Kaikōrero means: Speaker, spokesperson.
The example sentence on Te Aka is:
- Ko wai te kaikōrero o tētahi reo, ahakoa te reo, e mārama ana, e pūrangiaho ana ki ngā kupu katoa o tōna reo? (What speaker of a language, whatever the language, understands fully every word of that tongue.)
Following on from yesterday’s post about te karangatanga ‘o’ and te karangatanga ‘a’, we can tell that the use of “tōna reo” places “reo” in te karangatanga ‘o’ in this situation.
While acknowledging that yesterday’s post highlighted that context may change whether something is referred to as an a/o relationship, the general guidelines for categorisation are:
Te karangatanga ‘o’ includes:
- The land, major landmarks, mountains, rivers and homes.
- Types of shelter, sources of life, things that protect from harm and trouble.
- Someone’s whakapapa, ancestry, lineage.
- Those who care for someone else, including leaders, teacher as well as spiritual guardians and ancestors.
- Those in the same generation as the person, as well as in the generations above.
- All kinds of friends, anything using the word “hoa” including “hoa tāne/hoa wahine” (husband/wife), “hoariri” (enemy).
- Clothing and accessories, as well as most jewelery and adornments.
- All parts of the body, including the mind, figurative heart, etc.
- Afflictions of the body, medical conditions.
- Thoughts, memories, knowledge, etc.
- Luck, fortune, honour.
- Mistakes, sins, problems, stresses.
- Feelings
- Wants, desires, etc.
- Other properties or qualities inherent to a person (goodness, strength, uselessness).
- Non-inherent properties of something (height, temperature, etc.)
- Parts of the whole (veins of a leaf, leaves of the branch, branches of the tree, trees of the grove, etc.) This includes more abstract concepts like “the words of the document”, “the stories of the past”, “the rules of war”.
- Things which transport people (vehicles, horses).
- Lack of absence of a thing.
Te karangatanga ‘a’ includes:
- Those with less authority or who are lower in a hierarchy than you (employees, students) as well as those in generations below yours.
- Romantic partner (other than when using a term including “hoa”).
- All animals (except horses when used as transport), birds, fish, reptiles, etc.
- Trees and other plants.
- Food and drink, all consumables except fresh water and medicine.
- Actions, activities, jobs and work when describing them in relation to the one doing the task.
- Tools, equipment and most things made by human hands.
There’s an interesting split between categories for nominalised actions (verbs made into nouns like “the fall of the leader”, “the spilling of the milk”). If the verb is a tūmahi whiti (transitive verb) and the sentence is in te reo hāoho (the active voice) its nominalisation is in te karangatanga ‘a’ such as:
- Te tuhinga a Hēmi i tana reta (Hēmi’s writing of his letter).
However, for tūmahi oti (neuter verbs), tūmahi wheako (experience verbs) or tūmahi poro (intransitive verbs) or if a tūmahi whiti is being used in te reo hāngū (the passive voice) the nominalisation belongs in te karangatanga ‘o’ such as:
- Te rongonga o te tangata i te pūtōrino (the man’s hearing of the flute - experience verb)
- Te whainga o te kurī e ngā tamariki (The children’s chasing of the dog - transitive verb but passive voice)
- Tō rāua taenga atu (Their arrival - intransitive verb)