(Notes prepared by Dr Richard Benton, General Editor of the Dictionary, for the launch of the on-line version of the draft dictionary in November 2001. See also separate notes on Contributors to the Tai Tokerau Dictionary, and Abbreviations for Sources of Information, Locations, and Parts of Speech.)

The Tai Tokerau Dictionary project was launched in 1997, with the help of a substantial grant from the NZ Lottery Grants Board (through its Environment and Heritage Committee). Continuance of the work over the next two years was made possible by generous support from Te Puni Kökiri and the University of Auckland Staff Research Fund.

In the early stages, a main concern was to collect words unique to Tai Tokerau, and publish a book which listed these along with examples of how they are used and what they mean. Because most Tai Tokerau people these days have English as their first language, it was decided that the explanations would be in English. Up to about the end of 1999, that was done mostly by including after each Maori word a list of English words that together more or less covered the range of meanings of the Maori word, and translating the various example sentences included with each entry. The dictionary was also to have included a brief grammar of Tai Tokerau Maori, to help users see how the different kinds of words fitted together to express what people using them wanted to say to each other.

That original plan has changed since work on the project started in 1997. Firstly, it is pretty clear that there are comparatively few words that are unique to the North, although there are probably subtle ways in which quite a number of words known to Maori speakers elsewhere are used differently there. Secondly, it was also very clear that Tai Tokerau people wanted a real dictionary that they could use for their own purposes without having to refer constantly to other sources of information. So fairly early on a decision was made to work on a more comprehensive dictionary, one that people learning and using Mäori in the North could use with confidence that a wide range of everyday words could be found there, along with every known word that was unique to the North. Among these people would be teachers and students at Kura Kaupapa Mäori and bilingual schools, and adults whose parents had not used Mäori with them at home, but now wanted to learn the language.

This was the situation when I took over the project in October 1999. At the end of the month, I had a preliminary discussion with Dr Meremere Penfold, the chairperson of the dictionary advisory committee, and Andy and Kath Sarich, who had been coordinating field work in Northland communities. At their suggestion a meeting was held in Waimate North a few days later with some of the people who had been key contributors to the dictionary since the project started. These included (among others) the late Graham Rankin, Rev. Te Uru Heta, and Arama Pou. At that meeting I outlined what had been achieved so far, and we then discussed where it might go from there.

A very substantial amount of work had already been done, and the material collected was being organized in a well-constructed database designed with the help of Professor Bruce Biggs. A decision to speed up the incorporation of material already collected was confirmed. It was also decided that the time had come to change the approach to collecting material, which, after an initial search of some important writings, had been to consult knowledgeable people through monthly hui in Auckland and regular field trips to the North. This had been an effective way to launch the dictionary project, but was now far too expensive to continue. Instead, a number of tohunga were appointed by the hui to act as commentators and editors on entries in the dictionary that were being readied for publication, in consultation with other people in their area who were willing to contribute their expertise to the work.

It was also decided In Waimate North that as much as possible of the work should be made available for others to use immediately, even while it was still in a very rough state. That way, help in editing the work, adding new material and generally making it as useful as possible in supporting te reo o te Tai Tokerau can be obtained from a very wide range of people. At the same time people will not need to wait around for years before they can benefit from our efforts.

The dictionary should be anchored in Te Tai Tokerau. This means that it should reflect what is unique about Te Tai Tokerau, as well as what Te Tai Tokerau has in common with other parts of Aotearoa, and indeed the whole Malayo-Polynesian world:

• Words used by native-speakers of Mäori of Tai Tokerau descent living in Tai Tokerau, and needed for everyday conversation, reading and writing about a wide range of subjects;
• Words unique to Tai Tokerau, and special meanings of words also used elsewhere;
• Words used in Maori-language publications and manuscripts by Tai Tokerau writers, and in recordings of native-speakers of Mäori from the region intended primarily for local audiences;
• Names of places in Te Tai Tokerau (localities; natural features such as streams, rivers, and mountains; important gathering places such as marae);
• Names of Tai Tokerau iwi and hapü;
• Names of people who have had an impact on Tai Tokerau history;
• Mäori surnames and first names commonly encountered in the North.

The orientation of the dictionary is towards the Mäori words – the English explanations are there simply to make the material as accessible as possible to everyone in the North. The important thing is that this resource will not be just a word list – it should be a means by which people will be helped to talk with each other in Mäori, easily, clearly and naturally. As we go along we will compile a list of the English words used in translating the explanations and definitions of the Mäori headwords, but for a very long time this will essentially be an index to the Mäori entries, rather than a stand-alone dictionary itself.

