The International Journal of Language, Society and Culture
Abstract
A major area where discriminatory language occurs is where a majority and minority group or groups co-exist within a society. Such conditions exist within many countries today. In New Zealand, the na-tive Maori people make up a little over 10 percent of the population, so are classed as a minority group. Although, a long period of war and dispute occurred during primary European contact and con-tinued right through the colonization period, a general harmony now exists in New Zealand. However, discriminatory language is still abundant and has found its way into the common language that is used every day. Usually going unchecked, it tends to be socially accepted, even sometimes by those who may have Maori heritage themselves. It is this discriminatory language used in New Zealand, which influences thought by constructing a negative stereotype of Maori people. Within this stereotype, Maori are portrayed as primitive, dirty, lazy, intellectually challenged, having low moral values, and generally culturally inferior when compared to the dominant Pakeha (a Maori word used in New Zea-land to define ‘non-Maori’) based New Zealand culture. Colloquial examples of discriminatory lan-guage used in New Zealand will be presented showing their effect on creating this negative stereotype of Maori people. Also, the way in which this stereotype has influenced thought in both Maori and Pakeha respectively will be discussed. It is in turn these thoughts that have subsequent effects on
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T Le (2007). The International Journal of Language, Society and Culture. eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania).
@article{t2007the,
title = {The International Journal of Language, Society and Culture},
author = {Le, T},
year = {2007},
journal = {eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania)}
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