[I. ON READING.]
§ 1. The Alphabet consists of the following fifteen letters:
| FORM. | NAME. | SOUND. | |
| A | a | a | father |
| E | e | e | send |
| H | h | ha | |
| I | i | i | hit |
| K | k | ka | |
| M | m | ma | |
| N | n | na | |
| Ng | ng | nga | singing |
| O | o | o | obey, without the w sound generally connected with it in English. |
| P | p | pa | |
| R | r | ra | |
| T | t | ta | |
| U | u | u | boot |
| W | w | wa | |
| Wh | wh | wha | |
§ 2. Pronunciation. Those letters which have not the pronunciation marked in the above table may be pronounced as in English: t and r, however are articulated farther forward in the mouth in Maori than they are in English; and wh is not, as it is written, a letter compounded of w and h, but a simple consonant, the effect of breath emitted smartly between the lips; the same sound, in short, as is made in blowing from the mouth.
Ng, as used in Maori to begin a syllable, is found difficult by some people; but the difficulty may soon be overcome by bearing in mind that the position of the organs of speech is the same for this letter as for g and k, to which it stands in the same relation that m does to b and p, and n to d and t. Pronounce the three letters successively with the Maori vowel a, thus; ka, ga, nga, and practise this till the letter is mastered.
The vowels have each but one sound, though they may all vary in length in different words. When two stand together in a word, the first of the two is generally pronounced more strongly than the other. The doubling of a vowel amounts simply to a lengthening of it.
The consonants always stand singly, and every syllable ends with a vowel.