It’s Official: Maori – The ‘Indigenous’ Official Language of New Zealand

Abstract

Languages around the world are disappearing at an alarming rate. Language revitalization can help a “lesser used,” “[m]inoritized,” or “endangered” language be taken and returned to active use. The Maori are an indigenous population in New Zealand whose language, Te Reo Maori, is a lesser-used language when compared to English. The tremendous efforts put forth by the Maori people to revitalise their language has resulted in an increased awareness about their culture and has saved their saved their language from the brink of extinction. This research paper discusses the revitalization of the Maori language, specifically in the domains of education and the media. It also looks at the various social attitudes of both the Maori and the Non-Maori people towards the language and how that has affected the revitalization projects in New Zealand. This paper also briefly discusses whether the official status was just to recognize the language or to reverse language shift and help revitalize the language.