Te whānuitanga o te reo - vocabulary range and appropriate register
What this domain tests
Te whānuitanga o te reo rewards precision over quantity. The assessor is asking: does this writer or speaker choose the right word for the occasion, or the nearest English-shaped word? Range means kupu tūturu, kupu hou and idiom used accurately, plus register that matches the setting.
The layers of vocabulary
- Kupu tūturu - inherited words: whakapapa, manaakitanga, pōwhiri, hui.
- Kupu hou - modern terms built from Māori roots: rorohiko, waea pūkoro, whare pukapuka.
- Kupu mino - loans, fine in casual kōrero but risky in formal writing.
Idiom and figurative language
- Whakataukī - traditional proverb, often unattributed.
- Whakatauākī - proverb attributed to a named ancestor.
- Kīwaha - colloquial idiom (e hoa mā, kei te pai), for informal contexts only.
- Kupu whakarite - simile: he rite ki te moa, anoi nei te whetū.
Use idiom only when it genuinely fits the kaupapa. A misapplied whakataukī is worse than none.
Register
Formal whaikōrero and reta ōkawa take kupu tūturu and full sentences. Kōrero ōpaki and karere take kīwaha, contractions and short lines. Never let the two meet: a nē or e hoa inside a formal application reads as a register slip.
Worked example
Basic: I tino pai te haere ki te marae. Upgraded: He rā whakahirahira tērā; nō te taenga atu, ka pōwhiritia mātou e te tangata whenua. Reasoning: tino pai is vague and English-shaped; whakahirahira names the significance. Pōwhiritia is the precise passive for the event, and nō te taenga atu replaces a flat i haere. Range is shown by precision, not by rare words dropped in.
Traps that cost marks
Stuffing in a whakataukī that does not fit; using mea as a placeholder; mixing kupu hou that are not yet established; dropping a kīwaha into formal writing; using the same three verbs (haere, mahi, hanga) for every action.