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Kupu whakataki
I te ‘tupuranga ake’ o te Mäori, ahakoa he tirohanga
nä te Uru nei, kua noho te körero ä-waha hei kaupapa
tohe mä ngä kaiwhakangungu Mäori mö ngä tau whä
tekau, neke atu, i te wä i uia ai e ngä mätanga o te Uru
mënä he hua tö ngä tängata mohoao hei tuku körero
ä-waha (Nä Buck i tä Cox, 1993: 12). E kitea mai ai
te pono o te toi ä-waha, pënä i te karakia, hei momokörero
ä-waha e tino ora nei, me öna hua maha. Ka
wetehia tëtehi tauira o te karakia kia whakaaturia atu
ai te mana o ia kupu ki te kawe i te ariä, i te whakapono
o tua whakarere, ä, mä te piki, mä te heke o te tangi o
te waha ka kawea atu taua mätauranga, aua whakaaro
ki tua o te ätea, o te wä, ä, ora rawa ake nei. Heoi anö
rä, ko tä tënei atikara he whakapümau i te mana o te
körero ä-waha mä te tuhituhi tonu, anä, ko te tuhi tonu
rä te hanga e patu nei i te oranga tonutanga o te körero
ä-waha. Käti, he tohu noa iho nei pea nö te huringa o
te wä me te rerekëtanga o te körero ä-waha a te Mäori
i tënei wä.
Abstract
With the development of Mäori, albeit from a Western
viewpoint, orality has been a subject of advocacy by Mäori
educationalists for some forty years or more since Western
scholars questioned the capacity of “uncivilised peoples
to transmit information orally” (Buck in Cox, 1993: 12).
The validity of oral arts, by way of karakia, as one of
those living oral forms and its multiplicity of potential are
reiterated. One sample karakia is examined to demonstrate
the potential of individual words to encapsulate concepts
and beliefs from a bygone era and, by way of the rise and
fall of the voice, to push that knowledge and thought across
space and time, thus affording it a perpetual existence.
Ironically, this article seeks to preserve the status of
orality through writing, the very medium that threatens
its oral maintenance; however, perhaps this is merely
representative of the transitional residual orality phase
Mäoridom is facing.