New Zealand English

Sara Romagnoli New Zealand English
Introduction
The present study will analyse the variety of English called New Zealand English (NZE). The
analyses focuses on an extract taken from the 2002 movie Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro and
based on the novel of the same name by Witi Ihimaera, a New Zealand writer of Maori and AngloSaxon descent.
The case study consists of an introduction to New Zealand history and society, an explanation about
the external history of New Zealand English and its dialectal origins, followed by an analysis of the
linguistic features of the variety, with a special focus on the variety called Maori Vernacular
English (MVE). Then follows a study of the extract chosen, and a discussion about the Italian
translation of the text.
The movie Whale Rider re-tells an ancestral myth about a human who befriends the great spirits of
the sea, and it is useful to penetrate into the history and tradition of the Maori population, and to
understand its connections with the past. In fact, the film focuses on anxieties raised by the
malfunction of the communal unit in the present day, and the need to resolve internal issues,
without reference to the wider Pakeha community. Anyway, Maori critics defined it as a statement
about life on a philosophical and spiritual level rather than as being ethnographically or culturally
specific.
About New Zealand
New Zealand is one of the most isolated countries in the World.
Its nearest neighbour, Australia, is 1,600 km to the west. New
Zealand consists of three main islands; the two largest are the
North Island and the South Island, which is known as the
mainland, while the much smaller Stewart Island lies due south of
the South Island. A peculiarity of New Zealand is its climate: it is
described as maritime temperature without the extremes of heat or
cold of many other countries. The weather can be highly variable:
a popular song written by the group Crowded House is called
Four Seasons in One Day, and it is an apt description of New
Zealand weather.
Because of its isolation, New Zealand was one of the last
countries to be occupied by human beings. The first settlers were
Polynesian people who had a long history of exploration and
migration across the Pacific, and who were later known in New
Zealand as Maori (which means ordinary).
The first Europeans to reach New Zealand were the Dutch
navigator Abel Tasman and his men, in 1642. They made no
landing and remained in New Zealand waters for less than a
1 month. The Dutch provided the first rough map of the west coast of the South Island and later the
country was named after the Dutch province of Zeeland. In 1769 Captain James Cook made landfall
on the east coast of the North Island and claimed the country for the British crown. Cook
circumnavigated both islands, producing a remarkably accurate map of the country. In the
beginning, European New Zealand was an ungoverned and lawless outpost of the Australian colony
of New South Wales. The British government was reluctant to add New Zealand to its colonial
possessions, but there was great pressure on the British government to control the situation. In
1840, Captain William Hobson was sent to negotiate a treaty with the Maori: the Treaty of
Waitangi, signed in that year by Maori chiefs and representatives of the British crown, marks the
beginning of British sovereignty over New Zealand. The regular contact between Maori and
Europeans had a devastating effect on Maori. Maori social structures were severely disrupted and
many Maori died through European diseases.
In the late nineteenth century, with the advent of railways, more settlers could reach New Zealand.
The development of refrigerated shipping revolutionised the country’s farming, enabling meat,
butter and cheese to be exported to Britain. In 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the
world to grant women the vote.
At the beginning of the twentieth century there was a developing sense of national identity in New
Zealand: the country refused to join the Australian federation and changed her status from a
‘colony’ of Great Britain to a self-governing ‘dominion’. During the First World War, New
Zealanders fought alongside British and Australian forces with a great number of deaths, and they
suffered the consequences of the 1930s great depression after the war. In 1980s and early 1990s,
New Zealand underwent major economic restructuring, transforming a highly protected economy
into one of the world’s most open. This has been described as the Revolution of 1984, begun by the
Labour government and continued by the conservative National government between 1990 and
1999. It included improvements in the finance and economic sector, and changes in the structure of
government. The welfare state was seen to be under attack when benefits were cut and many saw
these measures as an assault on New Zealand’s egalitarian traditions. The merits of these changes
and their sequencing are still debated. They were followed by a period of low economic growth in
the 1990s, then higher growth after 2000. This caused a widening of the income gap between rich
and poor. These last include Maori and Pacific Island peoples, who have typically dominated the
lower income sectors. New Zealand is today an anti-nuclear country, position adopted in the 1980s
by the Labour government and strongly supported and continued to keep by the subsequent
governments.
