title: New Zealand English and Te Reo Māori: A critical perspective on the loanword narrative using data from translingual picturebooks

authors: Barbour, Julie Renee

subjects: language contact

abstract: Aims/Purpose: New Zealand English has been characterised by the use of vocabulary ‘borrowed’ from the Indigenous Māori language since early contact between English and Māori speakers. In this paper, we consider the relevance of the ‘loanword narrative’ to New Zealand English, examining data from translingual picturebooks published in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Design/Data: We built a small corpus of 10 translingual picturebooks spanning a 30-year period beginning in the early years of Māori language revitalisation.
Analysis: We applied techniques of language analysis from descriptive linguistics, including studies of loanwords.
Findings: We find some evidence of linguistic ‘borrowing’.
Originality: However, in texts created by Māori content creators, with Māori cultural themes, a language practice akin to pedagogical code-switching or pedagogical translanguaging is observed. Māori content creators alternate between languages, treating Māori lexemes as distinct from NZE, preserving Māori orthographic traditions, and providing translation, explanation, or contextual support of Māori lexemes for NZE reader comprehension. Our observations find parallels in translanguaging studies in bilingual early childhood settings, and they are supported by new psycholinguistic research that has identified the development of substantial body of linguistic knowledge about the Māori language by non-Māori speakers through societal exposure.
Significance: We argue that the prevailing loanword narrative does not account for Māori language usage in translingual picturebooks developed by Māori content creators. Rather, we find a clear pattern of differentiation between Māori and NZE.

text: New Zealand English and Te Reo Māori: A critical perspective on the loanword narrative using data from translingual picturebooks Aims/Purpose: New Zealand English has been characterised by the use of vocabulary ‘borrowed’ from the Indigenous Māori language since early contact between English and Māori speakers. In this paper, we consider the relevance of the ‘loanword narrative’ to New Zealand English, examining data from translingual picturebooks published in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Design/Data: We built a small corpus of 10 translingual picturebooks spanning a 30-year period beginning in the early years of Māori language revitalisation.
Analysis: We applied techniques of language analysis from descriptive linguistics, including studies of loanwords.
Findings: We find some evidence of linguistic ‘borrowing’.
Originality: However, in texts created by Māori content creators, with Māori cultural themes, a language practice akin to pedagogical code-switching or pedagogical translanguaging is observed. Māori content creators alternate between languages, treating Māori lexemes as distinct from NZE, preserving Māori orthographic traditions, and providing translation, explanation, or contextual support of Māori lexemes for NZE reader comprehension. Our observations find parallels in translanguaging studies in bilingual early childhood settings, and they are supported by new psycholinguistic research that has identified the development of substantial body of linguistic knowledge about the Māori language by non-Māori speakers through societal exposure.
Significance: We argue that the prevailing loanword narrative does not account for Māori language usage in translingual picturebooks developed by Māori content creators. Rather, we find a clear pattern of differentiation between Māori and NZE.

year: 2025

title: Student voice and agency for Indigenous Maori students in higher education transitions

authors: Amundsen, Diana Leigh

subjects: Social Sciences

abstract: This article reveals the complexities of Indigenous students navigating the neoliberal model of education through an examination of Māori transitions into higher education contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand. In a recently completed doctoral study, the lived transition experiences of Indigenous Māori higher education students were critically investigated from a student voice perspective. Data were collected and analysed through repeated semi-structured interviews, focus groups and visual stories in a semi-longitudinal study with 20 Māori students enrolled in a wānanga, a polytechnic and a university. Using a Bourdieuan theoretical framework for analysis, findings revealed that participants experienced their transition as a journey. Students perpetually evolved their identities and agency in relation to the tertiary education environments and social structures they encountered which supported or constrained transition experiences. Within wānanga, participants felt their Māori cultural identity was highly valued; within polytechnics, there was a sense that Māori culture is included but more could be done; within universities, a need for more inclusive practices to support Māori learner requirements was identified. This empirical research outlines learning for Māori students in higher education, and is a timely addition to knowledge revealing the complexities of teaching in the neoliberal model of higher education with Indigenous people.

