New Zealand's Minister for Pacific Peoples says Cook Islands Language Week can play an important part in protecting the future of Reo Maori Kuki Airani.
Aupito William Sio launches Cook Islands Language Week. Photo: Twitter
The theme for this year's celebrations, which kicked off today, is "Be proud of your language and protect its future".
Aupito William Sio said it was a very pertinent theme for Cook Islanders because use of the language is declining and its future is under threat.
Cook Islands Māori is currently classified by UNESCO as a vulnerable language.
This means that while most children speak the language, usage is restricted largely to specific locations such as Church or in the home.
Aupito said Cook Islands Māori is part of New Zealand's Pacific language heritage and it is preserved.
He said almost 62,000 people identified as Cook Islanders in the last New Zealand census while the population back in the islands is just over 17,000.
"The last census also indicates that language use has dropped from 17.8 percent to 13.1 percent amongst those identifying as Cook Islanders and that's a trend I want to see reversed," he said.
