Rakahanga-Manihiki language

^[4]Rakahanga-Manihiki is a Cook Islands Maori dialectal variant^[5] belonging to the Polynesian language family, spoken by about 2500 people on Rakahanga and Manihiki Islands (part of the Cook Islands) and another 2500 in other countries, mostly New Zealand and Australia^[6]. Wurm and Hattori consider Rakahanga-Manihiki as a distinct language with "limited intelligibility with Rarotongan"^[7] (i.e. the Cook Islands Maori dialectal variant of Rarotonga). According to the New Zealand Maori anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa who spent few days on Rakahanga in the years 1920, "the language is a pleasing dialect and has closer affinities with [New Zealand] Maori than with the dialects of Tongareva, Tahiti, and the Cook Islands"^[6]

History

Rakahanga-Manihiki are two different islands but the culture is one. They are two islands 25 miles apart from each other and is located in the south pacific. The island of Rakahanga was discovered in the year 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan, a Spanish voyager under the command of Pedro Fernandes ^[8]. The two islands were divided into different groups, which were ruled by other rulers. The Polynesians not only lived on the isalnds but also Rarotnoga. They migrated to other places like New Zealand and Australia leaving 400 people on the Rakahanga and Manihiki islands ^[8]. When migrating, they would travel by ship or boat to other islands finding a place to settle. The population moved from one island to another due to the depletions of the coconut and paraka supplies. The people would use the Magellan clouds, also known as Na Mahu as guides to get from one island to another ^[9]. They dedicate themselves to their religious beliefs but also carry on their traditions with culture and language. The cook islands have a industry called the Black pearl and is centered around the Manihiki island where it boots the nations rating in black pearls. As of 1998, the population in Rakahanga was 276 and the population in Manihiki was 505 ^[10].

The Language

The Manihiki-Rakahanga dialect is much closer to Maori than the dialects of Tahiti, Tongareva, and the Cook Islands. The alphabet adopted for Rarotonga was introduced by native pastors, who were educated by the London Missionary Society. When using H instead of S and WH instead of H. In Tahitian, in retaining K and NG and using WH and a more sounded H ^[11]. It is shared by the Maori dialect. The consonants that are not presented are H and WH, and the v should be W ^[11]. The H and Wh sounds have no letters to represent them. An official interpreter to the Cook Islands Administration, Stephen Savage holds that the w should have been Embraced for the Rarotongan dialect instead of v ^[11]. With teaching the alphabetical sounds, the tendency is for the children to adopt and study the v sounds. The Europeans have omitted the obvious H sound in Rakahanga by writing in print “Rakaanga.” The people of the Manihiki Island pronounce their island “Manihiki” but write it “Maniiki” because the people are taught when learning the alphabet to not include the H. The word hala was influenced by Tahiti, where the sound exists as an F and is pronounced as “fara”. It became evident that the sound was not the Tahitian F but was influenced with the Maori WH sound ^[11]. The H and Wh have been used in words in which they are sounded.

Language Family

This is a list of languages families related to Rakahanga-Manihiki ^[12]

• Austronesian
• Malayo-Polynesian
• Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian
• Eastern Malayo-Polynesian
• Oceanic
• Central-Eastern Oceanic
• Remote Oceanic
• Central Pacific
• East Fijian-Polynesian
• Polynesian
• Nuclear
• East
• Central
• Tahitic

Dialects

This language below is a dialect similar to the Rakahanga-Manihiki language ^[13]

• Rarotongan

Alphabet

A, E, F, H, I, K, M, N, Ng, O, P, R, T, U, V ^[14]

Vowels a, e, i, o, and u. Consonants k, m, n, ng, p, r, t, and v ^[4].

References

Indicative bibliography

• Manihikian Traditional Narratives: In English and Manihikian: Stories of the Cook Islands (Na fakahiti o Manihiki). Papatoetoe, New Zealand: Te Ropu Kahurangi.1988

^[1]

• "No te kapuaanga o te enua nei ko Manihiki (the origin of the island of Manihiki)", in JPS, 24 (1915), p. 140-144.

External links

Rakahanga-Manihiki language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• Te Reo Maori Act (2003)
• Ethnology of Manihiki and Rakahanga",Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 1932 (Chapter dealing with Rakahanga Manihiki "language" and its writing system at the beginning of the twentieth century.