title: Articulate the Kiwi way: perception insights from a language game corpus

authors: Calude, Andreea S.

abstract: This short communication reports on folk perceptions of New Zealand English lexical variation, specifically regarding which Māori loanwords are widely known by New Zealanders. We inspect the words used in a popular board game which has recently produced a New Zealand Edition – Articulate – and comb through these for all loanword uses, drawing comparisons with linguistics research and two popular websites containing lists of “Māori words every New Zealander should know” (Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2022). We find remarkable overlap between the loanwords used in the board game and the former, but not the latter. The most frequent loanwords included are social culture loanwords, in line with research in other genres. The lack of consistency in spelling and macron usage leads us to believe that board games such as Articulate constitute rich sources for folk perceptions of language varieties, showing that even small-scale corpora can provide inroads into thorny questions regarding perceptions of contact-induced lexical variation.

text: Articulate the Kiwi way: perception insights from a language game corpus This short communication reports on folk perceptions of New Zealand English lexical variation, specifically regarding which Māori loanwords are widely known by New Zealanders. We inspect the words used in a popular board game which has recently produced a New Zealand Edition – Articulate – and comb through these for all loanword uses, drawing comparisons with linguistics research and two popular websites containing lists of “Māori words every New Zealander should know” (Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2022). We find remarkable overlap between the loanwords used in the board game and the former, but not the latter. The most frequent loanwords included are social culture loanwords, in line with research in other genres. The lack of consistency in spelling and macron usage leads us to believe that board games such as Articulate constitute rich sources for folk perceptions of language varieties, showing that even small-scale corpora can provide inroads into thorny questions regarding perceptions of contact-induced lexical variation.

year: 2024-09-01

title: Libation and sacrifice in the Samoan ‘ava ceremony

authors: Refiti, Albert L.

subjects: Samoan ‘ava ceremony

abstract: This presentation is an analysis of Samoan oral stories connected to the ‘ava ceremony. These foundational stories have an important connection to the role blood sacrifice played in pre ‘ava and post ‘ava Samoa. Dr Refiti argues that the ‘ava ceremony replaced the actual killing of people in religious ceremonies that were required in former times to make sacred important communal spaces. This he shows relates to libation as an offering to the memories of the dead by spilling ‘ava on the ground as a sacrificial prayer or aso that mark and re-memorialise the past in honouring the bones of the dead and sacrificed victim.
‘Ava foundational stories also provide us with clues that the ‘ava plant was brought to Samoa by brothers from Fiti (Fiji) and later the ‘ava ceremony as we know it today was brought to Samoa by the Tagaloa clan which included the aumaga (kava chewers), the tauaga strainer and the use of the taupou (village maiden) as the stand-in for the old priest to distribute the ‘ava. The roles of the aumaga and taupou mirror that of the sacrificer and sacrificial victim.
Sacrifice and the ‘ava ceremony, Dr Refiti I contends, was required to mark, command and bring the passage of time and space to a stop so that people and roles can be redistributed allowing the community to grow and extend (tupu). The main role of sacrifice, as Valeri states, is “the transformation of the community from a lesser state which is indexed by disorder and pollution to a higher more complete state associated with order and purity” (Valeri, V. (1985). Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and society in ancient Hawaii (P. Wissing, Trans.). Chicago, ILL: University of Chicago Press).

text: Libation and sacrifice in the Samoan ‘ava ceremony This presentation is an analysis of Samoan oral stories connected to the ‘ava ceremony. These foundational stories have an important connection to the role blood sacrifice played in pre ‘ava and post ‘ava Samoa. Dr Refiti argues that the ‘ava ceremony replaced the actual killing of people in religious ceremonies that were required in former times to make sacred important communal spaces. This he shows relates to libation as an offering to the memories of the dead by spilling ‘ava on the ground as a sacrificial prayer or aso that mark and re-memorialise the past in honouring the bones of the dead and sacrificed victim.
‘Ava foundational stories also provide us with clues that the ‘ava plant was brought to Samoa by brothers from Fiti (Fiji) and later the ‘ava ceremony as we know it today was brought to Samoa by the Tagaloa clan which included the aumaga (kava chewers), the tauaga strainer and the use of the taupou (village maiden) as the stand-in for the old priest to distribute the ‘ava. The roles of the aumaga and taupou mirror that of the sacrificer and sacrificial victim.
Sacrifice and the ‘ava ceremony, Dr Refiti I contends, was required to mark, command and bring the passage of time and space to a stop so that people and roles can be redistributed allowing the community to grow and extend (tupu). The main role of sacrifice, as Valeri states, is “the transformation of the community from a lesser state which is indexed by disorder and pollution to a higher more complete state associated with order and purity” (Valeri, V. (1985). Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and society in ancient Hawaii (P. Wissing, Trans.). Chicago, ILL: University of Chicago Press).

year: 2017

title: Analysis of errors in the writing of first year university students of Māori

authors: Earnshaw, Lorene

subjects: Te reo Māori

abstract: This paper presents a survey of the range of grammatical and lexical errors made in written Māori by University students taking an introductory course in Māori language. We begin by introducing, and discussing the motivation for, an error classification system which accommodates different classes of error. We then provide an analysis of errors in three different types of student writing: homework assignments, impromptu tests and examination transcripts. We conclude with some remarks about the patterns of error which we found.

text: Analysis of errors in the writing of first year university students of Māori This paper presents a survey of the range of grammatical and lexical errors made in written Māori by University students taking an introductory course in Māori language. We begin by introducing, and discussing the motivation for, an error classification system which accommodates different classes of error. We then provide an analysis of errors in three different types of student writing: homework assignments, impromptu tests and examination transcripts. We conclude with some remarks about the patterns of error which we found.

year: 2004-09