New Zealand nowadays
New Zealand’s population has reached 4 million in 2003 and the country now has far more ethnic
diversity than it did in the first 150 years of settlement. The great majority of New Zealanders today
are of European ethnicity. The next largest group are Maori, a population group that has grown by
21 per cent since 1991. The number of Asian people in New Zealand has also increased rapidly.
Early concepts of New Zealand national identity focused on egalitarianism and ‘mateship’ in a
similar way to Australia. It would be often proudly stated that there were no class differences in
New Zealand. It is true that the British class system was not transported to New Zealand in its
original state; there was no aristocratic upper class as there was in Britain: colonial life blurred class
boundaries and mixed together all elements of society.
External History of New Zealand English.
English arrived in New Zealand in 1796 on board Captain James Cook’s barque Endeavour but it
only took root in New Zealand with the first European settlements at the end of 18th century.
2 English then became the second language spoken in New Zealand, with the first language being
Maori spoken by New Zealand’s original settlers from Polynesia.
From the 1830s English is the language of colonial administrators and settlers, but it remains a
minority language for Maori.
In 1840 Maori chiefs and the British Government signed the Treaty of Waitangi: this marked the
beginning of a nation. It created the foundation for British colonial rule in New Zealand, and
created the framework for sustained migration from Britain.
Nowadays, English is almost the only language spoken in public domains in New Zealand.
Indigenous language Maori is seldom spoken in general public communications, despite since the
1980s there have been major revitalization initiatives: New Zealand is an unusually monolingual
country, with 95% of population speaking English and 90% being monolingual in English.
The two ethnic groups present in New Zealand are Maori and Pakeha. Maori ethnicity is a badge of
identity for many New Zealanders of Maori descent, and such identification manifests itself in
speech. Also people with Polynesian ethnicity can be found, due to traffics between the Pacific
Islands and Auckland, and many other linguistic communities of low audibility.
The dialectal origins of New Zealand English
New Zealand English presents mainly uniform features, with a few exceptions: the presence of a
rhotic accent, perhaps deriving from Scottish varieties, and the distribution of the words bach and
crib, taipo and weta. It is thus clear that the regional immigrants have not given rise to
corresponding regional dialects of New Zealand.
Anyway, we can identify some similarities with South-East England English pronunciation, such
as: non-rhotic variety, different vowels in dance and manse, different vowels in put and putt, front,
not-fully-open vowel in cat, and Diphthongs in gate and goat.
An alternative view suggests Australian origins, justified by pronunciation and vocabulary
The research for the dialectal origins gives no clear-cut answers as to whether there was a single
area of origin for the original settlers. Furthermore, we can find some words coming directly from
the British Isles and words coming not directly, in via Australian English (AusE).
Social variation in NZE
New Zealand English is one component in the construction of a distinct national identity, which
incorporates elements from both parts of New Zealand’s bicultural heritage. Although Pakeha and
Maori interact freely and share membership of a common New Zealand society, there are also many
ways in which Maori and Pakeha differ, and in most contexts it is Pakeha culture that is dominant,
especially in society. This situation is reflected in patterns of language use: since most Maori people
are no longer fluent in the Maori language, linguistic distinctiveness is likely to find expression in
English. In many respects, general NZE can be characterised as ‘Pakeha English’, while we can
distinguish a particular variety of New Zealand English, called Maori Vernacular English (MVE),
and it seems likely that this variety had its origins in the transference of features from the Maori
language by the first generations of Maori who learned English as a second language.
