‘…to this rule there are many exceptions’: Robert Maunsell and the Grammar of Maori

Marcus Tomalin
Downing College, Cambridge

This article assesses Robert Maunsell’s (1810–1894) Grammar of the New Zealand Language (1842). In particular, it is shown that, contrary to established belief, Maunsell’s Grammar was not exclusively based upon European or Hebrew grammatical models, but rather that it constituted an intriguing synthesis of different aspects of both traditions. Consequently, the relationship between Maunsell’s work and influential English texts such as Robert Lowth’s A Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762) and Lindley Murray’s English Grammar (1795) is explored in considerable detail in an attempt to indicate exactly how the 18th century English grammatical tradition influenced the demanding task of analysing an indigenous language encountered in a British colony in the early 19th century.

Quick links
Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Anderson, Benedict
1983 Theory of Nationalism and Imagined Communities: Reflections on the origins and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ballantyne, Tony
2002 Orientalism and Race: Aryanism in the British Empire. New York & London: Palgrave.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biggs, Bruce
1961 The Structure of New Zealand Maaori. Auckland: Auckland University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1998 [1969] Let’s Learn Maori. Revised ed. Auckland: Auckland University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Binney, Judith
2005 The Legacy of Guilt: A life of Thomas Kendall. Oxford & Auckland: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Francis, Richard Driver & Charles Briggs
1996 The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: with an appendix containing the Biblica Aramaic. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chidester, David
1996 Savage Systems: Colonial and comparative religion in Southern Africa. Capetown & London: Lightning Source.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elder, John R.
ed. 1932 The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden 1765–1838. Dunedin: Coulls Somerville Wilkie.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
ed. 1934 Marsden’s Lieutenants. Dunedin: Coulls Somerville Wilkie.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuami, Kayoko
1996 “Lindley Murray and the Introduction of English into Japan”. Tieken, ed. 1996a.125–134.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garrett, Helen
1991 Te Manihera: The Life and Times of the Pioneer Missionary Robert Maunsell. Auckland: Reed Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, James
1751 Hermes or A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar. London: C. NourseGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hastings, Adrian
1997 The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, religion and nationalism. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hepworth, Brian
1978 Robert Lowth. Boston: Twayne.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Horne Tooke, John
1786 Epea Pteroenta, or The Diversions of Purley. London: Printed for Richard Taylor.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Howland, Douglas
2003 ‘The Predicament of Ideas in Culture: Translation and Historiography’. History and Theory 42:1.45–60.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kendall, Thomas & Samuel Lee
1820 A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand. London: printed by R. Watts, and sold by L. B. Seeley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krupa, Viktor
1982 Polynesian Languages: A guide. (= Languages of Asia and Africa, 4.) London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lambdin, Thomas
1996 Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. 12th ed. Sheffield: Darton, Longman & Todd.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Landau, Paul
1999 “Religion and Christian Conversion in African History: A new model”. Journal of Religious History (= Special issue: Africans Meeting Missionaries) 23:1.8–30.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, Samuel
1827 A Grammar of the Hebrew Language: comprised in a series of lectures; compiled from the best authorities, and augmented with much original matter, drawn principally from Oriental sources; designed for the use of students in the universities. London: Printed for James Duncan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lovett, Richard
1899 The History of the London Missionary Society 1795–1895. Vol. I. London.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lo)wth, Robert
1762 A Short Introduction to English Grammar. London: J. Hughs.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lynch, John, Malcolm Ross & Terry Crowley
2002 The Oceanic Languages. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Majoribanks, Alexander
1845 Travels in New Zealand, with a map of the country. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marshall, William Barret
1836 A Personal Narrative of the Two Visits to New Zealand in His Majesty’s Ship Alligator, A. D. 1834. London: James Nisbet.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maunsell, Robert
1842 Grammar of the New Zealand Language. Auckland: J. Moore.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Murray, Lindley
1795 English Grammar. London and York: Wilson, Spence, and Mawman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parkinson, Phil
2001a “The Mäori Grammars and Vocabularies of Thomas Kendall and John Gare Butler. [Part 1: The Rotten Branches, 1814–1823]”. Rongorongo Studies 11:1.4–24.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2001b “The Mäori Grammars and Vocabularies of Thomas Kendall and John Gare Butler. [Part 2: “We have condemned the Grammar …”, 1824–1826]”. Rongorongo Studies 11:2.47–62.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2003 “The Mäori Grammars and Vocabularies of Thomas Kendall and John Gare Butler. [Part 3: Kendall”s Revised Grammar, 1827–32]”. Rongorongo Studies 13:2.37–55.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004 “The Mäori Grammars and Vocabularies of Thomas Kendall and John Gare Butler. [Part 4: Butler’s “New Zealandic Vocabulary”, 1839–1841]”. Rongorongo Studies 14:1.20–37.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peterson, Derek R.
1999 “Translating the Word: Dialogism and Debate in Two Gikuyu Dictionaries” Journal of Religious History 23:1.31–50.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Polack, Joel Samuel
1838 New Zealand; being a narrative of travels and adventures during a residence in that country between 1831 and 1837. 2 vols. London: R. Bentley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pullum, Geoffrey K.
1974 “Lowth’s Grammar: A re-evaluation”. Linguistics 137.63–78.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sorrenson, Maurice P. K.
1990 Maori Origins and Migrations. The genesis of Some Pakeha myths and legends. Oxford & Auckland: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sugirtharajah, Rasiah S.
2005 The Bible and Empire: Postcolonial explorations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, Richard
1848 A Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand. Wellington: Robert Stokes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Ingrid
ed. 1996a Two Hundred Years of Lindley Murray. Münster: Nodus.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1996b “Two Hundred Years of Lindley Murray: An Introduction”. Tieken 1996a.1–26.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tieken-Boonvan Ostade, Ingrid
2000 “Robert Dodsley and the Genesis of Lowth’s Short Introduction to English Grammar ”. Historiographica Linguistica 27:1.21–36.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tregear, Edward
1891 Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary. Wellington: Lyon & Blair.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Williams, William
1844 A Dictionary of the New-Zealand Language: and a concise grammar, to which are added a selection of colloquial sentences. Paihia: Printed at the Press of the CMS.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wily, Henry E. R. L. & Herbert Maunsell
1938 Robert Maunsell LL.D. Auckland: Reed Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yarwood, Alexander. T.
1977 Samuel Marsden: The great survivor. Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yate, William
1970 [1835] An Account of New Zealand; and of the Church Missionary Society’s Mission in the Northern Island. Shannon: Irish University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
 
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue