I was going to pitch a Bionicle fanfic I’ve been outlining to see if there was any community interest in it, but then I realized people would probably want to know why I changed so many characters’ names. The answer is… involved, but maybe you’ll learn something about Māori linguistics.
Let me explain. A while ago, I observed that Bionicle in 2001 used a very constrained phonetic inventory, clearly modeled on Polynesian languages like Māori. On closer inspection, Bionicle seems to have borrowed directly from Māori and Hawaiian, as well as other Oceanic languages, such as Fijian and Rotuman. (But only the Māori nation sued.)
In any case, there are two prominent traits of the names of early Toa, Turaga, Tohunga (as they were called), Kanohi, Rahi, places, etc.* The first is that the 2001 names are characterized by a pattern of open syllables. That means that the vowel in each syllable is the last letter in that syllable. You don’t see Kotpaka or Pohaktu or Tahud. This holds true for nearly every Matoran/Tohunga language word introduced in the first year.**
The second is that the language relies on noticeably fewer consonants than English. Māori only uses 10 consonants: H, K, M, N, P, R, T, W, Ng, and Wh.*** Hawaiian uses even fewer: H, K, L, M, N, P, and W. Words in the Bionicle language are similar. While F, G, J and V have some prominent appearances, B, C and D are vanishingly rare (they appear once or twice, mainly on forgettable details, and mostly in the Quest for the Toa game). S appears remarkably rarely, from an English speaking perspective (Manas and Suva being major exceptions). And I’m not aware of any instances of Q, X, Y, or Z.
Being an ■■■■ retentive language nerd, I think it’s really cool that Lego gave its conlang such a distinct character, even if doing so involved borrowing heavily from existing languages, and it always disappointed me a little how it became increasingly “anything goes” in later years. Just tossing Zatth or Photok in there kinda ruins it.
Anyway, I thought to write this as preface to a fanfic/rewrite idea I had, where there being two languages in the Matoran universe is an important plot point. A lot of characters from 2004 and beyond have their names changed to better fit the language patterns above. I’ll probably go into more detail in a later post.
*This does not apply to characters who were not actually named in ’01 despite technically being there, e.g. Akhmou was not referred to by name until MNOGII. Also, recall that several characters and concepts, including Huki, Koli, and Tohunga, had their original names changed.
** A couple exceptions are Manas and Tren Krom (as in Tren Krom Break).
*** Ng, which appears in Kongu and Tohunga, is probably pronounced with a closed syllable by most English speakers, e.g. Kon-gu. However, it’s considered a single consonant in Māori. Also, there is Ngalawa boat racing from Quest for the Toa, which presents it as single sound.