Cook Islands Maori : Ask Biography

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The Cook Islands Māori language, also called Māori Kūki 'Āirani or Rarotongan, is the official language of the Cook Islands. Most Cook Islanders also call it Te reo Ipukarea, literally "the language of the Ancestral Homeland".

Cook Islands Māori became an official language of the Cook Islands in 2003. According to Te Reo Maori Act, Maori:

* (a) means the Māori language (including its various dialects) as spoken or written in any island of the Cook Islands; and

* (b) Is deemed to include Pukapukan as spoken or written in Pukapuka; and

* (c) Includes Māori that conforms to the national standard for Māori approved by Kopapa Reo; (see external link).

These dialects of the Cook Islands Māori are :

* Rakahanga-Manihiki dialect;

* Penrhyn dialect (Tongarevan);

* the Ngaputoru dialects of Atiu, Mitiaro and Mauke;

* Aitutaki dialect;

* Rarotongan dialect; and

* Mangaia dialect.

It is closely related to Tahitian and New Zealand Māori, and there is a degree of mutual intelligibility with these two languages.

The language is regulated by the kopapa reo created in 2003.

The Pukapukan language is considered by scholars as a distinct language closely related with Samoan and the language spoken on the three atolls of Tokelau.