Issues in Maori Language Planning and Revitalisation

Abstract

All languages which have undergone changes of status in the course of their histories have been the subject of language planning, be this consistent or piecemeal, officially driven or diffuse. In some cases, the processes have been and are still relatively ‘painless’ or even subliminal, at least as far as much of the population speaking the language is concerned. English is an extreme case in this respect, so that Ayto (1983) is able to speak of the ‘failure of language reform’ as a striking characteristic of its history. Many of the issues which could potentially be associated with its position in both the world and in particular countries do not, to all intents and purposes, arise. They have been dealt with by history; the way English works as a lingua franca, as an official language, as an international language in a variety of domains and regions, its spelling systems, its vocabulary, just ‘growed’, with only sporadic help from conscious planning.