Speakers of Māori English commonly end questioning sentences with 'eh' (pronounced to rhyme with 'may'), and this practice has crept into Pākehā English. As Māori-language scholar Jeanette King explains to journalist Kim Hill, the likely origin of this is the Māori word 'nē', used at the end of a sentence to indicate a question or the expectation of a response. The image is by Ngāi Tahu artist Peter Robinson.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Auckland Art Gallery – Toi o Tāmaki, Chartwell Collection
Reference:
C1997/1/15
Mixed media by Peter Robinson
Permission of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
Sound courtesy of Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa
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