text: Student voice and agency for Indigenous Maori students in higher education transitions This article reveals the complexities of Indigenous students navigating the neoliberal model of education through an examination of Māori transitions into higher education contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand. In a recently completed doctoral study, the lived transition experiences of Indigenous Māori higher education students were critically investigated from a student voice perspective. Data were collected and analysed through repeated semi-structured interviews, focus groups and visual stories in a semi-longitudinal study with 20 Māori students enrolled in a wānanga, a polytechnic and a university. Using a Bourdieuan theoretical framework for analysis, findings revealed that participants experienced their transition as a journey. Students perpetually evolved their identities and agency in relation to the tertiary education environments and social structures they encountered which supported or constrained transition experiences. Within wānanga, participants felt their Māori cultural identity was highly valued; within polytechnics, there was a sense that Māori culture is included but more could be done; within universities, a need for more inclusive practices to support Māori learner requirements was identified. This empirical research outlines learning for Māori students in higher education, and is a timely addition to knowledge revealing the complexities of teaching in the neoliberal model of higher education with Indigenous people.

year: 2019

title: Harry Kenrick: the first warden of the Te Aroha mining district

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Because of his improvident father, Harry Kenrick left England for the Victorian goldfields before moving to the South Island of New Zealand. In 1865, he settled in the West Coast to begin a lifetime career of working for the government. In addition to his official duties, he was involved in mining and assisted to develop the district, becoming involved in disputes that foreshadowed his experiences at Thames.
Appointed as resident magistrate for Poverty Bay in 1877, his work was praised, as it had been on the West Coast, but two years later he was abruptly moved to Thames to become both magistrate and warden after the forced resignation of his predecessor, William Fraser. The latter’s career is examined, as is how his clique hated Kenrick for replacing him; but most residents welcomed a man whose decisions were seen as fair and just. Fraser retained support amongst many in the community, becoming mayor and then a member of parliament, but continued to snipe at Kenrick, supported by a small number of malcontents, who made his life difficult.
In his determination to make his subordinates perform their duties satisfactorily, Kenrick provoked conflict with Hugh McIlhone, Inspector of Miners’ Rights, and James Monteith McLaren, Inspector of Mines. They were supported by two prominent Thames residents, Louis Ehrenfried, a brewer and local government politician, and George Nathaniel Brassey, a solicitor, who spent years trying to undermine Kenrick for their own personal advantage. In 1880 and 1885, two petitions to remove him failed miserably, as his reputation both locally and with the government and its officials had risen steadily. 
Kenrick improved mining regulations and enforced them fairly, as even some who lost cases accepted. At Te Aroha, after some initial criticisms he became popular because of his efforts to be fair to all who came before him in court and his assistance both to mining and to the development of the district. His efforts to assist Maori made him popular with them as well, and when he died, prematurely, he was deeply mourned by both Maori and Pakeha.

text: Harry Kenrick: the first warden of the Te Aroha mining district Because of his improvident father, Harry Kenrick left England for the Victorian goldfields before moving to the South Island of New Zealand. In 1865, he settled in the West Coast to begin a lifetime career of working for the government. In addition to his official duties, he was involved in mining and assisted to develop the district, becoming involved in disputes that foreshadowed his experiences at Thames.
Appointed as resident magistrate for Poverty Bay in 1877, his work was praised, as it had been on the West Coast, but two years later he was abruptly moved to Thames to become both magistrate and warden after the forced resignation of his predecessor, William Fraser. The latter’s career is examined, as is how his clique hated Kenrick for replacing him; but most residents welcomed a man whose decisions were seen as fair and just. Fraser retained support amongst many in the community, becoming mayor and then a member of parliament, but continued to snipe at Kenrick, supported by a small number of malcontents, who made his life difficult.
In his determination to make his subordinates perform their duties satisfactorily, Kenrick provoked conflict with Hugh McIlhone, Inspector of Miners’ Rights, and James Monteith McLaren, Inspector of Mines. They were supported by two prominent Thames residents, Louis Ehrenfried, a brewer and local government politician, and George Nathaniel Brassey, a solicitor, who spent years trying to undermine Kenrick for their own personal advantage. In 1880 and 1885, two petitions to remove him failed miserably, as his reputation both locally and with the government and its officials had risen steadily. 
Kenrick improved mining regulations and enforced them fairly, as even some who lost cases accepted. At Te Aroha, after some initial criticisms he became popular because of his efforts to be fair to all who came before him in court and his assistance both to mining and to the development of the district. His efforts to assist Maori made him popular with them as well, and when he died, prematurely, he was deeply mourned by both Maori and Pakeha.

year: 2016