Proto-Polynesian language

Last updated
Proto-Polynesian
PPn
Reconstruction of Polynesian languages
Region Tonga, Samoa, and nearby islands
Reconstructed
ancestors

Proto-Polynesian (abbreviated PPn) is the hypothetical proto-language from which all the modern Polynesian languages descend. It is a daughter language of the Proto-Austronesian language. Historical linguists have reconstructed the language using the comparative method, in much the same manner as with Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Uralic. This same method has also been used to support the archaeological and ethnographic evidence which indicates that the ancestral homeland of the people who spoke Proto-Polynesian was in the vicinity of Tonga, Samoa, and nearby islands. [1]

Contents

Phonology

Proto-Polynesian has a small phonological inventory, with 13 consonants and 5 vowels. [2]

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Velar Glottal
Plosive *p*t*k
Nasal *m*n
Fricative *f*s*h
Trill *r
Lateral *l
Glide *w

Vowels

Proto-Polynesian had five vowels, /a//e//i//o//u/, with no length distinction. In a number of daughter languages, successive sequences of vowels came together to produce long vowels and diphthongs, and in some languages these sounds later became phonemic. [3]

Sound correspondences

Proto-Polynesian*p*t*k*m*n*w*f*s*h*l*r
Tongan ptkʔmnŋvfs/hhll/Ø
Niuean Øh
Niuafoʻou ʔ/Øh/Ø
Proto-Nuclear-Polynesian*p*t*k*m*n*w*f*s*l
Samoan pt~kʔØmnŋvfsØl
East Futunan tkʔ/Ø
Tikopian Øɾ
Nukuoroan hl
Proto-Eastern-Polynesian*p*t*k*ʔ/Ø*m*n*w*f*h*l
Rapa Nui ptkʔ/Ømnŋvv/hhØɾ
MVA, Cook Islands Māori Øʔ/vʔ
Tuamotuan f/h/vh
Māori wɸ/h
Tahitian ʔʔvf/v/h
N. Marquesan kkhʔ
S. Marquesan ʔnf/h
Hawaiian kv/wh/wl


Vocabulary

The following is a table of some sample vocabulary as it is represented orthographically in various languages. [4] All instances of ʻ represent a glottal stop, IPA /ʔ/. All instances of ng and Samoan g represent the single phoneme /ŋ/. The letter r in all cases represents voiced alveolar tap /ɾ/, not /r/.

Polynesian vocabulary
Proto-Polynesian Tongan Niuean Samoan Rapa Nui Tahitian Māori Cook Islands Māori S. Marquesan Hawaiian English
*taŋatatangatatangatatagatatangatata'atatangatatangataʻenatakanakaperson
*sinahinahinasinahinahinahinahinaʻinahinagrey-haired
*kanahekanahekanaheʻanae'anaekanaekanaeʻanaemullet
*tialesialetialetialetiaretiaretīaretiarekieleflower
*wakavakavakavaʻavakava'awakavakavakawaʻacanoe
*fafinefefinefifinefafinevi'e/vahinevahinewahinevaʻinevehinewahinewoman
*matuʔamātu'amotuamatuamatuʻametuamatuametua, matuamotuamakuaparent
*ruauaualuaruarua [5] ruaruaʻualuatwo
*tolutolutolutolutorutorutorutorutoʻukoluthree

See also

Notes

  1. Kirch, Patrick Vinton; Roger Green (2001). Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: An Essay in Historical Anthropology . Cambridge University Press. pp.  99–119. ISBN   978-0-521-78309-5.
  2. Marck, Jeff (2000). Topics in Polynesian languages and culture history (PDF). Pacific Linguistics 504. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  3. Rolle, Nicholas (2009). "The Phonetic Nature of Niuean Vowel Length". Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics (TWPL). 31. ISSN   1718-3510.
  4. Hockett, C.F. (May 1976), "The Reconstruction of Proto-Central Pacific", Anthropological Linguistics, 18 (5): 187–235
  5. Archaic: the modern Tahitian word for two is piti, due to the practice of pi'i among Tahitians, a form of linguistic taboo. However, the cognate remains in the second-person dual pronoun ʻōrua, roughly translated you two.

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