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Arapera Blank
Arapera Hineira Blank (; 7 June 1932 – 30 July 2002) was a New Zealand poet, short-story writer and teacher. She wrote in both Māori language, te reo Māori and English, and was one of the first Māori writers to be published in English. Her work focussed on aspects of Māori life and the life of women. In 1959 she was awarded a special Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award for a bilingual essay. In 1986 she published a collection of poetry, and after her death her son published a further collection of her writing in 2015. Early life and family Blank was born in Rangitukia on New Zealand's East Cape on 7 June 1932. She was affiliated with the iwi (tribes) of Ngati Porou, Ngati Kahungungu, Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki. Her father was the Reverend Tipi Whenua Kaa, from Rangitukia, who was vicar of the Diocese of Waiapu, Waiapu parish and her mother Hohipene Kaa (formerly Whaanga) was from Wairoa. Blank was one of 12 children: her siblings include the writer and Māori la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori Language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian, it gained recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987. The number of speakers of the language has declined sharply since 1945, but a Māori-language revitalisation effort has slowed the decline. The 2018 New Zealand census reported that about 186,000 people, or 4.0% of the New Zealand population, could hold a conversation in Māori about everyday things. , 55% of Māori adults reported some knowledge of the language; of these, 64% use Māori at home and around 50,000 people can speak the language "very well" or "well". The Māori language did not have an indigenous writing system. Missionaries arriving from about 1814, such as Thomas Kendall, learned to speak Māori, and introduced the Latin alphabet. In 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
