The behaviours of non-Maori New Zealanders towards the Maori language

When majority language speakers are referred to in minority language planning, it is generally in relation to their ‘attitudes’. It is not just the attitudes of majority language speakers that impact on minority languages, however, but also their behaviours. Accordingly, ‘planning for tolerability’ ([author’s name] 2008a) targets both the attitudes and behaviours of majority language speakers towards minority languages. This article addresses the little-considered question of what behaviours non-Māori New Zealanders might adopt to support Māori language regeneration. An analysis of New Zealand government Māori language policy and the questionnaire and interview responses of eighty non-Māori New Zealanders reveals that, while the government’s position on ‘desired behaviours’ for non-Māori is unclear at best, non-Māori New Zealanders have a wide range of such behaviours in mind. The extent to which these non-Māori are willing to engage in these behaviours is a complex matter, influenced both by their own attitudes towards the Māori language and by other factors. These results have suggestive implications for the future development of Māori language planning targeting non-Māori, but leave open a further question: whether the behaviours identified are those that Māori New Zealanders might themselves desire from non-Māori.