Te Kete o Karaitiana Taiuru (Blog)

Māori macron urban myths and free macron software

Macrons can be simply created with Māori keyboards available for all computer and smart phone systems. No longer does the need to press multiple keys to create a macron exist, despite the many articles which suggest otherwise.

As an advocate and developer of macron technologies for more than 12 years: I am shocked that so many articles are still being written by, I assume, non Māori language practitioners. In turn, other writers reference the bad advice, thus creating further barriers to Māori language being utilised on the Internet, resulting in double macrons, umlauts and generally ignoring the macron all together.

The biggest threat of such ill informed articles that promote multiple key inputs is the introduction and usage of Māori IDN web addresses.

Using macrons in HTML should also utilise the keyboards below and not the numeric code that is often promoted.

Microsoft New Zealand Māori keyboard – Download from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=21115

 

Macintosh – Utilise the Hawai’i keyboard as they have macrons (details). Pre OSX keybaord macrons download from https://www.taiuru.co.nz/tnk/mac/

Linux Māori keyboard download from https://www.taiuru.co.nz/tnk//linux/Maori.tgz

Gnome on Linux System->Preferences->Keyboard (from the gnome panel menu), the Layout tab has the Maori keyboard layout.

iPhone: add the Latvian keyboard and hold down the vowel you want to add as a macron.

Android phone: Download the AnySoft keyboard and then the Hawai’I keyboard:

Other systems just use the Latvian keyboard.

If you would prefer or do not have access to macron keybaords, I suggest you utilise this site http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~kimihia/maori-keyboard

 

DISCLAIMER: This post is the personal opinion of Dr Karaitiana Taiuru and is not reflective of the opinions of any organisation that Dr Karaitiana Taiuru is a member of or associates with, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

7 responses to “Māori macron urban myths and free macron software”

  1. Graham Avatar
    Graham

    One thing that frustrates me is if I am working on a computer over which I have no control. Then getting macrons is a question for me of finding a macronised letter somewhere and copying and pasting.

    e.g ā copied from your post above!

    Graham

  2. Graham Avatar
    Graham

    One thing that frustrates me is if I am working on a computer over which I have no control. Then getting macrons is a question for me of finding a macronised letter somewhere and copying and pasting.

    e.g ā copied from your post above!

    Graham

  3. John B Avatar
    John B

    Kia ora. Thanks for that. Hawaiian keyboard, light clear all set up on my phone. Ngā mihi

  4. David Hood Avatar
    David Hood

    I just thought I’d contribute that with iDevices, there is no setup needed these days. Whatever keyboard you use, just hold down the vowel for half a second and choose the version of the letter with the Macron.
    Similarly, with the current Macintosh operating system (10.8) no setup is needed. Hold down the vowel key, then choose macron version from the list by pressing the appropriate number (basically the same as the iOS version except you use a number to choose).

  5. paora Avatar
    paora

    Kia ora all the vowls exept the ‘a’ have the correct macrons. How do I fix this?

    1. karaitiana Avatar
      karaitiana

      In which device e hoa?

      1. Amanda Griffin Avatar
        Amanda Griffin

        I found the answer – I was on the English keyboard still. When I tapped on Hawaiian keyboard (duh!) the macron was available for the ‘a’

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