'Te reo influencer' named first Professor of te reo Māori at Victoria University.

Author, academic and sometimes social media star Professor Hona Black is an advocate for speaking te reo Māori i te mura o te ahi, in the heat of the moment, rather than carefully thinking through every word.

Black (Tūhoe, Te Whānau a Apanui, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) will join Te Kawa a Māui, the School of Māori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington as its first Professor of te reo Māori.

"I'm also conscious that there's been many before me and I'm there to just try and contribute to the long and excellent work that they've already been doing there for a long time. So I'm excited, a little bit daunted, but mostly excited," he said.

A prolific commentator on the quirks of te reo Māori, he is a regular on social media channels for Generation Reo, and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. As well as having authored several books, including He iti te kupu: Māori metaphors and similes and Ngā hapa reo: Māori language errors.

An increasing number of Māori - especially young Māori - are using social media as a platform to learn te reo, he said.

The more content in te reo was shared on social media, the more people had access to it, the more it was heard, the more it was normalised, he said.

"When it comes to language acquisition, that's essentially what you want. You want people to be acquiring te reo Māori, sometimes without actually knowing that they're acquiring it, so it's kind of more unconscious type knowledge. And the more we can have that happen, the more te reo Māori will be used in everyday language."

Black is a big proponent of language acquisition, where a person's knowledge of grammar and vocabulary should emerge from their exposure to te reo Māori.

"That unconscious knowledge, which is where we draw when we're kind of communicating instantaneously, i te mura o te ahi, as opposed to having to actually carefully think about what we're saying before speaking... that's where I kind of see as an area of further development, really, for the journey of te reo Māori."

Black said an area of language revitilisation that still need to be expanded on and strengthened was finding ways where te reo Māori can be acquired in everyday contexts, outside of the classroom.

"Because our people are quite time poor, aren't they? And so how do we make sure that they have access to te reo Māori without having to go completely out of their way to access it?"

Black said he had always been an advocate for the type of reo that was not taught in the classroom, such as humour, insults and the language of anger.

If a language could not express those human emotions, then it was not really a living language, he said.

"Finding ways to ensure that our language can speak to all emotions of, you know, o te tangata, that's a really important thing to ensure that our reo survives and is a living language of every day. Because our kids still do it, right? They still get cheeky and they still get angry and all these types of things. But often when they do, ka tahuri kē rātou ki te reo Pākehā. So how can we bring that back?

"And funnily enough, that's one of the things that's often pushed back when we generally post these types of things on social media, you know, you'll get people say things [like] 'our tīpuna didn't speak like that, et cetera, et cetera.' But no, of course they did. I mean, we did compositions that deal specifically to some of those things and so I think it's just about normalising it again."

Black said he was still on the fence about the term 'te reo influencer', even admitting that his partner probably had more followers.

"There are so many other influencers out there that aren't seen on social media, but they're influencers at the, you know, at the homegrown level. And so I don't know, I'm a bit torn about that particular term, but I did laugh when I saw it," he said.

Black joins Te Kawa a Māui from Massey University, where he was an Associate Professor, and taught into Te Aho Paerewa-Postgraduated Diploma in Teaching and Learning (Māori medium). He has a PhD in Applied Linguistics, a Masters of Māori Language Excellence, and a MA in Māori Studies, and has a notable record of teaching, research, and curriculum development.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Māori & Kaitiakitanga Professor Rawinia Higgins said the appointment was timely as Professor Black would help review the direction of the Universitites te reo Māori programmes.

"I am looking forward to his leadership and continued contributions to Māori language revitalisation and scholarship here at Te Herenga Waka."

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