17 September 2009
 

Media Release
 

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori applauds Whanganui decision

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (The Māori Language Commission) applauds the decision of the NZ Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa to correct the spelling of Whanganui. 

“Te Rūnanga o Tupoho should be congratulated for their perseverance with this issue”, says Chief Executive, Huhana Rokx.

“In correcting the spelling of the Whanganui name, appropriate acknowledgement of the regions origins and history is achieved, validating and affirming the place of the original authors of those narratives”, says Huhana Rokx.

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori reiterates its position that the pronunciation of the ‘h’ in Whanganui by local iwi is a glottal stop, which can be an imperceptible sound to those not familiar with the language.  It certainly does not mean that the ‘h’ is not there, hence the need to restore it to its rightful place and correct the spelling. 

The decision is also consistent with the NZ Geographic Board’s previous correction to the spelling of the Whanganui River.

Since then a number of organisations, public and private, have adopted the correct spelling including the Whanganui District Health Board, the Whanganui National Park and the local UCOL campus. 

“While Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori is buoyed by the voluntary uptake of the correct name by different organisations, having the name officially recognised through the NZ Geographic Board is consistent with our orthographic conventions regarding Māori language and returns linguistic integrity back to the place name”, says Huhana Rokx.

ENDS 

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