Māori Language Use

International research on language revitalisation suggests that for minority languages like Māori to survive, intergenerational transmission is required.

Māori speakers are clustered together and are not spread evenly throughout the Māori population. Thirty-one percent of Māori households in Te upoko o Te ika/Te Tau ihu have at least one Māori language speaker. In 54% of these households there is only one speaker, limiting the possibility of language use in the home.

Twenty-five percent of children or dependants live in households where there is at least one adult speaker of te reo, meaning that acquisition through intergenerational transmission is possible.

For people with Māori language skills, use of te reo Māori in the home has increased overall since 2001, particularly in communications between adults and their children. For example: Māori language interactions between adults and their pre-school children have increased from 58% in 2001 to 67% in 2006; Māori language interactions between adults and their primary school-aged children have slightly increased from 56% in 2001 to 57% in 2006; and, Māori language interactions between adults and their secondary school-aged children have increased from 48% in 2001 to 56% in 2006.⁴ While this is a positive indicator of the occurrence of intergenerational transmission, communication patterns in the home have not yet reached a level where the Māori language is considered the primary means of communication.

The use of the Māori language in the community remains most common in Māori cultural domains such as in hui or on the marae. The Māori language is not the primary means of communication in other everyday activities within the community setting.

Māori Language Competencies by Age

Source: Census 2006.

⁴ These percentages combine the percentage of Māori adults who used the Māori language as a significant language of communication and the percentage of Māori adults who made some use of the Māori language in their interactions.