Austral language

Austral (Reo Tuha'a pae) is an endangered Polynesian language that is spoken by approximately 8,000 people (1987). It is spoken only on the Austral Islands and the Society Islands of French Polynesia. The language can also be called Tubuai-Rurutu, Tubuai, Rurutu-Tupuai, or Tupuai. In structure, it is similarly compared to Tahitian, and Maori.^[4][5]

History

Those who originally spoke Austral were the Tubuaians, who lived on the Austral Island of Tubuai. It is unknown when the island actually started being inhabited, but the population had started to grow with indigenous people. Trying to settle, the islanders had developed their own society.

Years later, around 1777, James Cook had "discovered" the island. Subsequently, more Europeans made their way to this Polynesian isle with an objective to convert the islanders. Afterwards, the European influence eventually had an effect on the Austral culture. Diseases started to spread and the use of alcohol was increasing. These devastations caused the island to decrease from a population of 3000 to 300.

Some traditional practices, beliefs, and languages had been lost or had been struggling to revive.^[6]

Genetic classification

Austral is sorted into the Austronesian family,^[7] which contains a majority of the Pacific languages. This family is divided into 15 subcategories, starting with Austronesian and ending with Tahitic.^[8] Specifically, it is broken down into Austronesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynsian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, Central Pacific, East Fijian-Polynesian, Polynesian, Nuclear, East, Central, and Tahitic.

Status

The Austral language is classified as "threatened" in the Catalogue of Endangered Languages.^[9] With less than 6% of the French Polynesian population speaking Austral, its Ethnologue status is also deemed to be "shifting".^[10] This means that the language is staying only within one generation and not being taught to their descendants. It is also dissipating because those who speak Austral are switching to Tahitian.

Alphabet and phonology

The language has the same alphabet structure as Tahitian. It includes: A, E, F, H, I, M, N, O, P, R, T, U, V, and ' . In addition, it contains long vowels of a, e, i, o, and u.^[5]

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Alphabet	Pronunciation	IPA
A	'	[a]
E	'	[e]
F		[fɸ}
H		[h/ʃ]
I		[i/ai]
M		[m]
N		[n]
O		ɔ
P		[p]
R		[r]
T		[t]
U		[u]
V		[v/β]
'		[ʔ]

'Eta is a glottal stop used as a consonant, and is written by using an apostrophe. It is similar to the Hawaiian ʻokina.

Long Vowels

Vowels	IPA
	[a:]
	[e:]
	[i:]
	[o:]
	[u:]

There are both long and short vowels. The difference between the two is that long vowels are marked with a straight line on top of the letter; which is called a macron. The same word can have different meanings if one contains a long vowel and the other contains a short vowel.

Note:

• If a word contains a "B" it is pronounced as a "P" because the letter "B'" does not exist in their alphabet.
• A vowel concludes all syllables in Tahitian.
• All letters are voiced.
• No consonant clusters
• Has vowel clusters
• Vowels are pronounced as a separate syllable.^[11]

Syntax

Its syntax has a VSO (verb-subject-object) sentence structure.^[12]

Dialects

There are four dialects in the Austral language:^[13]

1. Ra'ivavae
2. Rimatara
3. Rurutu
4. Tubuai (Tupuai)

References

• Charpentier, Jean-Michel; François, Alexandre (2015). Atlas Linguistique de Polynésie Française — Linguistic Atlas of French Polynesia (in French and English). Mouton de Gruyter & Université de la Polynésie Française. ISBN 978-3-11-026035-9.

Notes