{"id":{"repo_id":"auckland-tech","oai_identifier":"oai:openrepository.aut.ac.nz:10292/21458"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/auckland-tech/oai:openrepository.aut.ac.nz:10292/21458","repository":{"repo_id":"auckland-tech","name":"AUT University","base_url":"https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Application of Heliaki (Imagery) in Tongan Songs and the Roles of Journalists and Censorial Punake in Their Censorship Between the 1960s and the Early 2000s","abstract":"Hiva kakala (kakala songs), which emerged as a distinctive Tongan genre during the late nineteenth century, became a major focus of censorship by the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) from the 1960s to the early 2000s. The process was characterised by both agreement and tension. Even Queen Sālote Tupou III, who was instrumental in the censorship process, did not always agree with censorial decisions to ban particular songs. Despite this complex history and its status as one of the richest repositories of Tongan language and literary artistry, hiva kakala has received little in-depth and rigorous scholarly investigation. This study investigates why hiva kakala were required to employ heliaki and undergo scrutiny, initially by censorial punake (composers) and later by journalists (kau faiongoongo), before radio broadcast. The censorship served several principal purposes. It moderated offensive, culturally inappropriate, or otherwise objectionable content that might breach fetauhiʻaki, the practice that sustains the broader nofo ʻa kāinga which underpin the newly proposed kāinga–ʻulumotuʻa–mehekitanga (fahu) social stratification and the recognised kakai–houʻeiki–tuʻi constitutional hierarchy. It also upheld heliaki as the defining literary and expressive framework of hiva kakala, enabling compositions to be shaped through the figurative potential of literal expressions. In addition, it moderated Western and other foreign influences by ensuring their culturally appropriate integration into hiva kakala. Throughout the investigation, the application of heliaki and the tensions surrounding it revealed conflicting interpretations that ultimately led this study to challenge longstanding misconceptions and address them through the standardisation and reconceptualisation of key cultural practices. The study reconceptualises hiva kakala as a song genre fundamentally defined by the heliaki system. Accordingly, any song that does not exhibit a sufficient degree of heliaki should not be classified as hiva kakala. The song genre was profoundly shaped by the arrival of the early Christian missionaries particularly through their translation of hymns, the Holy Bible, and other religious texts into Tongan. Against this historical background, the study further establishes that heliaki, the defining literary system of hiva kakala, was substantially refined and further developed through engagement with the English figurative tradition. As no previous study has systematically accounted for this process of literary integration, the research also reconceptualises heliaki as a semantic–figurative system grounded in the intrinsic qualities of literal expressions. Within this system, heliaki is realised through imagery, symbolism, or figuration, which are expressed as lea heliaki (figurative language) and subsequently classified into particular lea ʻo e heliaki (figures of speech). Building on this framework, the study systematically classifies more than 30 lea ʻo e heliaki.","abstract_html":"Hiva kakala (kakala songs), which emerged as a distinctive Tongan genre during the late nineteenth century, became a major focus of censorship by the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) from the 1960s to the early 2000s. The process was characterised by both agreement and tension. Even Queen Sālote Tupou III, who was instrumental in the censorship process, did not always agree with censorial decisions to ban particular songs. Despite this complex history and its status as one of the richest repositories of Tongan language and literary artistry, hiva kakala has received little in-depth and rigorous scholarly investigation. This study investigates why hiva kakala were required to employ heliaki and undergo scrutiny, initially by censorial punake (composers) and later by journalists (kau faiongoongo), before radio broadcast. The censorship served several principal purposes. It moderated offensive, culturally inappropriate, or otherwise objectionable content that might breach fetauhiʻaki, the practice that sustains the broader nofo ʻa kāinga which underpin the newly proposed kāinga–ʻulumotuʻa–mehekitanga (fahu) social stratification and the recognised kakai–houʻeiki–tuʻi constitutional hierarchy. It also upheld heliaki as the defining literary and expressive framework of hiva kakala, enabling compositions to be shaped through the figurative potential of literal expressions. In addition, it moderated Western and other foreign influences by ensuring their culturally appropriate integration into hiva kakala. Throughout the investigation, the application of heliaki and the tensions surrounding it revealed conflicting interpretations that ultimately led this study to challenge longstanding misconceptions and address them through the standardisation and reconceptualisation of key cultural practices. The study reconceptualises hiva kakala as a song genre fundamentally defined by the heliaki system. Accordingly, any song that does not exhibit a sufficient degree of heliaki should not be classified as hiva kakala. The song genre was profoundly shaped by the arrival of the early Christian missionaries particularly through their translation of hymns, the Holy Bible, and other religious texts into Tongan. Against this historical background, the study further establishes that heliaki, the defining literary system of hiva kakala, was substantially refined and further developed through engagement with the English figurative tradition. As no previous study has systematically accounted for this process of literary integration, the research also reconceptualises heliaki as a semantic–figurative system grounded in the intrinsic qualities of literal expressions. Within this system, heliaki is realised through imagery, symbolism, or figuration, which are expressed as lea heliaki (figurative language) and subsequently classified into particular lea ʻo e heliaki (figures of speech). Building on this framework, the study systematically classifies more than 30 lea ʻo e heliaki.