‘Maori English’

It should be noted at the outset that Maori English is not a homogeneous variety, and that there may be several distinguishable Maori Englishes. It should also be noted that there is a great deal of research which indicates clearly that Maori English cannot simply be equated with ‘the English spoken by people of Maori ethnicity’. There are Pakehas who speak Maori English, and Maori people who speak Pakeha English. Experiments in which New Zealanders are asked to judge the ethnicity of other New Zealanders on the basis of their accent typically find low rates of accuracy. What we are dealing with is, thus, to some extent a stereo-type of a variety, a stereotype which is nevertheless well recognized in New Zealand. Bell (2000) terms it ‘Maori Vernacular English’ or ‘MVE’. Because this stereotype is most often met among young men of relatively low socio-economic status, the variety has low overt prestige in New Zealand. Speakers of high socioeconomic status or speakers who aspire to high socio-economic status may use a very modified version of Maori English, although they may also be bi-dialectal. Most of the speakers in the sound recordings deviate from the most stereotypical forms of Maori English in this way, although they do have audible ‘Maori’ features in their speech. As noted above, for many Maori people, Maori English appears to provide an expression of identity, and as such has its own set of values attached to it, separate from the low overt prestige it bears within the Pakeha community.