Whakataukii: Maori sayings

Abstract

The texts of Maori oral tradition preserve special information for communication within Maori society. The forms in which that information is communicated are varied and in named types. Whakataukii are one of those types and they are one means of making public and preserving knowledge about Maori society. The knowledge which is contained in whakataukii, or referred to by them, ranges from simple observations of daily life, to philosophical concepts and records of history. This thesis proposes that whakataukii are a genre of Maori oral tradition. By examination and interpretation of a selection of sayings arranged in two categories, one which relates to Maori society as a whole and the other which relates to individual tribes, it considers the role of these texts in transmitting cultural information. Oral texts are often represented as unsophisticated forms of language, dependant for sophistication on a development to writing. Sayings are generally studied as colloquial texts and are seldom the subject of the serious interpretative study given to written literature. In this thesis the sayings of Maori oral tradition, with their culturally distinct but highly developed use of language, are regarded as comparable in their own sphere to compositions of written literature.