Polynesian languages


The Polynesian languages form a language family spoken in geographical Polynesia and on a patchwork of outliers from south central Micronesia to small islands off the northeast of the larger islands of the southeast Solomon Islands and sprinkled through Vanuatu. Linguistic taxonomists classify them as a subgroup of the much larger and more varied Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. Polynesians share many unique cultural traits that resulted from only about 1000 years of common development, including common linguistic development, in the Tonga and Samoa area through most of the first millennium BC.
There are approximately forty Polynesian languages. The most prominent of these are Tahitian, Samoan, Tongan, Māori and Hawaiian. As humans first settled the Polynesian islands relatively recently and because internal linguistic diversification only began around 2,000 years ago, the Polynesian languages retain strong commonalities. There are still many cognate words across the different islands, for example: tapu, ariki, motu, kava, and tapa as well as Hawaiki, the mythical homeland for some of the cultures.
All Polynesian languages show strong similarity, particularly in vocabulary. The vowels are often stable in the descendant languages, nearly always a, e, i, o and u. Consonant changes tend to be quite regular. The legendary homeland of many Polynesian peoples, reconstructed as *sawaiki, appears as Hawaiki among the Māori of New Zealand with s replaced by h; but 'Avaiki in the Cook Islands with s replaced by the glottal stop, and w by v; as Hawai'i, the name of the largest island in the Hawaiian Islands, with s replaced by h, and k by the glottal stop; as Savai'i, the largest island in Samoa, with w replaced by v, and k by the glottal stop; and as Havai'i in the Society Islands with s replaced by h, w replaced by v, and k by the glottal stop.

Languages

Polynesian languages fall into two branches, Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Tongan and Niuean constitute the Tongic branch; all the rest are part of the Nuclear Polynesian branch.
The contemporary classification of the Polynesian languages began with certain observations by Andrew Pawley in 1966 based on shared innovations in phonology, vocabulary and grammar showing that the East Polynesian languages were more closely related to Samoan than they were to Tongan, calling Tongan and its nearby relative Niuean "Tongic" and Samoan and all other Polynesian languages of the study "Nuclear Polynesian".
Previously, there had been only lexicostatistical studies that squarely suggested a "West Polynesian" group composed of at least Tongan and Samoan and that an "East Polynesian" group was equally distant from both Tongan and Samoan. Lexicostatistics is a controversial. Since Pawley's 1966 publication, inferring the ancient relationships of the Polynesian languages and the proofs of shared innovations.
Pawley published another study in 1967. It began the process of extracting relationships from Polynesian languages on small islands in Melanesia, the "Polynesian Outliers", whose languages Pawley was able to trace to East Futuna in the case of those farther south and perhaps to Samoa itself in the case of those more to the north.
Except for some minor differentiation of the East Polynesian tree, further study paused for almost twenty years until Wilson published a study of Polynesian pronominal systems in 1985 suggesting that there was a special relationship between the East Polynesian languages and all other Nuclear Polynesian but for Futunic, and calling that extra-Futunic group the "Ellicean languages". Furthermore, East Polynesian was found to more likely have emerged from extra-Samoan Ellicean than out of Samoa itself, an astonishing suggestion given the long assumption of a Samoan homeland for the origins of East Polynesian. Wilson named this new group "Ellicean" after the pre-independence name of Tuvalu and presented fine-grained evidence for subgroups within that overarching category.
Marck, in 2000, was able to offer some support for some aspects of Wilson's suggestion through comparisons of shared sporadic sound changes, e. g., Proto-Polynesian and Proto-Nuclear-Polynesian *mafu 'to heal' becoming Proto-Ellicean *mafo. This was made possible by the massive Polynesian language comparative lexicon of Biggs and Clark.
Despite the relative low number of Polynesian languages, and the relative abundance of data already available on many of them, the comparative method was often reduced to comparisons of vocabulary, shared sporadic sound changes and, as Wilson had done in 1985, comparison of pronominal systems, which is perhaps the second most commonly described aspect of "minor" languages often available for comparison after the lexicostatistical lists. Wilson has a forthcoming work providing further evidence of fine grained subgroups within Ellicean and a consideration of other recent work on the matter of Ellicean internal relations. Wilson's new work brings the matter to the approximate limits of current data available, incorporating much data unknown to most other researchers.
Returning to lexicostatistics, it must be emphasised that the method does not make the best possible use of its short word lists of 100 or 200 words. Dyen's massive lexicostatistical study of Austronesian, for instance, showed a great deal of diversity in the Austronesian languages of Western Melanesia. This was sometimes on par with the lexicostatistical distance of Taiwan Austronesian languages from other Austronesian including Taiwan Austronesian languages from each other. But the low lexicostatistical agreement of many Western Melanesian Oceanic languages with other Oceanic Austronesian can be easily dismissed as of little subgrouping interest because those languages are nevertheless full of diagnostic innovations of Oceanic Austronesian in their sound systems and vocabulary, including many Oceanic lexical innovations found in the 100 and 200 lexicostatistical word lists. The Western Oceanic Melanesian "diversity" of lexicostatistical studies was never of any interest in terms of attributing any special time depth or subgrouping significance to it. They are just languages with accelerated loss of vocabulary, sometimes, in the Western Oceanic case, because they involve certain more ancient peoples of the region shifting to Oceanic speech after Oceanic-speaking peoples arrived.