In order to achieve these goals, eventually each entry will have this structure:

1. The headword (that is, the word that has determined where the entry will go in the dictionary – the one that the entry is mainly about) in bold type;
2. What suffixes (endings to indicate a special function, eg –ngia, -tanga) can be added to the simple form of the word;
3. The part of speech (what kind of word it is, for example a "noun", which is used mainly to refer to a particular object or idea and is used in some kinds of grammatical constructions but not others, a "universal" word that has many functions, and so on – this will be explained in detail in the grammar part of the dictionary);
4. An explanation of the word in Maori, followed by a comment in English and English words that can be used to translate some senses of the Mäori word;
5. Examples of the use of the word in sentences drawn wherever possible from speech or writing by native speakers which was not originally intended to be used in a dictionary, as well as made up examples, along with English translations of these sentences;
6. Examples of idioms, whakatauaki and other sayings which incorporate the word in a special way;
7. Information with examples about special or derived meanings of the headword (e.g., türanga in the entry for tü);
8. The whakapapa of the word, where this is known (e.g. some words can be traced right back to the language spoken by the ancestors of the Malagasy, Malay, Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian peoples before their dispersal through the Philippines into the Eastern and Western Pacific and beyond, whereas others are unique to Aotearoa or even to particular parts of the Te Tai Tokerau);
9. Whether (as far as we know) in Aotearoa this word or some of its uses are unique to Tai Tokerau, and, if so, which districts or iwi the word is most closely associated with;
10. Cross-references to other words with similar meanings or uses elsewhere in the dictionary.

Information about the source of the entry and where the examples came from will also be included (see the file on "Abbreviations and Sources" for more information about this).

That is the ideal. In fact, there are at present (September 30, 2000) no entries in the dictionary that meet each of the ten criteria in the list. We are working with our expert panels and other volunteers to revise each of the existing entries along those lines, starting with the letter "U", and gradually a higher proportion of the entries will incorporate most or all of those features.

There are two or three entries that is almost complete, and will do for now as an illustration:

Phrases and idioms. As editing proceeds, groups of words with special meanings will be identified where they are already present, and added as they are contributed or found in other sources, and listed as separate entries cross-referenced to at least one headword. These "head phrase" for these entries will be underlined – as in this example:

People. We need to establish criteria for including people. These will mostly be short entries, sometimes with reference to sources. A formula for entries from whakapapa more than, say, five or six generations from the present, could often be "A tupuna who lived in [such and such a place] [so many] generations after/before [so and so] (see [some related entry])". More recent entries for individuals could take the form of brief descriptions such as "MP for Te Tai Tokerau 1993-1999"; "A chief from Pakaraka who signed the Treaty of Waitangi", and so on. Maori proper names originating in the North, including Maori forms of names not of Maori origin, used widely in the North, and names originating in the North, will be included even when not cross-referenced to particular individuals.

Places. These can be identified by brief information about their location, sometimes with extra notes on points of special significance. The aim will be to get all Maori place names in the North (including marae, hapü and iwi meeting houses, etc.) included eventually.

Plan of Action

In order to get the information we already have to a lot of people at the lowest possible cost, we will be putting the whole database in its present draft state on the World Wide Web. We will then replace sections with newer, more complete and accurate revisions as these are done. We will be asking köhanga reo, educational institutions, and public libraries throughout the North, from Glen Innes to Te Hapua, to allow visitors, staff and students to use the database (and send us corrections, comments and new material) through their World Wide Web and Internet connections.

• Load present entries in paragraphs on to the web
• Advise past, present and potential contributors and users of how to get access to the web site and contribute advice and information
• Incorporate outstanding material by letter (together with preliminary part-of-speech and cross-checking for "Northernness" )
• Add in material from whakatauaki, pepeha, etc
• Add in place names, hapü and iwi names, and ancestral names by letter
• Add in lexicographical information by letter
• Send out to panel/s to revise (explanations etc)
• Post amended entries with links to others

On going:

• Looking for actual examples of use & incorporating these // archiving accessibly superfluous ones [We will be using material from published sources, manuscripts, transcriptions of broadcasts and kaumatua talking about various topics etc., to try to get as many of the examples as possible from speech and writing that was not specially designed for a dictionary!]
• Incorporating further amendments
• Incorporating new material
• Updating web files incrementally
• Send out confidential drafts in hard copy to key contributors
• Print first public hard copy edition when first round completed [still an aspiration yet to be fulfilled]

This document was originally prepared for the James Henare Māori Research Centre web site. It may be quoted or reproduced provided that acknowledgement is made to the author/s and source.

[Document first prepared October 2001; abridged April 2013]