Cook Islands - Languages

In Cook Island Maori, there are 14 letters, including the glottal stop which is written as an inverted apostrophe: a, e, ng, i, k, m, n, o, p, r, t, u, v, ‘ The eight consonants (ng, k, m, n, p, r, t, v) are pronounced as in English, although non-Maori speakers often have difficulty with the ng (pronounced as in "sing") especially when it occurs at the beginning of a word. The ninth consonant, the glottal stop, typically replaces the "h" of other Polynesian dialects. In speech, the glottal stop is a brief, guttural sound preceding the vowel. The five vowels are either short or long. Long vowels are indicated by a macron, an overhead horizontal line. Short vowels Long vowels a as in above a as in father e as in met e as in men i as in i as in tea o as in bought o as in torn u as in put u as in moon In Maori speech the context is an important means of overcoming ambiguity.

When Maori words are written within an English text it is very important to include the glottal stops and macrons to avoid ambiguity and to aid correct pronunciation. The inclusion of glottal stops and macrons enables us to distinguish between: ua (rain) ‘ua (egg), u’a (female) and ‘u’a (thigh).