§ 2. Note
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§ 2. Note.
—The Maori alphabet is very restricted. It will be noticed that the voiced consonants b, d, g, are wanting, also the voiced and voiceless pairs, v, f, and z, s,
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and the liquid, l. The only consonants are the voiceless p, t, k, the voiced and voiceless pair, w, wh, the three nasals, m, n, ng, the liquid r and the aspirate h. These ten consonants with the five vowels permit the formation of fifty-five open syllables, but four of these, wo, wu, who, whu, do not occur in any genuine Maori word, leaving only fifty-one possible syllables in the language.



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