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Latu, Kalino"],"institution":"Auckland University of Technology","degree_name":"Master of Communication Studies","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Treadwell, Gregory","Havea, Janet Tupou"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2026,"date_issued":"2026","date_published":"2026","updated_at":"2026-08-21T16:42:05Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:10292/21458"],"render_values":[{"text":"hdl:10292/21458","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10292/21458","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"source_record":{"url":"https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Aopenrepository.aut.ac.nz%3A10292%2F21458","prefix":"dim"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Treadwell, Gregory","Havea, Janet Tupou"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Latu, Kalino"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-06-22T04:38:39Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-06-22T04:38:39Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2026"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Auckland University of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Communication Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Auckland University of Technology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:10292/21458"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10292/21458"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Hiva kakala (kakala songs), which emerged as a distinctive Tongan genre during the late nineteenth century, became a major focus of censorship by the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) from the 1960s to the early 2000s. The process was characterised by both agreement and tension. Even Queen Sālote Tupou III, who was instrumental in the censorship process, did not always agree with censorial decisions to ban particular songs. Despite this complex history and its status as one of the richest repositories of Tongan language and literary artistry, hiva kakala has received little in-depth and rigorous scholarly investigation. This study investigates why hiva kakala were required to employ heliaki and undergo scrutiny, initially by censorial punake (composers) and later by journalists (kau faiongoongo), before radio broadcast. The censorship served several principal purposes. It moderated offensive, culturally inappropriate, or otherwise objectionable content that might breach fetauhiʻaki, the practice that sustains the broader nofo ʻa kāinga which underpin the newly proposed kāinga–ʻulumotuʻa–mehekitanga (fahu) social stratification and the recognised kakai–houʻeiki–tuʻi constitutional hierarchy. It also upheld heliaki as the defining literary and expressive framework of hiva kakala, enabling compositions to be shaped through the figurative potential of literal expressions. In addition, it moderated Western and other foreign influences by ensuring their culturally appropriate integration into hiva kakala. Throughout the investigation, the application of heliaki and the tensions surrounding it revealed conflicting interpretations that ultimately led this study to challenge longstanding misconceptions and address them through the standardisation and reconceptualisation of key cultural practices. The study reconceptualises hiva kakala as a song genre fundamentally defined by the heliaki system. Accordingly, any song that does not exhibit a sufficient degree of heliaki should not be classified as hiva kakala. The song genre was profoundly shaped by the arrival of the early Christian missionaries particularly through their translation of hymns, the Holy Bible, and other religious texts into Tongan. Against this historical background, the study further establishes that heliaki, the defining literary system of hiva kakala, was substantially refined and further developed through engagement with the English figurative tradition. As no previous study has systematically accounted for this process of literary integration, the research also reconceptualises heliaki as a semantic–figurative system grounded in the intrinsic qualities of literal expressions. Within this system, heliaki is realised through imagery, symbolism, or figuration, which are expressed as lea heliaki (figurative language) and subsequently classified into particular lea ʻo e heliaki (figures of speech). Building on this framework, the study systematically classifies more than 30 lea ʻo e heliaki."]