People respond differently to more cultivated and broader varieties of NZE. In one study of
attitudes towards NZE, general NZE speakers’ accents were considered to be reasonably accepted
(compared with broad and cultivated NZE accents), but none of the NZE speakers were regarded as
particularly self-confident or intelligent or considered to have much of a sense of humour. These
results were interpreted as indicating that New Zealanders displayed ‘cultural cringe’ towards
speakers of their own speech variety. A stereotype, common until the mid-twentieth century, held
that because Maori spoke English as their second language, they therefore spoke ‘broken English’.
3 Linguistic features of NZE
Phonology
o /r/ non-rhotic, with linking or intrusive /r/
o /w/ - /ʍ/ contrast more prevalent in NZE than RP (/ʍ/ perceived as a prestige feature)
o Yod-dropping: loss of the palatal approximant /j/ after alveolar consonants resulting in pairs
such as [nju:] vs. [nu:]
o /l/ tends to be universally dark
o [ɐ-:][a̝ -:] for /ɑ:/ - bath
o [œ̈ ] or [ø̞ :] for /ɜ:/ - nurse
o [o̞ ] for /ɔ/ - thought
o [ʉ] for /u:/ - goose
o [ë] for /ɪ/ - kit
o [e̞ ] for /ɛ/ - dress
o [ɛ̞] for /æ/ - trap
o [ɒ̝+] for /ɒ/ - lot
o [ɐ] for /ɐ/ - strut
o [ö̞ ] for /ʊ/ - foot
o [æ] for /ei/ - face
o [ɒe] for /ai/ - price
o [oe] for /ɔi/ - choice
o [ɐö] for /ou/ - goat
o [ä̝ ö] for /au/ - mouth
o ear/air merger à monophthongization of the /iəә/ and /eəә/ diphthongs (for some speakers in
some contexts). Researches are still open: merger is to the ear vowel or to the air vowel? –
near and square
o [ʉɐ] for /ʊəә/ - cure
Rhythm and intonation
o Use of full vowels in unstressed syllables, in weak monosyllabic words (mainly function
words, e.g. /i/ in been, he, she, we), and in weak syllables in polysyllabic words (e.g.
allusion is pronounced /æ'luʒn/ rather than /əә'luʒn/).
o Variation of lexical stress placement, e.g. ‘spectator, ‘dictator, ‘frustrate, ‘agri’culture
(variably), and a tendency towards strong secondary stress in words ending in –ary and –
ory.
o In bysillabic verb-noun pairs, the verb forms will have lexical stress on the second syllable,
while for the nouns it will be on the first syllable. E.g. v. im’port / n. ‘import.
o Importance of suprasegmental features: duration, amplitude and pitch, vowel quality
difference.
o Use of syllable-based rather than stress-based timing.
o High Rising Terminals (HRT): associated with salient rises in pitch at the ends of noninterrogative intonational phrases. It is a characteristic of the young, of women, and of
Maori, and we can find a greater use of HRT in narrative texts and opinions. It covers
instrumental functions, serving to overcome potential misunderstandings and as a seek to
foreground common knowledge and understanding.
4 Grammar
o Variation in the preterites and past participle forms of irregular verbs:
o Stem vowel changes, especially with irregular verbs ending in a nasal and/or velar, e.g.
sing, sung, sung.
o Verbs with potential preterites in –t, with a preference for –t forms with verbs ending in
/l/, e.g. spell, spelt, spelt, and a trend towards –ed forms with verbs ending in a nasal,
e.g. dream, dreamed, dreamed.
o Verbs with potential participles in –en (no general pattern of the occurrence), e.g. prove,
proved, proven/proved (used indiscriminately), get, got, got/gotten (where HAVE gotten
can only function as the perfect of the active verb GET, and HAVE got can also have the
stative meaning ‘possess’).
o HAVE acts as an aspectual auxiliary making the perfect. It can be negated, fronted, and
appear in tag questions, and there is a distinction between the auxiliary-like ‘simple’ HAVE
and the lexical HAVE which requires DO-support and is neutralised in positive declarative
sentences.
o HAVE deletion before got: limited to positive declarative sentences and affects only
have, and not has (deletion of unstressed sentence-initial material), e.g. (Have) (You)
Got a match?
