By Jesse Peach
James Cameron, the director of Hollywood blockbuster, Avatar has revealed the language used by the film’s alien race is based on Maori.
Mr Cameron says he created Na’vi alongside a language developer in California and they based it on sounds heard on a trip to New Zealand a few years ago.
“He had come up with about 30 words that were mostly character names, and so on, so when I looked at them I thought they had a Polynesian feel to them. It turned out he had recently come back from a trip to New Zealand” says language developer Paul Frommer.
Maori language experts agree that, while the Na’vi language shares no similar meaning to Maori, the flow is similar.
“It was interesting because it’s quite a melodic language and Maori is based on vowels basically – every word ends on a vowel – I did recognise that when I listened to them,” says Maori language expert Ella Henry.
The n-g sound, like “nga” was taken from Maori language but presented a challenge in the film.
“One of the things that the actors had the most difficulty with was putting a familiar sound in an unfamiliar place,” says Mr Frommer.
Even though the language was loosely based on the sounds of Maori, Mr Frommer admits he does not speak a word of the language.
That does not seem to bother Maori here though; Ms Henry says it is nice to have the language associated with the highest grossing film of all time.
3 News