},{"key":"dc:description.other","label":"Dc Description Other","values":["The censorship of hiva kakala (kakala songs) was a prominent feature of broadcasting practice at the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC), formerly Radio ZCO and later A3Z, from the 1960s until the early 2000s. Despite its significance within Tongan cultural life, little scholarly attention has been given to understanding why composers were required to compose according to heliaki (imagery) and submit their songs for scrutiny before public broadcast. This study investigates the cultural, literary, and journalistic factors underlying the censorship of kakala songs and examines the role of heliaki in shaping the composition, regulation, and interpretation of the genre. Guided by the indigenous theoretical frameworks of Tupunga Ola and Veitalatala, the research employed a qualitative methodology based on interviews, documentary analysis, and critical examination of historical and contemporary literature. The study explored the perspectives of composers (punake), journalists (faiongoongo), and individuals involved in the censorship and promotion of kakala songs. The findings reveal that kakala song censorship functioned primarily as a form of cultural moderation rather than suppression. It also found that censorship occasionally generated tensions and accusations of inconsistency. However, the participants generally viewed the control as contributing to the preservation, enhancement, and artistic quality of kakala songs. Censorship was used to uphold the values embedded within the nofo ‘a kāinga system and fatungamotu‘a e fonua structure, moderate the effects of Westernisation and foreign cultural influences, and monitor the appropriate use of heliaki, one of Tonga’s foremost literary and linguistic registers. The study further demonstrates that Queen Sālote Tupou III and her Traditions Committee played a pivotal role in shaping both the development and regulation of the genre. A major contribution of this research is the reconceptualisation of kakala songs as songs of heliaki. By revising prevailing definitions of heliaki, the study develops a continuum that clarifies the relationship between literal and figurative language. It proposes an updated definition of heliaki as a system of figurative expression that produces vivid, evocative, and memorable imagery. Within this framework, heliaki is also understood as a literary mechanism in compositions and communications for safeguarding fefaka‘apa‘apa‘aki and fefuafatongia‘aki, promoting social hierarchies, while simultaneously enhancing the expressive and affective values of mālie and māfana. The study also introduces the first standardised framework of 30 lea ‘o e heliaki (figures of speech), together with the development of the ‘Ēkitu‘a Binary Cultural Identity model and the Toafesiama Translation Integration Framework. In addition, the study advances new understandings of mālie and māfana as evaluative principles governing artistic effectiveness and audience engagement. The thesis contributes to scholarship on Tongan literature, culture, journalism, translation, and censorship by providing a comprehensive account of the cultural systems that underpin kakala songs and their regulation. It further offers practical recommendations for curriculum development, journalism education, cultural policy, and the preservation of Tongan literary traditions in the contemporary digital era. Drawing on the newly developed Toafesiama model and the reconceptualisation of heliaki through the semantic–heliaki continuum, this study posits that lea heliaki (figurative language) and liliu lea (translation) are fundamental mechanisms that enable the preservation, adaptation, and sustainability of the Tongan language in changing cultural and linguistic contexts. The findings of this study indicate that liliu lea has become a widely utilised practice among Tongans in everyday communication. This development is attributable not only to the prevalence of English as a second language, but also to the fact that the majority of Tongans reside in the diaspora. Furthermore, translation has assumed a significant role in hiva kakala composition, where it functions as a form of heliaki that enhances the mālie quality of the songs."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Application of Heliaki (Imagery) in Tongan Songs and the Roles of Journalists and Censorial Punake in Their Censorship Between the 1960s and the Early 2000s"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Treadwell, Gregory","Havea, Janet Tupou"],"dc:creator":["Latu, Kalino"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-06-22T04:38:39Z"],"dc:date.available":["2026-06-22T04:38:39Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2026"],"dc:description.abstract":["Hiva kakala (kakala songs), which emerged as a distinctive Tongan genre during the late nineteenth century, became a major focus of censorship by the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) from the 1960s to the early 2000s. The process was characterised by both agreement and tension. Even Queen Sālote Tupou III, who was instrumental in the censorship process, did not always agree with censorial decisions to ban particular songs. Despite this complex history and its status as one of the richest repositories of Tongan language and literary artistry, hiva kakala has received little in-depth and rigorous scholarly investigation. This study investigates why hiva kakala were required to employ heliaki and undergo scrutiny, initially by censorial punake (composers) and later by journalists (kau faiongoongo), before radio broadcast. The censorship served several principal purposes. It moderated offensive, culturally inappropriate, or otherwise objectionable content that might breach fetauhiʻaki, the practice that sustains the broader nofo ʻa kāinga which underpin the newly proposed kāinga–ʻulumotuʻa–mehekitanga (fahu) social stratification and the recognised kakai–houʻeiki–tuʻi constitutional hierarchy. It also upheld heliaki as the defining literary and expressive framework of hiva kakala, enabling compositions to be shaped through the figurative potential of literal expressions. In addition, it moderated Western and other foreign influences by ensuring their culturally appropriate integration into hiva kakala. Throughout the investigation, the application of heliaki and the tensions surrounding it revealed conflicting interpretations that ultimately led this study to challenge longstanding misconceptions and address them through the standardisation and reconceptualisation of key cultural practices. The study reconceptualises hiva kakala as