o HAVE deletion before got to/gotta.
o HAVE deletion with the perfect: limited to positive declarative sentences, to auxiliary
been in passives and progressives, and been + Path, e.g. I been caught in rips.
o HAVE insertion (intrusive have, [əәv]): occurs in ‘past counterfactual clauses’ and tends
to follow the contracted form [d] or [əәd] in spoken English, e.g. I wish you’d had told
me.
o Use of of instead of have after modals, e.g. You should of done/did this a long time ago.
o Marginal modals act like modal auxiliaries in some respects, but behave like lexical verbs in
others:
o Need: preference for modal NEED rather than DO-support in non-affirmative contexts
(e.g. You needn’t go), and preference for DO-support in questions.
o Dare: negatives with DO-support+dare+bare infinitive. DARE as an inflected form
followed by a bare infinitive. Interrogatives with modal DARE or WILL+dare to
o Ought (to): usually restricted to affirmative contexts.
o Use(d) (to): almost completely restricted to affirmative contexts, with a preference for
DO-support with either use to or the presented form used to in both negatives and
interrogatives.
o BE deletion in progressives.
o Use of yous as a second person plural pronoun (sometimes substituted with you guys),
especially in questions of the form Are yous coming?
o Variation in the comparative forms of individual adjectives: the choice may be influenced
by the syntactic status of the adjective involved.
o Inflectional (in attributive position), e.g. gentler, nicer.
o Periphrastic (preferred in predicatives), e.g. more gentle.
o Double variants for some adjectives (in attributive position), e.g. more gentler.
o Double negatives in negative clauses involving a verb and an indeterminate, e.g. you
shouldn’t never have attitudes like that, or single negative in the same context, e.g. you
shouldn’t ever have attitudes like that.
o Present perfect tends to be preferred to the preterite with adverbs such as yet and just.
o Variable deletion of the verbal coda be concerned or go in topic restricting as far as
constructions. This is the case of a typical change from below, spreading from lower
educated groups to the more well-educated.
5 Vocabulary
o Significant overlap of the NZE vocabulary and the AusE vocabulary (shared with or
deriving from), but more divides the distinctive NZE and AusE lexicon than unites them,
and traffic in words has not been all in one direction.
o From South African Dutch, e.g. bush = ‘woodland’.
o Words that derive, via AusE, from America, e.g. back country = ‘blackblocks’, creek =
‘stream’, pioneer = ‘early colonist’.
o Preference for the American heteronym rather than the British, e.g. kerosene rather than
paraffin.
o Borrowing from North American English, e.g. disc.
o Example of words remaining constant in sense, but with local applications,
e.g. colonial = ‘inferior, makeshift, lacking refinement’, bicultural = ‘of or relating to the
equal partnership of Maori and Pakeha as based in the articles of the Treaty of Waitangi’,
confiscation = ‘the (forcible) confiscation of Maori land, esp. during and following the
North Island Land Wars of the1860s’, customary rights = he right of Maori to engage in
traditional practices, as guaranteed by the Treaty of Waitangi’.
o Words which are New Zealandisms in origin, but are no longer restricted to NZE or AusE
use, e.g. cross-cut = ‘a diagonal cut, path, etc., or a cross-cut saw’, dee = ‘a policeman,
especially a detective’, happy as Larry = (colloquial) ‘extremely happy’, woolly = (noun)
‘an unshorn sheep’.
o Terms that are internationally known cultural and environmental items, used solely in
referring to New Zealand from outside, e.g. kiwi/Kiwi = ‘a New Zealander’, Maori = ‘of or
pertaining to the Maori, the Maori language, or Maori culture’, Haka = ‘a traditional warlike
Maori posture dance accompanied by chanting’, Mana = ‘power, control, influence; the
supernatural power pervading a person or thing’, Moa = ‘flightless New Zealand bird’.
