Abstract
It is commonly touted that the indigenous population of Aotearoa, Māori, did not have a written language system prior to colonisation, and relied entirely on oral transmission of vital ancestral, cultural, scientific, and social information. However, when considering written language as not solely phonetic - using graphemes which correlate to spoken sounds as in the Latin alphabet, but instead as morphographic - relying on symbols and broader words connected together, as in Egyptian hieroglyphs, tells a different story. This paper raises the idea of tā moko, traditional Māori tattoos, as a morphographic writing system with as much validity as its graphemic alphabetised Māori counterpart. Drawing on scholarly characterisation’s of Oceania as relying on “routes, not roots”, this paper argues that the emphasis of practical navigation, family descent lines, and recognisable but unique tribal motifs in tā moko designs creates a complex linguistic system which is encoded upon inscription, then decoded both in Aotearoa, and beyond. Understanding how tā moko can communicate with other Oceanic tattoo traditions such as tatou, kākau, and eá can restore the centrality of tattooing practices to our various cultures. It further contributes that these tattoos can serve as bridges between connected, albeit distinct, Oceanic languages and cultures and assist in broader language and cultural revitalisation processes.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Communications and Linguistic Studies
KEYWORDS
Semiotics, Tattooing, Oceania, Cultural Diversity, Linguistic Restoration
