Maori Language in Porirua: A Study of Reported Proficiency, Patterns of Use, and Attitudes

This study investigates the maintenance of Maori language in an urban, working class community. The study presents the results of a survey of the reported Maori language proficiency and patterns of use of Maori residents of Porirua, together with their attitudes to the language and related issues. Porirua, one of four cities in the greater Wellington region, has a Maori population of almost 20% compared with a national figure of 12.4%.

In all, 56 Maori residents of Porirua, both tangata whenua and migrants to the area, were surveyed for this study. The data was collected by interview, using a questionnaire, with local Maori residents as interviewers. The interviews were recorded on audio tape. The respondents were Maori men and women in three age bands (young, middle aged, and elderly), and three social categories (working class, middle class, and kohanga reo parents). A networking procedure, the 'friend of a friend' technique, was used to contact respondents to fill the judgement sample. An analysis of social networks was used in interpreting the data.

The data on the language history and reported Maori language proficiency of the respondents, together with the interlocutors and domains in which Maori was used, were compared with data collected in Porirua 15 years previously by the NZCER as part of a nationwide survey of Maori language use in Maori households. The results show continuing shift to English, with evidence of disruption in intergenerational transmission of Maori; approximately 71% of the respondents with English as their first language had at least one parent who spoke Maori as a first language. An attitude index was prepared for each respondent as a means of examining the overall positive attitudes to Maori in more detail. The results indicate a link between attitude and pronunciation of Maori words occurring in NZE.

A measurement of integration into the Maori community in Porirua, a network strength score, was devised. Links between this and tribe, gender, age, social category, and language proficiency were indicated by the results. Elderly respondents tended to be those reporting highest proficiency in Maori and also high integration. Amongst the younger respondents there is an indication that kohanga reo parents may have an edge on others in terms of spoken proficiency. Women tended to have higher network strength scores, and report higher proficiency.

While, overall, there is evidence that shift to English is progressing in Porirua, there are also hopeful indications that some Maori language maintenance may be present. The results suggest that maintenance initiatives from within the dense and multiplex tangata whenua community would be most likely to succeed.