o Terms considered as New Zealandisms:
o Distinctive words (e.g. hongi = ‘he touching or pressing together of noses as a Maori
greeting’, rimu = ‘bull kelp’, marching girl = ‘a participant in the sport of marching’,
kai = (colloquial) ‘food’, cobber = ‘a mate, a companion, or friend’, waterside = ‘a
waterside worker’).
o Supplementary sense (e.g. elder = ‘a person of recognised authority in a community;
a kaumatua’, provincial = ‘concerning any of the self-governing regions within the
colony of New Zealand’, rifleman = ‘a tiny insectivorous New Zealand forest bird’,
mob = ‘a number, or class, of people showing a distinctive characteristic, identity,
etc’, section = ‘an urban building lot for residential use’, spell = ‘a period of rest’).
o Substitute sense (e.g. beech = ‘a kind of New Zealand special forest tree’, whitebait
= ‘tiny young fish of various Galaxias species, netted near river mouths and eaten
whole in fritters etc.’, wren = ‘any of various small wren-like short-tailed birds of the
family Acanthisittidae’, creek = ‘a watercourse, esp. a stream or tributary of a river’,
paddock = ‘a piece of land, fenced or defined by natural boundaries, usually a part of
a rural property; a field large or small’).
Particular focus on MVE features
Discourse features
o Discourse particle EH (non-questioning) à functions as the main stereotype of MVE within
New Zealand, deriving from the Maori-language particle ne. E.g. I won’t make that mistake
again eh.
o High Rising Terminal intonation.
6 o Discourse particle Y’KNOW à universal interactive particle in all varieties but used more
in MVE. E.g. the local Maori didn’t take too – y’know – take too kindly to that they could
never come up with a – y’know – practical answer.
o TAG questions à the rarest of pragmatic devices used in MVE. E.g. it’s not a very good
omen really, is it?
Morphosyntactic features (not distinctive but marking difference)
o HAVE deletion.
o THERE’S + plural complement.
Phonology
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
ING reduction: [n] for /ŋ/ in unstressed syllables. turning, talking.
Initial T non-aspiration: [t] not [th] for /t/. time, type.
Final Z devoicing: [s] or [z̥ ] for /z/ (part of stereotypical representation of MVE). his, goes.
TH affrication or stopping: [tθ] or [t] for /θ/. think, through.
DH affrication or stopping: [ðd] or [d] for /ð/. these, them.
I decentralization: [i] or [ɪ] for /ɪ/, the most distinctive vowel. big, did.
U fronting: [y] or [ʉ] for /u/. too, doing.
Whale Rider – Text Analysis
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Original Text
Italian Translation
[Paikea: Song] If you ask me the name of this
house, I will tell you. It is Whitireia. And the
carved figurehead at the top? It is Paikea. It is
Paikea.
[Nanny] No good to you, you reckon?
[Koro] Shh!
[Porourangi] What are they feeding you?
[Pai] You look different.
[Porourangi] Hmm. You do too. Must be
growing up.
[Pai] Am not.
[Porourangi] Sorry I was late.
[Pai] It doesn't matter. It was stink anyway.
[Porourangi] Oh.
[Shilo] Gotta look my best for your brother.
[Rawiri] Hey, bro.
[Porourangi] Rawiri?
[Rawiri] Good to see you, man. Yeah, put on a
bit of weight since I saw you last time.
[Porourangi] Yeah.
[Rawiri] Hey, this is my new lady.
[Shilo] Kia ora.
[Porourangi] Kia ora.
[Nanny] How many of my sons you need, girl?
Give us a hand with the food. Make yourself
[Paikea: Song, English subtitles] If you ask me
the name of this house, I will tell you. It is
Whitireia. And the carved figurehead at the top?
It is Paikea. It is Paikea.
Dicevi che non era all’altezza.
Shh!
Ma non ti danno da mangiare?
Sei molto cambiato.
Beh, anche tu. Starai crescendo?
Proprio no.
Scusa, ho fatto tardi.
Non importa. E comunque era brutto.
Oh.
Allora piacerò a tuo fratello?
Eccolo!
Rawiri!
