increasing within the NZE lexicon (Macalister 2007; Trye et al. 2019). Regarding onomasiology, Māori loanwords have been glossed and explained in different ways, and to date, there has been to our knowledge almost no research focused specifically on the relationship between loanwords and their near synonyms. 

Here, we report on a Qualtrics experiment devised to probe the perceived relationship between 60 Māori loanwords (spanning established semantic categories: flora and fauna, material culture, and social culture) and their NZE equivalents, as ascertained from published sources. The synonymy judgments were elicited for pairs (e.g. whānau – family), using an analogue slider (ranging from 0 = non-synonymous to 100 = fully synonymous; see Figure 1). Because synonymy judgements are subjective, we also included ten fillers, to help us calibrate and interpret participant judgements. The 60 words were divided into two-word lists in order avoid fatigue, resulting in a within participant design. The target demographic for our population of interest consisted of young adults (18-24 years). 

Following cleaning and exclusions (e.g. participants who ignored filler items), the final dataset contained 260 participants. Inspecting the dataset showed a skew towards female participants, and for this reason, we focus our statistical analysis on this core sample, while keeping an eye on the full dataset containing all participants. Preliminary findings suggest that young adults think Māori loanwords are (highly) synonymous with NZE lexical alternatives. These findings will be further scrutinised with regression techniques and qualitative analyses of the comments provided in an open answer section of the questionnaire.

year: 2024

title: Legal, business and comparative issues in mining and petroleum activity with respect to Māori matters

authors: Barton, Barry

abstract: In this paper I propose to do three things: to identify the very different implications of the different stages of the mining and the oil and gas sequence, to discuss the basics of the Crown Minerals Act and associated legislation, with particular reference to Māori interests, and to touch on a few points of comparison with Canada.

text: Legal, business and comparative issues in mining and petroleum activity with respect to Māori matters In this paper I propose to do three things: to identify the very different implications of the different stages of the mining and the oil and gas sequence, to discuss the basics of the Crown Minerals Act and associated legislation, with particular reference to Māori interests, and to touch on a few points of comparison with Canada.

year: 2014

title: Using the Implicit Relational Assesment Procedure (IRAP): Implicit Attitudes and Materialism

authors: Lim, Stefan Xien Chien

subjects: IRAP

abstract: Advertising may reinforce brief and immediate relational responses (BIRRS) of correspondence between “happiness” and “material wealth.” My research looked into the possibility of changing BIRRs associated with materialism through 10 minutes of training prior to taking the IRAP. I hypothesised that participants can become more or less materialistic through reinforcement of materialistic or anti-materialistic relational responding. Eighty-four participants were assigned to one of three groups, Materialistic, Anti-Materialistic, or Control, and received relevant training followed by an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and Materials Value Scale (MVS) survey. The IRAP was used to measure response latencies when individuals responded to pairs of stimuli consistent (e.g., happy/luxury) or inconsistent (e.g., happy/cheap) with materialistic attitudes. The MVS is a survey intended to measure materialism. Results showed that participants were faster to respond materialistically than they were to respond anti-materialistically, regardless of the type of training that they received. Regression analysis showed that participants who completed more Anti-Materialistic training blocks were predicted to score higher on the MVS. I concluded that, 10 minutes of training was not sufficient to affect BIRRs associated with materialism. Moreover, the results indicate that the relational network associated with “being materialistic” is complex and that there is not a clear “opposite” of materialism. 

Experiment 2 was a focus group, designed to investigate participant’s thoughts regarding the stimuli used in Experiment 1. Participants from Experiment 1 were invited back for focus group sessions. The key findings from the focus group was that the stimuli used in Experiment 1 was not fully reflective of Anti-Materialism and the lack of context during the IRAP compounded into a different interpretation of “Anti-Materialism” for the participants. There is more to Anti-Materialism than the direct opposite of Materialism

text: Using the Implicit Relational Assesment Procedure (IRAP): Implicit Attitudes and Materialism Advertising may reinforce brief and immediate relational responses (BIRRS) of correspondence between “happiness” and “material wealth.” My research looked into the possibility of changing BIRRs associated with materialism through 10 minutes of training prior to taking the IRAP. I hypothesised that participants can become more or less materialistic through reinforcement of materialistic or anti-materialistic relational responding. Eighty-four participants were assigned to one of three groups, Materialistic, Anti-Materialistic, or Control, and received relevant training followed by an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and Materials Value Scale (MVS) survey. The IRAP was used to measure response latencies when individuals responded to pairs of stimuli consistent (e.g., happy/luxury) or inconsistent (e.g., happy/cheap) with materialistic attitudes. The MVS is a survey intended to measure materialism. Results showed that participants were faster to respond materialistically than they were to respond anti-materialistically, regardless of the type of training that they received. Regression analysis showed that participants who completed more Anti-Materialistic training blocks were predicted to score higher on the MVS. I concluded that, 10 minutes of training was not sufficient to affect BIRRs associated with materialism. Moreover, the results indicate that the relational network associated with “being materialistic” is complex and that there is not a clear “opposite” of materialism. 

Experiment 2 was a focus group, designed to investigate participant’s thoughts regarding the stimuli used in Experiment 1. Participants from Experiment 1 were invited back for focus group sessions. The key findings from the focus group was that the stimuli used in Experiment 1 was not fully reflective of Anti-Materialism and the lack of context during the IRAP compounded into a different interpretation of “Anti-Materialism” for the participants. There is more to Anti-Materialism than the direct opposite of Materialism

year: 2016