Editing Māori language (section)

=== European contact ===
Through the nineteenth century, the Māori language had a tumultuous history. It started this period as the predominant language of New Zealand, and it was adopted by European traders and missionaries for their purposes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coffey |first=Clare |title=Demand For Māori Language Skills at Work Rises in New Zealand |url=https://lightcast.io/resources/blog/demand-for-maori-language-skills-at-work-rises-in-new-zealand |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=Lightcast |language=en}}</ref> 

Missionaries learned to speak Māori, and introduced the Latin alphabet to Māori. The [[Church Mission Society]] (CMS), including [[Thomas Kendall]]; Māori, including [[Tītore]] and [[Hongi Hika]]; and [[Cambridge University]]'s [[Samuel Lee (linguist)|Samuel Lee]], developed the written form of the language between 1817 and 1830. In 1833, while living in the [[Paihia]] mission-house of [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] priest and the now head of the [[New Zealand Church Missionary Society|New Zealand CMS]] mission, Rev [[Henry Williams (missionary)|Henry Williams]], missioner [[William Colenso]] published Māori translations including parts of books of the [[Bible]], the first books printed in New Zealand. Colenso's 1837 Māori New Testament was the first [[Bible translations into Oceanic languages|indigenous-language translation of the Bible]] published in the southern hemisphere. Demand for the Māori New Testament, and for the Prayer Book that followed, grew exponentially, as did Christian Māori [[leadership]] and public Christian services, with 33,000 Māori soon attending regularly. Literacy and understanding the Bible increased {{lang|mi|[[Mana (Oceanian mythology)|mana]]}} and social and economic benefits.<ref name="B&T I">{{cite book |last=Newman |first=Keith |title=Bible & Treaty, Missionaries among the Māori – a new perspective |year = 2010 |orig-year = 2010 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0143204084|pages=20–116}}</ref> Worship took place in Māori; it functioned as the language of Māori homes; Māori politicians conducted political meetings in Māori; and some literature appeared in Māori, along with many newspapers.<ref name="history">{{cite web |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language |title=History of the Māori Language |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |date=10 October 2017 |access-date=22 September 2019 |archive-date=6 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406153541/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language |url-status=live }}</ref> Before 1880, some Māori parliamentarians suffered disadvantages because parliamentary proceedings took place in English.<ref>{{cite web |date=15 July 2014 |title=Māori MPs |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/parliaments-people/maori-mps |access-date=22 September 2019 |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |archive-date=22 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922120459/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/parliaments-people/maori-mps |url-status=live }}</ref> However, by 1900, all Māori members of parliament, such as [[Āpirana Ngata]], were university graduates who spoke fluent English.<ref name="Te Reo English"/>