Che bello vederti fratello. Hai messo su qualche
kilo dall’ultima volta!
Sì.
Questa è la mia fidanzata!
Kia ora.
Kia ora.
Li vuoi proprio tutti i miri figli eh! Dammi una
mano in cucina. Cerca un po’ di aiutare.
7 26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
useful.
[Koro] You too, Pai.
[Rawiri] Come on, mate. Let these important
guys have their talk, eh?
[Koro] Take your time. They've been waiting
for you. Been a while this time, son.
[Porourangi] Been away. Didn't you get any of
my postcards?
[Koro] Your mother put something on the
fridge. I don't know what it was. A bridge or
something.
[Porourangi] France, probably. I've been
spending a bit of time in Germany too.
[Koro] Like you there, do they?
[Porourangi] Some of them do.
[Koro] So, you've been busy, then?
[Porourangi] Yeah. Yeah, it's been good. You
know, I got a gallery interested. Had some good
shows. How about you?
[Koro] We've been all right.
[Porourango] It's good to see you, dad.
[Pai] It was my father's waka... but after I was
born he didn't want to carve it anymore. He went
away. Everybody did.
[Porourangi] Sorry, mum.
[Nanny] You've come a long way. I think you
can have a sleep in.
[Porourangi] Isn't he having any breakfast?
[Nanny] Septic tank's blocked down at the
marae.
[Porourangi] Can't somebody else do it?
[Nanny] Eat your breakfast. You're too skinny.
Can't hardly see your bum in those pants.
[Porourangi] Thanks, ma.
[Rawiri] Thanks, ma.
[Nanny] Your timing's spooky, boy.
[Children] Nerd! Putt-putt-putt! Ah! What was
that for?
[Koro] For the concert last night. You have
more respect next time… That teacher of yours
got herself a husband yet?
[Pai] Don't think so.
[Koro] She still got those things on her teeth?
[Pai] Paka, at school we gotta do a speech on
where we come from and that. So anyway, you
know how we all came on a whale?
[Koro] That's right.
[Pai] But where does the whale come from?
8 Anche tu, Pai.
Su andiamo, lasciamo i grandi capi in pace.
Abbiamo tempo. È tanto che aspettano di
rivederti. Stavolta è passato un bel po’.
Sono stato in giro. Non hai ricevuto le mie
cartoline?
Tua madre ha messo qualcosa sul frigo. Non so
cosa fosse, più o meno un ponte.
La Francia, forse. Sono stato anche parecchio in
Germania.
E hai fatto conquiste?
Sì, qualcuna sì.
Hai avuto molto da fare?
Sì. Sì, è andata bene. Forse c’è una galleria
interessata. È una buona possibilità. E invece tu?
Siamo stati bene.
È bello rivederti, papà.
Era la waka di mio padre…ma dopo la mia
nascita smise di costruirla. Se ne andò. Nessuno
fu in grado di finirla.
Scusa, mamma.
Hai fatto un lungo viaggio. Te la meritavi una
bella dormita.
Ma non fa colazione?
La cisterna al cortile sacro si è bloccata.
Non può andarci qualcun altro?
Finisci di mangiare. Sei troppo magro. Non
riesco neanche più a vedere il sedere in quei
pantaloni.
Grazie, mamma.
Grazie, mamma.
Il tuo tempismo è sorprendente, ragazzo mio.
Prr-prr-prr! Puzzetta! Puzzetta, puzzetta,
puzzetta! Ehi! Ma che ho fatto?
È per il concerto di ieri. La prossima volta avrai
più rispetto… È la tua maestra quella? Ancora
non si è trovata un marito?
Non credo proprio.
Ha sempre quel coso ai denti?
Nonno, a scuola ci hanno detto che dobbiamo
fare una ricerca sulle nostre origini. Dimmi una
cosa. Tu lo sai che siamo arrivati tutti con la
balena?
Proprio così.
Ma da dove veniva la balena?
76
77
78
79
80
81
[Koro] From Hawaiki.