Internal correspondences

Partly because Polynesian languages split from one another comparatively recently, many words in these languages remain similar to corresponding words in others. The table below demonstrates this with the words for 'sky', 'north wind', 'woman', 'house' and 'parent' in a representative selection of languages: Tongan; Niuean; Samoan; Sikaiana; Takuu; Rapanui language; Tahitian; Cook Islands Māori ; Māori; North Marquesan; South Marquesan; Hawaiian and Mangarevan.

TonganNiueanSamoanSikaianaTakuuRapanuiTahitianRarotonganMāoriNorth MarquesanSouth MarquesanHawaiianMangarevan
sky
north wind
woman
house
parent

Certain regular correspondences can be noted between different Polynesian languages. For example, the Māori sounds,,, and correspond to,,, and in Hawaiian. Accordingly, "man" is tangata in Māori and kanaka in Hawaiian, and Māori roa "long" corresponds to Hawaiian loa. The famous Hawaiian greeting aloha corresponds to Māori aroha, "love, tender emotion". Similarly, the Hawaiian word for kava is awa.
Similarities in basic vocabulary may allow speakers from different island groups to achieve a significant degree of understanding of each other's speech. When a particular language shows unexpectedly large divergence in vocabulary, this may be the result of a name-avoidance taboo situation – see examples in Tahitian, where this has happened often.
Many Polynesian languages have been greatly affected by European colonization. Both Māori and Hawaiian, for example, have lost many speakers to English, and only since the 1990s have they resurged in popularity.

Personal pronouns

In general, Polynesian languages have three numbers for pronouns and possessives: singular, dual and plural. For example, in Māori: ia, rāua, rātou. The words rua and toru are still discernible in endings of the dual and plural pronouns, giving the impression that the plural was originally a trial or paucal, and that an original plural has disappeared.
Polynesian languages have four distinctions in pronouns and possessives: first exclusive, first inclusive, second and third. For example, in Māori, the plural pronouns are: mātou, tātou, koutou, rātou. The difference between exclusive and inclusive is the treatment of the person addressed. Mātou refers to the speaker and others but not the person or persons spoken to, while tātou refers to the speaker, the person or persons spoken to, and everyone else.

''a'' and ''o'' possession

Many Polynesian languages distinguish two possessives. The a-possessives, also known as subjective possessives, refer to possessions that must be acquired by one's own action. The o-possessives or objective possessives refer to possessions that are fixed to someone, unchangeable, and do not necessitate any action on one's part but upon which actions can still be performed by others. Some words can take either form, often with a difference in meaning. One example is the Samoan word susu, which takes the o-possessive in lona susu and the a-possessive in lana susu. Compare also the particles used in the names of two of the books of the Māori Bible: Te Pukapuka a Heremaia with Te Pukapuka o Hōhua ; the former belongs to Jeremiah in the sense that he was the author, but the Book of Joshua was written by someone else about Joshua. The distinction between one's birth village and one's current residence village can be made similarly.

