400 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



The sound represented by the letter " t " is something be- 

 tween " t " and " th " — a " t " pronounced thickly. 



"Words usually spelt with the aspirate " h" are differently 

 pronounced in different parts of New Zealand. In the North 

 it is almost a sibilant. The Ngapuhi Maori says " E hoa," &c. 

 (not " soa," or " shoa," but between these two). In old books 

 names now spelt with " H " are spelt with " Sh " — " Shungee " 

 forHongi, " Shukianga" for Hokianga. In the South, among 

 the Whanganui tribes, the place of the aspirate is taken by a 

 sort of jerk of the voice. The Whanganui man does not say 

 "E hoa! "but "E 'oa !" "'aeremai !" "'omai." Hence many 

 persons have fallen into the error of writing the name Whanga- 

 nui without the "h" — Wanganui. The Whanganui Maori does 

 not, however, simply drop the " h " — he substitutes for it the 

 jerk of the voice : he does not say, for he ham (an offence), e 

 ara (arise), but 'e 'ara ; not omai instead of homai, but 

 'omai. 



The nasal sound indicated by the letters " ng " is by some 

 persons found difficult to master. The difficulty is, I think, 

 more apparent than real. It is merely putting to the begin- 

 ning of a word the nasal or ringing sound with which we are 

 familiar at the end of a word, as in " singing," "speaking," &c. 

 The child who sings " Bingo- ringa rosie," twice gives the sound 

 of the " ng," with the vowel " a " — "nga." It is equally easy 

 to get the sound of "ng" in combination with the other 

 vowels, thus: "Flowing ever," "bringing over," "spread- 

 ing ooze." (Not, however, with the hard " g " sound — e.g., we 

 must not say "flowing-gever," " bringing-gover.") In these 

 words the " ng " occurs four times. If they are repeated 

 slowly, and the nasal sound is prolonged each time it occurs, 

 so as to blend with the vowel which follows it, you cannot 

 help getting the sound of the "ng" in combination with the 

 vowels " e," " i," " o," and " u." 



With respect to the vowels, I believe I stand almost alone 

 in the opinion that "a" has but one sound — as in the English 

 words "far," "father." Archdeacon (afterwards Bishop) 

 Williams, in his dictionary, gives a second sound — as in 

 " water." Dr. Maunsell gives two sounds— as in " fall," and as 

 in "fat." It is a question of ear. If my ear has been true 

 to me, there is no such sound in Maori as we give to the " a " in 

 " water," to the " a " in " fall," or to the " a " in " fat." It is 

 that of the " a " in " father " or " far," and that only. The 

 ear is liable to be misled in noting the difference of sound in 

 words in which the "a" is long from that in words where it 

 is short — as in " matenga," the head, and "matenga," dying. 

 The " a " in the latter word is often pronounced by pakehas as 

 in the words "matter," "scatter," &c. This , is wrong. An 

 unsophisticated Maori does not so pronounce it, though I have 