[Pai] Where's that?
[Koro] It's where we lived before we came here,
where the ancestors are.
[Pai] So, Paikea came from there.
[Koro] Ae.
Da Hawaiki.
E dov’è?
È il posto dove vivevamo prima di venire qui.
Dove si trovano gli antenati.
E quindi Paikea viene da lì?
Esatto.
Linguistic analysis of the variety
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
(l.2) Whitireia: Whitireia New Zealand, previously called Whitireia Community
Polytechnic (Māori: Te Kura Matatini o Whitireia) is a crown owned tertiary education
institute in New Zealand.
(l.13) Stink: (adjective, colloquial NZE) bad, disagreeable.
(l.15) Example of HAVE deletion before gotta.
(l.22) Kia ora: (interjection, NZE) a greeting or farewell; as a toast, it means good health!; thank
you. Maori origins.
(l.24) Exception: a case in which the NZE rule is not followed as far as modal NEED is
concerned. Here the preference for DO-support in questions is not respected.
(l.29) Example of the use of the discourse particle EH.
(l.31, 32, 69, 70) examples of HAVE deletion with the perfect, also a feature of MVE.
(l.39) Example of the use of Tag questions, typical of MVE (though rare).
(l.42,43) probably an example of the discourse particle Y’KNOW, a feature of MVE.
(l.47) Waka: a Maori canoe, especially of a large ocean-going kind, with straked sides; a group
of tribes descended from the occupants of one of the eight migration canoes of Maori tradition;
(fig.) Any vessel or vehicle or collective enterprise: we're all in the same waka. Maori origins.
In this case the first meaning is employed.
(l.55) Marae: the courtyard in front of a meeting house, the focal point of Maori tribal life; a
rural or urban Maori centre consisting of courtyard, meeting house, and associated buildings and
land. Maori origins.
(l.58) Example of the use of a double negative in negative clauses involving a verb and an
indeterminate.
(l.66, 67) Example of the preference of present perfect rather than preterite with adverbs wuch
as yet and just.
(l.76) Hawaiki: the legendary (or unidentified historical) homeland of the Maori in the Pacific,
the source of migration to Aotearoa by ancestors in sea-going waka, and the place to which the
spirits of Maori are believed to return after death. Maori origins.
(l.81) Ae: (in Maori contexts) yes, agreed.
Translation analysis
In some cases, I agree with the Italian translation of this extract. For example, I appreciate the fact
that some Maori words, such as Kia ora and waka, have not been translated, but isolated from the
rest of the text through the typographical procedure of italics. I think that this aspect of translation
respects what Berman calls exoticization: this is brought up by the fact that prose has its roots in the
vernacular language, talking about vernacular elements, and problems could arouse because of the
difference between two cultures such as Maori and Italian. I would have chosen the same
procedure, rather than that of rendering a foreign vernacular with a local one, which I think would
not respect the essence of the dialogues. This is a way of accentuating strangeness, as Berman says,
and of intensifying the force expressed in the original text, considering translation as the “trial of
9 the foreign”, as Heidegger defined it. Another element that follows this idea is the fact that Maori
songs were not doubled, but subtitled in English.
Anyway, I would have treated some elements in a different way. Here follows my suggestion of
translation, with the related number of lines, corresponding with the original text:
1
5
6
7
8
9
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
27
28
30
32
34
37
39
40
41
42
45
46
47
50
51
53
54
56
57
60
61
62
If you ask me the name of this house, I will tell you. It is Whitireia. And the carved figurehead
at the top? It is Paikea. It is Paikea.
Non è brava, pensi?
Shh!
Che cosa ti danno da mangiare?
Sembri diverso.
Mmh. Anche tu. Starai crescendo.
Proprio no.
Scusa, ho fatto tardi.
Non importa. E comunque era brutto.
Oh.
Devo essere al meglio per tuo fratello.
Ehi!
Rawiri?
Che bello vederti, fratello. Sì, ho messo su qualche kilo dall’ultima volta.
Già.
