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Kāwhia kaumātua voices come alive on twitter

Kāwhia kaumātua voices come alive on twitter

In a possible world first, a Māori language group has developed a ‘twitter dictionary’ for te reo Māori. (see @waikatoreo)

The ‘twitter dictionary’ was developed by te reo 2puna, a new project undertaken by Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Hikairo.

The twitter dictionary captures the unique Māori language spoken in Kāwhia moana, and in Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto.

Many words used in the area are heard nowhere else; however the dictionary can be accessed online on twitter anywhere in the world. As a result, the twitter page promotes the use of local Māori language, which is often different to the language spoken in other areas.

Using Iphones, the project records kaumātua, showing how the words are used in real life situations. The value of the clips is that they provide a link between first language speakers, and learners. For example, rūruhi Ngaro Te Hae asks ‘he ika ngāu?’ in this clip:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=152138941854362&id=150898835311706

One of the kaumātua in the clips, George Nelson, says:

Kei whea ngaku kī?

https://twitter.com/waikatoreo/status/750121260617572352

Using these clips, new speakers learn by imitation and can say the words just like first language speakers do.

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To date, the page has listed more than 150 words used in Kāwhia Moana. New words, images and video clips are added all the time, using hashtags.

How to use the @waikatoreo dictionary on twitter

The ‘dictionary’ contains words that belong to te reo 2puna. You can locate kupu using twitter hashtags. There are over 150 entries for words that are unique to our local reo.

You don’t need to be on twitter to be able to use this dictionary.

There are two ways to use this dictionary:

1. Google ‘@waikatoreo’. The @waikatoreo twitter page will come up. Once it’s open, you can scroll through all of the tweets on this page.

2. Or, go to the front page of twitter.com. Once you’re at the front page, go to the search area and write ‘#waikato4’, and then the word you’re looking for.

Example:

I want to know if there is a Waikato word for ētahi. I search #waikato4etahi. Here is the result:

#waikato4etahi - ngētehi. Kei whea ngētehi? Where are the others?

Do a search for these words, using the hashtag:

#waikato4eyes

#waikato4pehea

#waikato4manuhiri

#waikato4hold

ENDS

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