Polynesian languages: Difference between revisions

There are 38 Polynesian languages, representing 7 percent of the 522 Oceanic languages, and 3 percent of the Austronesian family.<ref>''[[{{Glottolog]]''|poly1242}}.</ref> While half of them are spoken in geographical [[Polynesia]] (the [[Polynesian triangle]]), the other half &ndash; known as [[Polynesian outliers]] &ndash; are spoken in other parts of the Pacific: from [[Micronesia]] to atolls scattered in [[Papua New Guinea]], the [[Solomon Islands]] or [[Vanuatu]]. The most prominent Polynesian languages, inby number of speakers, are [[TahitianSamoan language|TahitianSamoan]], [[SamoanTongan language|SamoanTongan]], [[TonganTahitian language|TonganTahitian]], [[Māori language|Māori]] and [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]].

Still today, Polynesian languages show strong similarity, particularly [[cognate]] words in their vocabulary; this includes culturally important words such as ''[[tapu (Polynesian culture)|tapu]]'', ''[[ariki]]'', ''[[motu (geography)|motu]]'', ''[[Vanua#Polynesian languages|fenua]]'', ''[[kava]]'', and ''[[tapa cloth|tapa]]'' as well as [[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Nuclear Polynesian/Sawaiki#Proto-Nuclear Polynesian|*''sawaiki'']], the mythical homeland for some of the cultures.<ref name="buckh">{{cite book |title=Vikings of the Sunrise |last=Hīroa |first=Te Rangi |author-link=Te Rangi Hīroa |year=1964 |publisher=Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd |location=New Zealand |page=69 |url=httphttps://www.nzetc.orgvictoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BucViki-t1-front-d1-d1.html |access-date=21 August 2010 |isbn=0-313-24522-3 }}</ref>

*****[[NukumanuTakuu language|NukumanuTakuu]] ([[NukumanuTakuu Atoll]] in the east ofeastern [[Papua New Guinea]])

*****[[Ontong JavaNukumanu language|Ontong JavaNukumanu]] (or Luangiua; [[Ontong JavaNukumanu]], in the east of [[SolomonPapua New IslandsGuinea]])

*****[[SikaianaOntong Java language|SikaianaOntong Java]] (or Luangiua; [[SikaianaOntong Java]], [[Solomon Islands]])

*****[[Vaeakau-TaumakoSikaiana language|PileniSikaiana]] ([[Reef IslandsSikaiana]], [[Solomon Islands]])

****[[SamoanSamoic languagelanguages|SamoanSamoic]]

*****[[TokelauanSamoan language|TokelauanSamoan]]

***** Marquesic
******Marquesan–Mangareva

*******[[Marquesan language|Marquesan]] ([[Marquesas Islands]], [[French Polynesia]])

*******[[Mangareva language|Mangareva]] ([[Gambier Islands]], [[French Polynesia]])

******[[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] ([[Hawaii]], [[United States]])

***** Tahitic

******[[Tahitian language|Tahitian]] ([[Society Islands]], [[French Polynesia]])

******[[Austral language|Austral]] ([[Austral Islands]], [[French Polynesia]])

******[[Rapa language|Rapa]] ([[Rapa Iti]], [[French Polynesia]])

******[[Tuamotuan language|Tuamotuan]] ([[Tuamotu|Tuamotu Archipelago]], French Polynesia)

******[[Cook Islands Māori|Rarotongan]] (Cook Islands Māori, [[Cook Islands]])

******[[Rakahanga-Manihiki language|Rakahanga-Manihiki]] ([[Rakahanga]] and [[Manihiki]], [[Northern Cook Islands]])

******[[Penrhyn language|Penrhyn]] (or Tongarevan; [[Tongareva atoll|Tongareva]], [[Northern Cook Islands]])

** *Futunic (?):

****[[Wallisian language|Wallisian]] or East Uvean (fakaʻuveaFakaʻuvea) ([[Wallis (island)|Wallis Island]], [[Wallis and Futuna]])

****[[FakafutunaFutunan language|Futunan]] or (East) Futunan (Fakafutuna) ([[Futuna (Wallis and Futuna)|Futuna Island]], [[Wallis and Futuna]])

****[[West Uvean language|West Uvean]] or Faga Uvea ([[Ouvéa]] off [[New Caledonia]])

****[[Pukapukan language|Pukapukan]] ([[Pukapuka]], northern [[Cook Islands]])

****[[Anuta language|Anuta]] ([[Anuta|Anuta Island]], [[Solomon Islands]])

****[[Rennellese language|Rennellese]] ([[Rennell Island|Rennell]] and [[Bellona Island|Bellona]] island, [[Solomon Islands]])