Ehi, questa è la mia donna.
Kia ora.
Kia ora.
Di quanti dei miei figli hai bisogno, ragazza? Dacci una mano col cibo. Renditi utile.
Anche tu, Pai.
Su andiamo, lasciamo questi ragazzi importanti ai loro discorsi, dai.
Fai con calma. Ti stavano aspettando. Stavolta è passato un bel po’, figliolo.
Sono stato in giro. Non avete ricevuto nessuna delle mie cartoline?
Tua madre ha messo qualcosa sul frigo. Non so cosa fosse. Un ponte, o qualcosa.
La Francia, probabilmente. Ho passato un po’ di tempo anche in Germania.
E a loro piaci?
Si, a qualcuno di loro.
Quindi, sei stato indaffarato?
Sì. Sì, è andata bene. Ho trovato una galleria interessata. Ci sono state delle belle mostre. E
voi?
Siamo stati bene.
È bello vederti, papà.
Era la waka di mio padre…ma dopo la mia nascita non volle più costruirla. Andò via. Se ne
andarono tutti.
Scusa, mamma.
Hai fatto un lungo viaggio. Te la meriti una bella dormita.
Lui non fa colazione?
La fossa biologica giù al marae si è bloccata.
Non può occuparsene qualcun altro?
Mangia la tua colazione. Sei troppo magro. A malapena riesco a vedere il tuo sedere in quei
pantaloni.
Grazie, mamma.
Grazie, mamma.
Il tuo tempismo è spaventoso, ragazzo.
10 63 Prr-prr-prr! Puzzetta! Puzzetta, puzzetta, puzzetta! Ahi! E questa per cos’era?
65 Per il concerto di ieri. La prossima volta avrete più rispetto… Quella tua maestra si è già
trovata un marito?
68 Non credo proprio.
69 Ha ancora quel coso ai denti?
70 Paka, a scuola dobbiamo fare un discorso sulle nostre origini. Quindi, dunque, sai come
arrivammo tutti con la balena?
74 È vero.
75 Ma da dove veniva la balena?
76 Da Hawaiki.
77 E dov’è?
78 È dove vivevamo prima di venire qui, dove si trovano gli antenati.
80 Quindi, Paikea viene da lì.
81 Già.
In this translation, I kept some of the choices of the Italian translation, because I agreed with the
resolution of some problems, such as the repetition of the Italian word fratello. I decided not to
translate the word marae, in order to be consistent in my decision to leave Maori words and to
render them in italics. I reckon that in some lines, the translator had misunderstood the meaning of
the sentence, for example in l. 17, or had not translated in a literal way, which I thought it was
better to remain as faithful as possible to the original text.
As far as the translating problems that Berman calls “deforming tendencies”, I think that in this kind
of text there is less possibility to deform the meanings, with such tendencies as clarification,
expansion, impoverishment or destruction of rhythms, due to the necessity to express the same idea
in the same time as the original text, in order to keep the correspondence between the labial
movement and the speech.
Bibliography
- Whale Rider, directed by Niki Karo, South Pacific Pictures, 2002.
- La Ragazza delle Balene, directed by Niki Karo, South Pacific Pictures, 2002.
- Allan Bell, Koenraad Kuiper, New Zealand English, Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2000.
- Ian Conrich and Stuart Murray, Contemporary New Zealand cinema: from new wave to
blockbuster, I.B. Tauris, London, New York, 2008.
- Jennifer Hay, Margaret Maclagan, and Elizabeth Gordon, Dialects of English, New Zealand
English, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2008.
- Alistair Fox, Barry Keith Grand, and Hilary Radner, New Zealand Cinema: Interpreting the Past,
Intellect Ltd., Bristol, 2011.
- Tony Deverson, Graeme Kennedy, The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press,
2005.
[http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195584516.001.0001/acref9780195584516]
- Antoine Berman, “Translation and the Trials of the Foreign”, in Lawrence Venuti, (ed) The
Translation Studies Reader, Routledge, London, 2004
11