Numerals in Polynesian languages

EnglishOneTwoThreeFourFiveSixSevenEightNineTen
Niueantahauatolufalimaonofituvaluhivahogofolu
Tongantahauatolufanimaonofituvaluhivahongofulu
Samoantasiluatolufalimaonofituvaluivasefulu
Tuvaluantasiluatolufalimaonofituvaluivaagafulu
Nanumeatahiluatolufālimaonofituvaluivatoa
Tokelauantahiluatolufalimaonofituvaluivahefulu
Wallisiantahiluatolufānimaonofituvaluhivahogofulu
Pukapukatayiluatoluwalimaonowituvaluivalaugaulu
Rennellesetahiŋguatoŋguhāŋgimaonohitubaŋguibakatoa
Pilenitasiruatorufālimaonofituvaluivakʰaro
Tikopiatasiruatorufarimaonofituvarusivafuaŋafuru
Anutatairuatorupaanimaonopituvaruivapuangapuru
West Uveatahiƚuatoƚufalimatahia-tupuluaona-tuputoluona-tupufaona-tupulimaona-tupu
Emaetasiruatorufarimaonofituβarusiβaŋafuru
Meletasiruatorufarimaonofituβarusiβasiŋafuru
Futuna-Aniwatasiruatorufarimaonofituvaroivatagafuru
Sikaianatahiluatoluhālimaonohituvalosivosehui
Ontong Javakahiluakoluhālimaoŋohikuvalusivosehui
Takuutasiluatorufarimaonofituvarusivosinafuru
Kapingamarangidahiluadoluhaalimaonohiduwaluhiwamada
Nukuorodahika-luaka-doluka-haaka-limaka-onoka-hiduka-valuka-sivaka-hulu
Rapa Nuitahiruatoruharimaonohituvaʼuivaʼahuru
Tahitiantahipititorumahapaeōnohituvaʼuivahōeʼahuru
Penrhyntahiluatoluhālimaonohituvaluivatahi-ngahulu
Rarotongantaʼiruatoruārimaonoʼituvaruivangaʼuru
Tuamotuantahiruatorufārimaonohituvaruivarongoʼuru
Maoritahiruatoruwhārimaonowhituwaruiwatekau
Morioritehiterutorutewhaterimateonotewhitutewaruteiwameangauru
Mangarevatahiruatoruharimaonohituvaruivarogouru
Marquesane tahie úae toúe fae ímae onoe fitue vaúe ivaónohuú
Hawaiian‘e-kahi‘e-lua‘e-kolu‘e-hā‘e-lima‘e-ono‘e-hiku‘e-walu‘e-iwa‘umi

Orthography

Written Polynesian languages use orthography based on Latin script. Most Polynesian languages have five vowel qualities, corresponding roughly to those written i, e, a, o, u in classical Latin. However, orthographic conventions for phonemes that are not easily encoded in standard Latin script had to develop over time. Influenced by the traditions of orthographies of languages they were familiar with, the missionaries who first developed orthographies for unwritten Polynesian languages did not explicitly mark phonemic vowel length or the glottal stop. By the time that linguists trained in more modern methods made their way to the Pacific, at least for the major languages, the Bible was already printed according to the orthographic system developed by the missionaries, and the people had learned to read and write without marking vowel length or the glottal stop.
This situation persists in many languages. Despite efforts at reform by local academies, the general conservative resistance to orthographic change has led to varying results in Polynesian languages, and several writing variants co-exist. The most common method, however, uses a macron to indicate a long vowel, while a vowel without that diacritical mark is short, for example, ā versus a. Sometimes, a long vowel is written double, e.g. Maaori.
The glottal stop is indicated by an apostrophe, for example, 'a versus a. This is somewhat of an anomaly as the apostrophe is most often used to represent letters that have been omitted, while the glottal stop is rather a consonant that is not represented by a traditional Latin letter.
Hawaiʻian uses the ʻokina, also called by several other names, a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonemic glottal stop. It is also used in many other Polynesian languages, each of which has its own name for the character. Apart from the ʻokina or the somewhat similar Tahitian ʻeta, a common method is to change the simple apostrophe for a curly one, taking a normal apostrophe for the elision and the inverted comma for the glottal stop. The latter method has come into common use in Polynesian languages.