Using word frequency lists including: a Māori predictive text list, lists of common Māori words in New Zealand English and common Māori words used in Māori. I discuss and analyse which words would be most beneficial in a Māori predictive text database for Māori and introduce the need to update New Zealand English databases used for predictive texting and spell checking.
Māori are higher users of mobile devices than non-Māori in New Zealand. Yet, the only support for Māori language is an outdated predictive word list that was offered in 2009 by Telecom New Zealand. I have complied a new and updated list and am freely distributing it.
It is unclear to me how the original list was compiled as it does not have any major commonality with other published lists of both popular Māori words in the English language or in any high frequency Māori words as used by Maori speakers.
I have compiled an updated list by combining several well-known popular Māori words that appear in New Zealand English Language lists, which has produced a list of 456 Māori words that should be included in any New Zealand Language predictive and spelling database due to their commonality.
Furthermore, the word frequency list as compiled by Mary Boyce (2006) and a high frequency word list of Māori words used in Twitter (Indigenous Tweets), I recommend that a new predictive list for Māori speakers be considered using frequently used words by Māori speakers.
The updated predictive list can be downloaded here.
The research paper can be downloaded and read here.
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