![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/files\/2023\/08\/Akevai.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nStaff and students of Te Tumu, and the wider University community, were fortunate to meet and engage in a rich and insightful k\u014drero with Akevai.\u00a0 Informal in nature, the discussion and questions from those present kept rolling in and Akevai\u2019s knowledge and expertise in the area of linguistics associated with te reo M\u0101ori o konei me ng\u0101 K\u016bki \u2018\u0100irani was notable.\u00a0 A sobering point of discussion was the worryingly low proportion of Cook Islands M\u0101ori speakers in Aotearoa and the home island, it is a language that is very much in critical need of revitalisation and initiatives to teach the youth their language, sometimes alongside their parents.\u00a0 There is no denying a connection between M\u0101ori of Aotearoa and M\u0101ori of K\u016bki \u2018Airani, genealogically, culturally and linguistically, \u00a0therefore, a call to support and work together to achieve their reo aspirations is needed.<\/p>\n
Some of the other key messages and kaupapa discussed included intergenerational language transmission, the geography and demography of the speaking populations, the introduction and interaction with English speaking people and some key researchers and leaders in linguistics of Indigenous Polynesian languages from the 1960\u2019s to now.\u00a0 It was not difficult to hear the impact Dr Akevai Nicholas is making with her research,\u00a0 a trail blazer, a strong advocate and a passionate Ma\u2018ukean, who is a crucial champion of and for the revitalisation of te reo M\u0101ori o ng\u0101 K\u016bki \u2018\u0100irani and te reo M\u0101ori Aotearoa.\u00a0 Meitaki nui Dr Akevai Nicholas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Earlier in the week Te Tumu hosted a visiting scholar from the University of Auckland,\u00a0 Dr Akevai Nicholas.\u00a0 Akevai is from the island of Ma\u2018uke (Cook Islands) and is a Senior lecturer in M\u0101ori studies at the University of Auckland.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45535,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8759,35262],"tags":[67353],"class_list":["post-1553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maori-studies","category-pacific-islands-studies","tag-language-revitalisation"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45535"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/tetumuresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}