Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
Te reo Māori Kūki' Āirani, or the Cook Islands Māori language is at risk of disappearing as more Cook Islanders shift their preference from their native tongue to English.
According to the UNESCO Oceania endangered languages, Kūki' Āirani is decreasing at an accelerating pace
With more Cook Islanders living abroad, particularly in Aotearoa, which is home to more than eighty percent of the entire population, the Ministry of Pacific People says only nine percent can speak Kūki' Āirani.
Ahorangi/Professor Stephen May from the School of Māori and Indigenous Education at the University of Auckland says New Zealand has 'a constitutional and political commitment to try and maintain the language.'
RNZ Pacific's Rachael Nath had a kōrero with Professor May, who sheds light on the current language landscape.
