Proto-Polynesian language
Proto-Polynesian (abbreviated PPn) is the hypothetical proto-language from which all the modern Polynesian languages descend. 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]
Phonology
The phonology of Proto-Polynesian is very simple, with 13 consonants and 5 vowels. Note that *q in Proto-Polynesian most probably was a glottal stop [ʔ].
Consonants
Vowels
Proto-Polynesian had five simple 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.[2]
Sound correspondences
| Proto-Polynesian |
*p | *t | *k | *q |
*m | *n | *ŋ |
*w |
*f | *s | *h |
*l | *r |
|---|
|
Tongan |
p |
t |
k |
ʔ |
m |
n |
ŋ |
v |
f |
h |
l |
Ø |
| Niuean |
Ø |
| ? |
ʔ/Ø | h | h/Ø | l/Ø |
| Proto-Nuclear-Polynesian |
*p | *t | *k | *ʔ |
*m | *n | *ŋ |
*w | *f | *s | *Ø | *l |
|
Sāmoan |
p |
t |
ʔ | Ø |
m |
n |
ŋ |
v |
f |
s |
Ø |
l |
| East Futunan |
k | ʔ/Ø |
| Tikopian |
Ø | ɾ |
| Nukuoroan |
h | l |
| Proto-Eastern-Polynesian |
*p | *t | *k | *ʔ/Ø |
*m | *n | *ŋ |
*w | *f | *h | *Ø | *l |
|
Rapa Nui |
p |
t |
k |
ʔ/Ø |
m |
n |
ŋ |
v |
v/h | h |
Ø |
ɾ |
| MVA, Rarotongan |
Ø |
?/v | ʔ |
| Tuamotuan |
f/h/v | h |
| Māori |
w | wh/h |
| Tahitian |
ʔ |
ʔ |
v |
f/v/h |
| N. Marquesan |
k |
k |
h | ʔ |
| S. Marquesan |
ʔ |
n |
f/h |
| Hawaiian |
k |
w | h/w | l |
|
Vocabulary
The following is a table of some sample vocabulary as it is represented orthographically in various languages.[3] All instances of <ʻ> represent a glottal stop, IPA /ʔ/. All instances of 'ng' and Samoan 'g' represent the single phoneme /ŋ/. The letters 'r' in all cases represents voiced alveolar tap /ɾ/, not /r/.
|
Polynesian vocabulary |
|---|
| Proto-Polynesian |
Tongan |
Niuean |
Sāmoan |
Rapa Nui |
Tahitian |
Māori |
Rarotongan |
S. Marquesan |
Hawaiian |
English |
| *taŋata |
tangata |
tangata |
tagata |
tangata |
ta'ata |
tangata |
tangata |
ʻenata |
kanaka |
man |
| *sina |
hina |
hina |
sina |
hina |
hinahina |
hina |
ʻina |
|
hina |
grey-haired |
| *kanahe |
kanahe |
kanahe |
ʻanae |
|
'anae |
kanae |
kanae |
|
ʻanae |
mullet |
| *tiale |
siale |
tiale |
tiale |
tiare |
tiare |
tīare |
tiare |
|
kiele |
flower |
| *waka |
vaka |
vaka |
vaʻa |
vaka |
va'a |
waka |
vaka |
vaka |
waʻa |
canoe |
| *fafine |
fafine |
fifine |
fafine |
vi'e/vahine |
vahine |
wahine |
vaʻine |
vehine |
wahine |
woman |
| *matuqa |
mātu'a |
motua |
matua |
matuʻa |
metua |
matua |
metua, matua |
motua |
makua |
parent |
| *rua |
ua |
ua |
lua |
rua |
rua [4] |
rua |
rua |
ʻua |
lua |
two |
| *tolu |
tolu |
tolu |
tolu |
toru |
toru |
toru |
toru |
toʻu |
kolu |
three |
Notes
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Rolle, Nicholas (2009). "The Phonetic Nature of Niuean Vowel Length". Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics (TWPL): 31.
- ↑ Hockett, C.K. (May 1976), "The Reconstruction of Proto Central Pacific", Anthropological Linguistics 18 (5): 187–235
- ↑ 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 pronounʻōrua, roughly translated you two.
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