Te Reo Māori and Poetics
Domain 3 tests te reo Māori and poetics: how language makes meaning in haka through imagery, idiom, rhythm and compositional convention. You need close analysis of wording and sound, linked to kaupapa rather than a list of devices.
Core rules
- Know the terms: kupu whakarite (metaphor/simile), pepeha (identity saying), whakataukī (proverb), whakatauākī (attributed proverb), kīwaha (idiom). Use them accurately.
- Poetic features include repetition, alliteration, assonance, personification, word order, ellipsis and rhythmic stress. Haka is oral, so sound and pace matter as much as written sense.
- Macrons (tohutō) mark vowel length and must be retained in quotation and analysis; omitting them can distort pronunciation and meaning.
- Strong analysis states the feature, quotes the wording, explains its effect, then connects that effect to the haka's kaupapa and audience.
Worked example
Line: 'Ko te reo te waka kawe i te whakaaro.' The metaphor makes reo a waka and kawe (carry) the action. Reasoning: language is figured as a vessel that carries thought across time, evoking migration, inheritance and responsibility. If the next line says 'hoe tahi tātou', the collective imperative extends the image: the canoe is moved by collective effort. The analysis earns marks because it moves from identification to effect to kaupapa, not because it names 'metaphor' alone.
Traps
- Translating literally and missing idiom or whakataukī.
- Confusing whakataukī with whakatauākī, or kupu whakarite with kīwaha.
- Naming a device without explaining its effect.
- Ignoring oral features such as stress, pace and repetition.
- Dropping macrons or misreading vowel length in quoted Māori.