a song genre fundamentally defined by the heliaki system. Accordingly, any song that does not exhibit a sufficient degree of heliaki should not be classified as hiva kakala. The song genre was profoundly shaped by the arrival of the early Christian missionaries particularly through their translation of hymns, the Holy Bible, and other religious texts into Tongan. Against this historical background, the study further establishes that heliaki, the defining literary system of hiva kakala, was substantially refined and further developed through engagement with the English figurative tradition. As no previous study has systematically accounted for this process of literary integration, the research also reconceptualises heliaki as a semantic–figurative system grounded in the intrinsic qualities of literal expressions. Within this system, heliaki is realised through imagery, symbolism, or figuration, which are expressed as lea heliaki (figurative language) and subsequently classified into particular lea ʻo e heliaki (figures of speech). Building on this framework, the study systematically classifies more than 30 lea ʻo e heliaki."],"dc:description.other":["The censorship of hiva kakala (kakala songs) was a prominent feature of broadcasting practice at the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC), formerly Radio ZCO and later A3Z, from the 1960s until the early 2000s. Despite its significance within Tongan cultural life, little scholarly attention has been given to understanding why composers were required to compose according to heliaki (imagery) and submit their songs for scrutiny before public broadcast. This study investigates the cultural, literary, and journalistic factors underlying the censorship of kakala songs and examines the role of heliaki in shaping the composition, regulation, and interpretation of the genre. Guided by the indigenous theoretical frameworks of Tupunga Ola and Veitalatala, the research employed a qualitative methodology based on interviews, documentary analysis, and critical examination of historical and contemporary literature. The study explored the perspectives of composers (punake), journalists (faiongoongo), and individuals involved in the censorship and promotion of kakala songs. The findings reveal that kakala song censorship functioned primarily as a form of cultural moderation rather than suppression. It also found that censorship occasionally generated tensions and accusations of inconsistency. However, the participants generally viewed the control as contributing to the preservation, enhancement, and artistic quality of kakala songs. Censorship was used to uphold the values embedded within the nofo ‘a kāinga system and fatungamotu‘a e fonua structure, moderate the effects of Westernisation and foreign cultural influences, and monitor the appropriate use of heliaki, one of Tonga’s foremost literary and linguistic registers. The study further demonstrates that Queen Sālote Tupou III and her Traditions Committee played a pivotal role in shaping both the development and regulation of the genre. A major contribution of this research is the reconceptualisation of kakala songs as songs of heliaki. By revising prevailing definitions of heliaki, the study develops a continuum that clarifies the relationship between literal and figurative language. It proposes an updated definition of heliaki as a system of figurative expression that produces vivid, evocative, and memorable imagery. Within this framework, heliaki is also understood as a literary mechanism in compositions and communications for safeguarding fefaka‘apa‘apa‘aki and fefuafatongia‘aki, promoting social hierarchies, while simultaneously enhancing the expressive and affective values of mālie and māfana. The study also introduces the first standardised framework of 30 lea ‘o e heliaki (figures of speech), together with the development of the ‘Ēkitu‘a Binary Cultural Identity model and the Toafesiama Translation Integration Framework. In addition, the study advances new understandings of mālie and māfana as evaluative principles governing artistic effectiveness and audience engagement. The thesis contributes to scholarship on Tongan literature, culture, journalism, translation, and censorship by providing a comprehensive account of the cultural systems that underpin kakala songs and their regulation. It further offers practical recommendations for curriculum development, journalism education, cultural policy, and the preservation of Tongan literary traditions in the contemporary digital era. Drawing on the newly developed Toafesiama model and the reconceptualisation of heliaki through the semantic–heliaki continuum, this study posits that lea heliaki (figurative language) and liliu lea (translation) are fundamental mechanisms that enable the preservation, adaptation, and sustainability of the Tongan language in changing cultural and linguistic contexts. The findings of this study indicate that liliu lea has become a widely utilised practice among Tongans in everyday communication. This development is attributable not only to the prevalence of English as a second language, but also to the fact that the majority of Tongans reside in the diaspora. Furthermore, translation has assumed a significant role in hiva kakala composition, where it functions as a form of heliaki that enhances the mālie quality of the songs."],"dc:identifier":["hdl:10292/21458"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10292/21458"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Auckland University of Technology"],"dc:title":["The Application of Heliaki (Imagery) in Tongan Songs and the Roles of Journalists and Censorial Punake in Their Censorship Between the 1960s and the Early 2000s"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Communication Studies"],"thesis:institution_name":["Auckland University of Technology"]},"updated_at":"2026-08-21T16:42:05Z"}