Kei Hea Te Reo? Where is the Language?

Abstract

Ko te patai e whaingia nei ko ‘Kei hea te reo?’. E tika ana pea kia pataingia hokitia, ‘He aha te reo?’

The question is ‘Where is the reo?’ It is also appropriate perhaps to ask ‘What is the reo?’

E ai ki te marearea ko te reo Maaori, he momo reo mai i a Raiaatea, mai i Te Moana nui a Kiwa. Kia whakakuitihia teenei, he reo mai i Te Moana nui a Kiwa ki te Raawhiti, he reo wheenaa i teenaa ki a Rarotonga, Hawaii, Rapa Nui me ngaa moutere ki waaenganui.

The proposition usually is that te reo Maori is a Pacific language. The standard approach is to narrow that down to a language of Eastern Polynesia sharing features with the languages of the Cook Islands, Hawaii, Easter Island and points in between.