Cook Islands Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language that is the official language of the Cook Islands. Cook Islands Māori is closely related to, but distinct from, New Zealand Māori. Cook Islands Māori is called just Māori when there is no need to distinguish it from New Zealand Māori. It is also known as Māori Kūki Āirani (or Maori Kuki Airani), or as Rarotongan Many Cook Islanders also call it Te reo Ipukarea, which translates as "the language of the ancestral homeland".

Official status

English is the official language of the Cook Islands. Cook Islands Māori became an official language of the Cook Islands in 2003 as defined by the Te Reo Maori Act 2003.

Te Reo Maori Act definition

The Te Reo Maori Act 2003 states that Māori: "1. means the Māori language (including its various dialects) as spoken or written in any island of the Cook Islands; and 2. Is deemed to include Pukapukan as spoken or written in Pukapuka; and 3. Includes Māori that conforms to the national standard for Māori approved by Kopapa Reo."

Writing system and pronunciation

There is a debate about the standardisation of the writing system. Although usage of the macron (־) makarona and the glottal stop amata is recommended, most speakers do not use them in everyday writing. The Cook Islands Māori Revised New Testament uses a standardised orthography that includes the okina and macron.

Consonants

Vowels

Grammar

Cook Islands Māori is an isolating language with very little morphology. Case is marked by the particle that initiates a noun phrase, and like most East Polynesian languages, Cook Islands Māori has nominative-accusative case marking. The unmarked constituent order is predicate initial: that is, verb initial in verbal sentences and nominal-predicate initial in non-verbal sentences.

Personal pronouns

Tense-Aspect-Mood markers

Most of the preceding examples were taken from Cook Islands Maori Dictionary, by Jasper Buse with Raututi Taringa edited by Bruce Biggs and Rangi Moekaa, Auckland, 1995.

Possessives

Like most other Polynesian languages (Tahitian, New Zealand Māori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan ...), Cook Islands Māori has two categories of possessives, "a" and "o". Generally, the "a" category is used when the possessor has or had control over the initiation of the possessive relationship. Usually this means that the possessor is superior or dominant to what is owned, or that the possession is considered as alienable. The "o" category is used when the possessor has or had no control over the initiation of the relationship. This usually means that the possessor is subordinate or inferior to what is owned, or that the possession is considered to be inalienable. The following list indicates the types of things in the different categories:

Vocabulary

Dialectology

Although most words of the various dialects of Cook Islands Māori are identical, there are some differences:

Demographics

Sources