Marking Vowel Length on Māori language texts
A friend has raised (on Facebook) a number of questions about marking vowel length in Māori language texts. Particularly she asked whether vowel length should be marked when quoting the texts of other writers. Here are some responses: Firstly, the author of the text decides how the text ought to be written. Hence, the author decides whether to mark vowel length in Māori language texts or when using Māori words or phrases in English texts. Having said that, however, it is important that vowel length is correctly marked in Māori language texts. The reason for this is that vowel length changes the meaning of words. For example, tāua is not the same as taua; kāinga is not the same as kainga, and so on. Vowel length should also be marked when indicating singular or plural forms. For example, te tangata (singular), ngā tāngata (plural); te kuia, ngā kūia, and so on. My preferred method of marking vowel length is by use of the macron (not double vowel). There ...