Cook Islands Māori

Cook Islands Māori
Cook Islands Māori
Māori, Maori Kuki Airani, Māori Kūki ʻĀirani
Native to	Cook Islands, New Zealand
Region	Polynesia
Native speakers	13,620 in Cook Islands, 96% of ethnic population (2011 census); 7,725 in New Zealand, 12% of ethnic population (2013)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Polynesian Eastern Polynesian Tahitic Cook Islands Māori; ; ; ; ; ;
Official status
Official language in	Cook Islands
Regulated by	Te Kopapa Reo Maori (Maori Language Commission)
Language codes
ISO 639-2	rar
ISO 639-3	Variously:; rar – Rarotonga; pnh – Tongareva (Penrhyn); rkh – Rakahanga-Manihiki
Glottolog	raro1241 Southern Cook Island Maori; penr1237 Māngarongaro; raka1237 Rakahanga-Manihiki
ELP	Southern Cook Islands Maori
IETF	rar-CK; mi-CK
	Cook Islands Māori is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Cook Islands Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language that is an official language of the Cook Islands. It is closely related to, but distinct from, New Zealand Māori. Cook Islands Māori is called just Māori when there is no need to distinguish it from New Zealand Māori. It is also known as Māori Kūki ʻĀirani (or Maori Kuki Airani), or as Rarotongan.^[3] Many Cook Islanders also call it Te Reo Ipukarea, which translates as "the language of the ancestral homeland".

^ Rarotonga at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Tongareva (Penrhyn) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Rakahanga-Manihiki at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ "2013 Census ethnic group profiles". Retrieved 8 December 2017.
^ Nicholas, Sally Akevai (2018). "Language Contexts: Te Reo Māori o te Pae Tonga o te Kuki Airani also known as Southern Cook Islands Māori". Language Documentation and Description. 15. London: EL Publishing: 36–37. Retrieved 5 August 2025. This practice conflicts with that of community members, who use the name Rarotongan to specifically refer to the variety spoken in Rarotonga. Non-Rarotongan Cook Islands Māori speakers can be offended by this conflation... Therefore, the name "Rarotongan" should be only be used to refer to the Rarotongan variety and never to Cook Islands Māori as a whole.

[e18-1] Rarotonga at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Tongareva (Penrhyn) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Rakahanga-Manihiki at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] "2013 Census ethnic group profiles". Retrieved 8 December 2017.

[3] Nicholas, Sally Akevai (2018). "Language Contexts: Te Reo Māori o te Pae Tonga o te Kuki Airani also known as Southern Cook Islands Māori". Language Documentation and Description. 15. London: EL Publishing: 36–37. Retrieved 5 August 2025. This practice conflicts with that of community members, who use the name Rarotongan to specifically refer to the variety spoken in Rarotonga. Non-Rarotongan Cook Islands Māori speakers can be offended by this conflation... Therefore, the name "Rarotongan" should be only be used to refer to the Rarotongan variety and never to Cook Islands Māori as a whole.

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