Loanwords in Māori 1842-1952 Some interesting features of loanwords collected from the Māori language newspapers, the Paipera Tapu and some early published writings

What are loanwords? A loanword is a word adopted from a foreign language. When two groups of people of different cultures and speaking different languages are in contact for a significant period of time, it is inevitable that bilingualism will occur. As one group becomes bilingual, large-scale borrowing of vocabulary from the second language takes place. As a result of this process, modern spoken and written Māori has a significant number of words that have been adopted from non-Polynesian sources, and these have almost always been changed to suit the phonology and orthography of Māori. Māori quickly adapted to the changes brought about by the introduction of new technology and the new culture of the colonists. Hand in hand with these changes came additions to the language, mainly vocabulary. Printed material from the nineteenth century indicates that adapting words from the languages that Māori came into contact with, principally English, happened whenever new words were required for items that had not existed in their society prior to the arrival of the Pākehā immigrants and their culture, religion and technology. In addition, names of people, places, ships, racehorses, etc. were also adapted to the sound system an