Polynesian languages

The Polynesian languages ​​form a branch of the Ocean, a sub-group of the Malayo - Polynesian languages ​​within the Austronesian tribe.

The total of 36 languages ​​are spoken by about 900,000 people in the Polynesian islands of the Pacific, including Tonga, Niue, Samoa, Wallis, Tuvalu, Futuna, Pukapuka, Tokelau, Hawaii, the Marquesas, Tahiti, Rarotonga, New Zealand and Easter Island.

The most important Polynesian language is Samoan with 430,000 speakers, followed by Tongan and Tahitian, each with 125,000. Most Polynesian languages ​​are spoken by only a few thousand people. Only 60,000 of the 310,000 Maori in New Zealand speak their native language. The 210,000 indigenous Hawaiians have their Polynesian language almost completely abandoned in favor of English ( only 1,000 native speakers). A stand-alone font developed in Polynesia, only the inhabitants of Easter Island for their language Rapanui. This magazine called Rongorongo could not be deciphered until today.

Polynesian within the Austronesian

With the colonization of Polynesia from the western Pacific, starting ( beginning about AD 300, New Zealand was not until 1200 AD reached) conquered the Polynesians a very unique space for itself. On the individual islands and island groups, the originally uniform language of the settlers to develop. It was the close genetic unity of the Polynesian languages ​​, which have a great similarity in spite of the enormous distances between the archipelagos. Compared to the other Austronesian languages ​​are characterized by a high degree of simplification of phonetics and syntax.

The following diagram shows the position of the Polynesian within the Austronesian. Polynesian has split one of the last groups of the other Austronesian languages ​​, as one of its remote location in the - recognizes Pedigree - here somewhat simplified. Similar is the position of the Bantu languages ​​within the Niger - Congo.

  • Austronesian Formosa Group ( several genetic units)
  • Malayo -Polynesian Western Malayo -Polynesian ( with Filipino, Malay, Javanese, Sumatranisch, Borneo languages ​​, Malagasy, etc)
  • Central - Eastern Malayo -Polynesian Central Malayo -Polynesian
  • Eastern Malayo -Polynesian South Halmahera - West New Guinea - group
  • Oceanic Admiralty Islands
  • Western Oceanic ( with Guinea - languages ​​, Meso - Melanesian )
  • Central - Eastern Oceanic Southeast Solomon Islands
  • Santa Cruz
  • Vanuatu ( two genetic units)
  • New Caledonia
  • Loyalty Islands
  • Micronesian
  • Central Pacific Fiji Rotuma
  • Polynesian

Classification and individual languages

The Polynesian is divided into the Tonga - Niue - group, the Samoan group and the Eastern Polynesian. The latter two are also summarized as a nuclear -Polynesian.

  • Polynesian Tonga Niue Group Tonga ( 125,000 speakers)
  • Niue (8,000 )
  • Samoa Group Samoan ( 430,000 )
  • Uveal group Wallisisch (East Uvea) ( 17,000 )
  • Niuafo'ou (700)
  • Tuvalu ( 11,000 )
  • Kapingamarangi ( 3000 ), Nuguria (500) Nukumanu (500) Nukuoro (1,000)
  • Ontong Java ( 2000 ), Sikaiana ( 1000 ), Takuu (200 )
  • West Uvea ( Faga - Uvea) (2,000) ( Uvea atoll in the Loyalty Islands)
  • Futuna (East Futuna ) ( 8000 ), Futuna - Aniwa (600)
  • Emae (200) Mele - Fila ( 2000 ), Pilenia ( 1700 ), Rennell ( 3500 )
  • Tikopia ( 3500 ), Anuta (400)
  • Rapanisch (500)
  • Marquesas group Hawaiian (1,000, 8,000 second language, ethnic 240,000)
  • Mangarevanisch (2,000)
  • Marquesanisch ( 5,500 ) ( varieties: North, South )
  • Tahitian ( 125,000 )
  • Māori ( 60,000, ethnic 310,000 ) (New Zealand )
  • Rarotonga (40,000)
  • Tuamotuisch ( 14,000 ), Rakahanga - Manihiki ( 5000 ), Penrhyn (600), Australasia ( 8000 )

To Samoa Group is an extinct in the 19th century language that was spoken on the island of Niuatoputapu Tonga, of which only some word lists are preserved. Today about 1,600 inhabitants Niuatoputapus speak Tongan.

Numbers of speakers according to Ethnologue 2005 and the below web link.

Linguistic characteristics

Typical are sound systems with only a few, but " clear " vowels and relatively few consonants, the syllables of the type consonant - vowel form. The Hawaiian has 13 phonemes among the languages ​​with the smallest volume inventories.

Within this type of language, there are manifold differences between the idioms of the different island groups that have already led repeatedly to try a grouping of the Polynesian languages ​​.

The relationships of the Polynesian to the other Austronesian language groups have shown that find themselves some idioms of the Indonesian languages ​​in the Polynesian.

In Tongan is a frequent change of / a / to / e / before / i / (see assimilation ) observed, eg in fefine "woman", fafine in Futuna; often in Muna, eg in Tehi " sea " in the Māori tai.

Sound correspondences

The individual Polynesian languages ​​have changed after certain phonetic laws, especially single consonants. The Māori is phonetically remained the most pristine.

Φ denotes a bilabial F- sound, which is written by the Māori WH. The apostrophe ( in Hawaiian Okina ) denotes the glottal plosive. NG is the velar nasal (as in German hunger ). W denotes bilabiales W ( as in English ), V denotes labiodentales W ( as in German ):

Polynesian sound correspondences

(Table to Neverland man 1947)

Polynesian word equations

The word equations in the following table illustrate the basic similarities and differences among Polynesian languages. The relatedness of the Polynesian languages ​​corresponds approximately to between German and Dutch or Spanish and Portuguese.

Futuna (Wallis and Futuna) Puka-Puka Tahitian language Niuean language Tuvaluan language Kapingamarangi language Futunan language Tikopia language Anuta language Tokelauan language Eastern Polynesian languages Māori language SIL International Sound change Voiceless bilabial fricative Labio-velar approximant Voiced labiodental fricative
655971
de