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7/9/16
Sept 7, 2016 7:28:18 GMT 12
Post by Kiwi Frontline on Sept 7, 2016 7:28:18 GMT 12
Wanganui Chronicle 7/9/16
POINT LOST Nigel Brooke, in attempting to rebut Bruce Moon's letter on the "H" debate, has made a nonsense of the discussion.
We have been told repeatedly that Wanganui should be spelled with an "H" "because that is the way Maori spelled it".
In this instance we have Daniel Harding decrying Ian Brougham for disagreeing with that claim. In his letter Daniel said non-Maori should not tell Maori how to spell Maori words.
Bruce Moon wrote a reply to Daniel pointing out the illogic of that claim, since the only-oral Maori language was made a written language (ie. spelled) for Maori by Europeans.
Nigel Brooke then replies, in effect, that we should ignore all evidence about the way Maori words were pronounced or spelled because the language has developed.
Well, there went the entire debate. So it now has nothing to do with the correct way of spelling or pronouncing words or the way it has always been done, but rather with some ethereal claim of how it should be said or spelled now.
Nigel claims language cannot be controlled — this is false as language can and often has been controlled, especially for political purposes. K A B Gonville
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