****[[Tikopia language|Tikopia]] ([[Tikopia|Tikopia Island]], [[Solomon Islands]])

****[[FutunaVaeakau-AniwaTaumako language|FutunaVaeakau-AniwaTaumako]] or West Futunan(?) ([[FutunaReef Island, Vanuatu|FutunaIslands]] and [[Aniwa Island|AniwaTaumako]] inisland, [[VanuatuSolomon Islands]])

****[[MeleFutuna-FilaAniwa language|MeleFutuna-FilaAniwa]] or West Futunan ([[MeleFutuna (island)Island, Vanuatu|MeleFutuna]] and [[Aniwa Island|Aniwa]], in [[Vanuatu]])

****[[EmaeMele-Fila language|EmaeMele-Fila]] ([[EmaeMele (island)|EmaeMele Island]], [[Vanuatu]])

**[[TonganTongic languagelanguages|TonganTongic]]

***[[Tongan language|Tongan]]
***[[Niuafoʻou language|Niuafoʻou]] (on [[Niuafoʻou|Niuafoʻou Island]], [[Tonga]])

***[[Niuean language|Niuean]]

Previously, there had been only lexicostatistical studies<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Elbert |first=Samuel H. |date=July 1953-07 |title=Internal Relationships of Polynesian Languages and Dialects |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/soutjanth.9.2.3628573 |journal=Southwestern Journal of Anthropology |language=en |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=147–173 |doi=10.1086/soutjanth.9.2.3628573 |issn=0038-4801|jstor=3628573}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Emory|first=Kenneth P. |date=1963 |title=East Polynesian relationships: settlement pattern and time involved as indicated by vocabulary agreements |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20704084 |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=78–100 |issn=0032-4000|jstor=20704084}}</ref> 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{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} {{clarify span|tool that can identify points in languages from which linguistic relations can be inferred|date=June 2013}}. Since Pawley's 1966 publication, inferring the ancient relationships of the Polynesian languages {{clarify span|has proceeded by the more diagnostic findings of studies employing the [[comparative method]]|date=August 2012}} and the proofs of shared innovations.

Except for some minor differentiation of the East Polynesian tree, further study paused for almost twenty years until Wilson<ref name="Wilson85">Wilson, William H., 1985, Evidence for an Outlier source for the Proto-Eastern-Polynesian pronominal system. ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 24(1/2):85-133. {{doi|10.2307/3623064}}. {{JSTOR|3623064}}.</ref> 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, anin astonishingcontradiction suggestion givento 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.

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 language|Tongan]]; [[Niuean language|Niuean]]; [[Samoan language|Samoan]]; [[Sikaiana language|Sikaiana]]; [[Takuu]]; [[RapanuiNorth Marquesan language|North Marquesan]]; [[TahitianSouth Marquesan language|TahitianSouth Marquesan]]; [[Cook IslandsMangarevan Māorilanguage|Mangarevan]] (Rarotongan); [[MāoriHawaiian language|MāoriHawaiian]]; [[North MarquesanRapanui language|North Marquesan]]; [[South MarquesanTahitian language|South MarquesanTahitian]]; [[HawaiianMāori language|HawaiianMāori]] and [[MangarevanCook language|MangarevanIslands Māori]] (Rarotongan).

![[NiueanTongan language|NiueanTongan]]

![[TonganNiuean language|TonganNiuean]]

|fafā

![[TuvaluanTokelauan language|TuvaluanTokelauan]]

|fāfa

![[TokelauanKapingamarangi language|TokelauanKapingamarangi]]

|fahaa

![[WallisianOntong Java language|WallisianOntong Java]]

![[TikopiaTakuu language|TikopiaTakuu]]

|rualua

![[AnutaVaeakau-Taumako language|AnutaPileni]]

|paafā

![[Ontong JavaMarquesan language|Ontong JavaMarquesan]]

![[TakuuHawaiian language|TakuuHawaiian]]

|‘e-lua

|faha

![[MāoriPenrhyn language|MaoriPenrhyn]]

|rualua

|iwaiva

![[MangarevaAnuta language|MangarevaAnuta]]

|hafa

![[MarquesanWallisian language|MarquesanWallisian]]

|e tahi

|e ono

|e fitu

![[HawaiianWest Uvean language|HawaiianWest Uvea]]

|‘e-lima

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 (diacritic)|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 instead written double, e.g. ''Maaori''.