Proto-Polynesian language
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]
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
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless stop | *p | *t | *k | *q |
| Nasal | *m | *n | *ŋ | |
| Fricative | *ɸ | *s | *h | |
| Trill | *r | |||
| Lateral | *l | |||
| Glide | *w |
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 | *ɸ | *s | *h | *l | *r | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tongan | p | t | k | ʔ | m | n | ŋ | v | f | h | l | Ø | |||
| Niuean | Ø | ||||||||||||||
| Niuafoʻou?? | 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~k | ʔ | Ø | m | n | ŋ | v | f | s | Ø | l | |||
| East Futunan | t | 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 | ɸ/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 |
| *ɸaɸine | 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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