Defining Māori language revitalisation: A project in folk linguistics

• Published in: Journal of sociolinguistics 2016-06, Vol.20 (3), p.287-311
• Main Author: Albury, Nathan John
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitudes; Cultural factors; Folk linguistics; Governmentality; Ideology; Indigenous languages; Indigenous peoples; Language attitudes; Language ideologies; Language policy; language revitalisation; Language revitalization; language vitality; Linguistics; Local knowledge; Mana; Maori language; Maoris; Māori; Policy analysis; Power; Sociocultural factors; Values; Youth
• ISSN: 1360-6441; 1467-9841
• DOI: 10.1111/josl.12183

The postmodern and critical movements in language policy, with their redefinition of governmentality and attention to power structures, call for localised perspectives on language arrangements. In this way, a polity, in its social and cultural context, can be understood as much as the policies it operates. In the case of Indigenous languages undergoing revitalisation, this allows us to define language revitalisation, and the vitality it should deliver, not through western scholarship but for local purposes with local ideas by examining local knowledge and preferences. To do this, a folk linguistic approach was applied to language policy research. A quantitative and qualitative survey investigated how around 1,300 Indigenous and non‐Indigenous youth in New Zealand define Māori language revitalisation from their own perspective and how they perceive the revitalisation processes and outcomes proposed in scholarship and local discourses. The paper shows that claimed linguistic knowledge not only exists parallel to language attitudes, but informs local policy ideas. The findings indicate that these youth define language revitalisation and vitality in terms contextualised by local ontology, knowledge, ideologies and values, therefore challenging the local applicability of universal theories. Ko tā te hunga e whai ana i ngā kaupapa o te Aohōutanga me te Āta Pakirehua, he karanga kia whai wāhi ngā whakaaro o ngā marahea ki ngā whakaritenga reo. Koinei te hua o tā rātou tohu i te pēwheatanga o te kāwanatanga mā te aronui atu ki ngā pūnaha whakawhāiti mana. Mā konei e mārama ai ngā kaupapahere e whakahaeretia ana e te rōpū pakipaki, kia rite ai ki tōna horopaki ā‐ahurea, me tōna horopaki ā‐ hapori hoki. Nā reira e taea ai tēnei mea te whakarauora reo te whakaahua mō ngā reo taketake e whakarauorahia ana, me te taumata o te oranga e wawatahia ana, kaua ki tā te hiahia o te hunga mātauranga tauiwi, engari, ki tā te hiahia o ngā marahea, mā te āta rangahau i tō ngā marahea mōhiotanga me ō rātou pīrangi. Kia puta mai ai tēnei mōhiotanga, ka whāia tētahi tikanga ngaio wetereo ā‐marahea hei tātari kaupapahere rangahau reo. I tirohia e tētahi uiuitanga ā‐ine kounga, ā‐ine tātai hoki, ngā whakaaro o te 1300 taitamariki taketake, taitamariki tauiwi hoki, nō Aotearoa, me tō rātou māramatanga o te mahi whakarauora reo. I tirohia hoki te āhua o tā rātou kite i ngā tukanga whakarauora reo me ngā hua e matapaetia ana e ngā kōrero a ngā tāngata mātauranga me ngā marahea hoki. E wh