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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
Maori
A
scene from the 1994 film Once Were
Warriors—Will
the
Maori language live on
beyond
performances of traditional culture?
Language information:
Maori is the language of Aotearoa (New Zealand), now a native minority language
under predominantly English-speaking European-derived domination. It tends
to be referred to by its native name Te Reo (Māori) by people in New Zealand, even when not speaking Maori. Māori simply
means “native,” historically “ordinary” or “normal.” This word is related to Rapa Nui maori, Rarotongan māori, Hawai‘ianmaoli, and Tahitian maohi. In some parlances, “Maori” has come to refer to “Polynesian” in general, such as in the name “Cook Islands
Maori” (Māori Kūki ‘Āirani) for “Rarotongan,” the people, culture and language of the Cook Islands.
Maori
is,
together with its closest relative Moriori of Rekohu/Wharekauri (Chatham
Islands),
the
southernmost Polynesian language, being situated at the bottom of the large
“Polynesian Triangle.”
The
Polynesian Triangle with the best-known
languages marked
Thanks to the extraorinary
maritime migration of their ancestral speakers, the Polynesian
languages,
and
certainly
the
Austronesian
family
to which they belong, constitute the world’s language
group
that is geographically most widespread across
water. Maori language loyalty dwindled under unfavorable
conditions, and most ethnic Maori are now native English speakers.
In recent
decades, interest in, respect for and appreciation of Maori heritage as a national
treasure and a key aspect of New Zealand’s national identity have favored progress
in Maori language resurgence and assertion.
The
translator has adapted the story to traditional New Zealand. A grey warbler (riroriro) takes the role of the wren, and a dog (kurī) takes
the role of the lion, since wrens
and lions
are not native to the land of the Maori people.
Genealogy:
Austronesian > Malayo-Polynesian > Central > Eastern > Oceanic > Remote > East Fijian-Polynesian > Polynesian > Nuclear > East > Central > Tahitic
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