I’m having a little disagreement with a friend. He insists, falsely, that the name of the native New Zealanders is pronounced “May-or-ee” while I know the correct pronunciation is “MAH-OH-ree.”
We’ve each found websites that support our belief, and both seem authoritative.
So what’s the Straight Dope?
It’s MOW-ree, approximately.
That pronunciation is from people who are, in fact, Maori.
OK, I previewed my draft message, and it did not work, because the a-macron character does not work.
In the word “Maori”, the first vowel is a long vowel, which can either be written with a macron over it (which looks like a hyphen over a letter), or can be written as a double letter (“Maaori”). So it is pronounced in Maori much more like “ah” than like “ay” is in English. So Fiver is right (though I might add that I’m not a real expert on Maori).
I do not doubt that the explanation comes from Maori people. The problem is that in English “ow” has at least two different pronunciations, i.e. the two diofferent ways that you can say “bow”. The kind of “bow” that you use with arrows rhymes with the usual pronunciation of “mow” in English, and it not the right “ow” here – here you need to “ow” in the “bow” that you make by bending your head towards the ground. That is a diphthong in English which starts with the “ah” sound (in spite of the spelling).
This was an ongoing conversation between my wife and I when we spent two wonderful weeks in New Zealand.
As others have said, probably the closest pronunciation representation is MOW-ree (where MOW is pronounced as the English NOW, or COW).
However – as we listened very closely to the native speakers, there is almost a third syllable, making it come out close to MAH-oh-ree. The long “oh” is barely there though. It was like they said MOW-ree, but the first syllable is drawn out and at the very end of it they change the shape of their mouth to almost have an “oh” come out. Try it yourself and you might experience what I’m trying to describe.
In the languages of the islands[micronesia,polynesia melanesia etc.] each vowel is pronounced separately as a syllable…
Therefore Maori is properly pronounced Mah-oh-ri.
Say it really fast and the ah and the oh run together and it becomes mowree.
An example is the island of Oahu-which properly is iS “oh aH hu”---------and Hawaii itself is Hah wah EE EE.
And the W is not pronounced as a V----------unless you’re a haoli trying to be a pseudo kanaka.
That makes me go all “Pupuli”
Well, the Maori Language Commission has the “a” in “Maori” as a “long a.” Maybe that means different things to different people.
(Waiting for New Zealand to come online…)
What’s the correct pronunciation of “the”?
My guess is that if you 5 full-blooded Maoris from various different parts of New Zealand together, that they wouldn’t agree on what the correct pronuciation is.
When I was in NZ, it sounded to me like people were pronouncing it “MAH-REE”, with no noticible emphasis on either syllable.
I’ve been wondering for a long time why that was. Thanks.
It sounds to me as if we are merely defining a diphthong. That is, OW is a sound composed of two vowel sounds – a diphthong.
In any given dialect, I expect, those two back-to-back vowels would be pronounced anywhere from “OW” to “AH-OO” to “AH”.
But in every case the “a” is moreof an “ah” sound than anything else, right? Whereas my friend claimed it was pronounced as in “May” or “ray.” Which is clearly contraindicated.
I would tend to agree, Fiver.
I had hoped to post a link that would back me up on the formation of OW.
I googled “ow diphthong”. The first hit suggested that OW was composed of the sound of ‘a’ as in cat and the ‘oo’ as in zoo. The other hits (on the first page) were more oriented to teaching school and didn’t bother to specify the vowel sounds involved.
I was too lazy to wade through the rest.
My ear agrees with you, but I think we may need a language maven in here.
Tinker
What we need is for the Kiwis to wake up and get their butts in here!
Well, I wouldn’t say your friend is wrong per se. Don’t get me wrong, you’re definitely more right than him. But I think around here, may-OH-ree is the most common pronunciation.
Oh, and Tinker Grey, if they’re in the same syllable it’s a diphthong, but if it’s supposed to be pronounced as three syllables, it’s not.
You betcha!
I just found a better link explaining diphthongs. It’s from wikipedia and sounds rather authoritative. Apparently there is something called SAMPA which is Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet.
The chart to which I linked confirms that at least someone else thinks that OW is composed of a as in father and u as in put.
But as to whether that has anything to do with the word “maori” is still an open question.
Tinker
And according to this site it has three syllables:
Of course, it’s an oral language, so I imagine the rules are a bit murky. And I’m sure the syllables often get slurred together in speech.
Well perhaps. But noone is contesting the third syllable of the word. It seems everyone is content with “ree”.
So we are left with potentially two syllables in the first part of the word only, namely “mao”.
So the question is, is that portion of the word so articulated as to be two syllables or is it so slurred as to be a diphthong?
I’ve heard may-oh-ree, Mah-oh-ree, and mow-ree. I prefer the latter.
But, of course, my preference is hardly an indication of correctness, if such a question is even decidable (language being such a fluid thing). 
Tinker
spoke-'s site also give a pronunciation guide which suggests the following
ma - a as in father
o - as in fort
ri - i as in bit
I’ve gleaned the above from their discussion of the correct spelling of Maori (the a should have a macron), and from the table of vowel sounds for the northern iwi tribe.
They do say ‘Adjacent vowels are run together as a diphthong. For example, “kai” (food) rhymes with “high”.’
Unfortunately, their example isn’t of the adjacent vowels “a” and “o”.
Tinker
I suspect the long “a” refers not to the English long a, but rather a protracted “ah” sound. In some European languages, they write there is an “a” and an “aa”– the former being short, the latter long. In other languages, you just have to know the difference. For example, those of you familiar with German will recognize the “a” in “Jahr” as long, and the “a” in “Land” as short. The long “a” sounds nothing like the English long “a.” Instead, it resembles the “a” in “father.”
Linguistically, what you’ve learned in grammar school as being a long-a sound in English is actually a diphthong. Nobody outside the English speaking world would refer to this sound as a long-a. Once again, linguistically speaking, the “a” in “father” and “cart” are examples of the proper long vowel.
I have no reason to believe the Maori would employ a diphthong in the pronunciation of their own name. It makes no sense. So far as I know, only English speakers make the “AY” sound for “a.”
I think you mean pupule (with the final vowel pronounced “eh” not “ee”). You are correct about pronouncing each vowel and how they do glide together, sounding like a diphthong to English speakers’ ears - unless there is an 'okina - that thing like an upside down apostrophe. So Hawai’i wouldn’t be pronounced with equal accent on both the “i” syllables, just with emphasis on the last one - Ha/wa/ee ’ EE. Also, my understanding is that prounouncing W as V is permissible in some cases (including the word Hawai’i) and not others. You like go Ewa?