The sound system of Māori is conservative; it is close to the system the Proto-Central Eastern Polynesian language had. The most unstable phonemes are /f/ and /ŋ/.
Despite the widely-held belief that the Māori phonetic system is simple and straightforward, in reality the realisation of Māori phonemes differs significantly; it depends on the speaker's age, the chosen register and other factors.
The most frequent Māori phonemes are /a/ (18%), /i/ (11,3%), /t/ (9,8%). In an average text, vowels make up slightly more than 60 per cent of all the phonemes. Several combinations are extremely rare: /fo/, /fu/; also /wo/ and /wu/ can only be found in loanwords. The reason for the first two combinations to become rare is that *f + rounded vowel got merged with *s > /h/; the second pair was not attested in any reconstructions of the Proto-Polynesian language.
Consonants[]
An unusual feature of Māori is the lack of sibilants, the most frequently encountered type of fricative consonants, as well as the lack of /j/ which is the most widespread semivowel phoneme in world languages.
| Labial | Dental/alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | /p/ | /t/ | /k/ | |
| Nasal | /m/ | /n/ | /ŋ/ | |
| Fricative | /f/ | /h/ | ||
| Liquid | /r/ | |||
| Semivowel | /w/[NB 1] |
Unvoiced phonemes, /h/, and fricative allophones of /t/ and /k/ are sporadically voiced in fast speech. Devoicing of sonorants has also been attested in the same environment.
In loanwords, /h/ affects surrounding vowels by making them more close.
The realisation of /t/ and /k/ can be palatalised or velarised; /t/ before /i/ and /u/ changes to an affricate, [t͡ʃ], especially if it occurs in the last syllable of the phrase. Starting from the 19th century both /t/ and /k/ are increasingly aspirated. The article te can be pronounced as [ə] in unstressed environment. Sometimes /k/ is voiced to /ɣ/ in unstressed syllables.
The place of articulation of /h/ is affected by the following vowel: hī “fish” is pronounced as [i], but in hoa “friend” /h/ becomes labialised.
Most speakers pronounce /f/ as [f], but historically [ɸ] dominated; the realisations [ʍ] and [h] also occurred.
The /r/ phoneme is most frequently realised as [ɾ], sometimes it is pronounced as [ɹ] (in kōrero “speech”) and [l]; according to 19-century data, it was common for the dialects of the South Island, but occurs everywhere.
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | /i/, /iː/ | /u/, /uː/[NB 1] | |
| Mid | /e/, /eː/ | /o/, /oː/ | |
| Open | /a/, /aː/ | ||
The number of phonemes is small, so their realisation varies considerably.
Phrase-final vowels can be reduced. This is especially true for short vowels, but it happens to long ones as well in fast speech.
Like in New Zealand English, the Māori phonemes /u/ and /uː/ are closer to central vowels, that is, [ʉ].
For Māori monophtongs there are minimal pairs differentiated by vowel length:
- kēkē “armpit” ~ keke “pie”;
- kākā “New Zealand kaka” ~ kaka “stem”;
- kōkō “tui” ~ koko “shovel”;
- kīkī “to speak” ~ kiki “to kick”;
- kūkū “New Zealand pigeon” ~ kuku “fear”.
Long vowels are pronounced for approximately twice as long as their short counterparts.
Some linguists consider long vowels to be variants of the short ones, while others count them separately. The second approach is supported by the difference in quality between them: the long vowels are more centralised.
Beside monophthongs Māori has many diphthong vowel phonemes. Although any short vowel combinations are possible, researchers disagree on which combinations constitute diphthongs. Formant frequency analysis distinguish /aĭ/, /aĕ/, /aŏ/, /aŭ/, /oŭ/ as diphthongs.