| Mangareva | |
|---|---|
| te reo magareva | |
| Native to | French Polynesia |
| Region | Gambier Islands,Mangareva Island |
| Ethnicity | 1,340 (2011 census?)[1] |
Native speakers | 600 (2011 census)[2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mrv |
| Glottolog | mang1401 |
| ELP | Mangareva |
 Mangareva is classified as Severely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Mangareva,Mangarevan (autonymte reo magareva,[tere.oma.ŋa.re.va]; in Frenchmangarévien) is aPolynesian language spoken by about 600 people in theGambier Islands ofFrench Polynesia (especially the largest islandMangareva) and by Mangarevians emigrants on the islands ofTahiti andMoorea, located 1,650 kilometres (1,030 mi) to the North-West of the Gambier Islands.[3]
At the 2017 census, only 24.8% of the population age 15 and older in the Gambier Islands still reported that Mangarevan was the language they spoke the most at home (down from 38.6% at the 2007 census), while 62.6% reportedFrench as the main language spoken at home (up from 52.3% at the 2007 census), 4.9% reportedTahitian (down from 6.4% in 2007), and 4.6% reported some Chinese dialects (predominantlyHakka) (up from 3.5% in 2007).[4]
The ten years between 2007 and 2017, based on official census numbers, have seen a global decline in the number of Mangarevan-speaking adults (i.e. people aged 15 and older who reported that Mangarevan was the language they spoke the most at home):[4]
Speakers have some bilingualism in Tahitian, in which there is a 60% lexical similarity,[5] and usually withFrench, as well. It is a member of theMarquesic subgroup, and as such is closely related toHawaiian andMarquesan.[3]
According to theEndangered Languages Project, Mangarevan is consideredendangered with less than 900 speakers out of an ethnic population of 1,491.[6] The larger portion of the population in the Gambier Islands speak French.[6]
Mangarevan primarily shares commonalities withCook Islands Māori,New Zealand Māori,Marquesan andTahitian.[5] The linguistic similarity with the New Zealand Māori can be traced back to the 1834 arrival of a New Zealand man who acted as a translator for French missionaries.[5] Cultural traits shared between the Mangarevan and Māori, like the story ofMāui, can all be traced back to the New Zealander's arrival as communication was clear due to linguistic similarities.[5]
The first explorers to document the people, traditions, and language of the Gambiers were the French who eventually annexed the islands in 1881. Similar to many Polynesian languages, Mangareva's written language differentiates from spoken language because it was transcribed by Europeans.[5] French missionaries reportedly found it difficult to pronounce or recognize theglottal stop of Mangarevan; they chose to represent it in writing using the letterh.[7] Colonial and missionary influences from the past and in the present day have been large contributors to the attrition of language.[5]
Mangarevan is also subject to a historical process oftahitianization, the pressure exerted by the dominantTahitian language.[8]
Mangarevan has nine phonemic consonants:
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ ⟨g⟩ | |
| Stop | p | t | k | ʔ ⟨ꞌ, h⟩ |
| Continuant | v | r |
And five vowels:
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Low | a | |
The Mangarevan language uses a Latin-script orthography:[5]
| A a | E e | G g | H h / ' | I i | K k | M m |
| [a] | [e] | [ŋ] | [ʔ] | [i] | [k] | [m] |
| N n | O o | P p | R r | T t | U u | V v |
| [n] | [o] | [p] | [r] | [t] | [u] | [v] |
The absence of */s/ is shared with most Polynesian languages; the absence of */f/ is a characteristic shared withRarotongan,[10]Ra'ivavae andRapa Iti.[11]
Mangareva's phonology has been identified as a Marquesic derivative from Proto-Eastern Polynesian (PEP) and Proto-Central Eastern (PCE).[7]
Doublets, words that have different phonological forms but the same etymological root,[12] are more common in Mangarevan language in comparison to any other Eastern Polynesian culture.
For example, a PEP doublet likefafine ('woman') becomesʻaʻine in Mangarevan. Furthermore, a modern Mangarevan (MGV) doublet isveʻine ('married woman' or 'wife').[7]
Since the vocabulary of the Mangarevan language was gathered half a century before English and French dialects and influences, the language is considered "pure" because of the lack of adopted foreign words. Many of the words found in Mangarevan are, however, influenced by other Polynesian languages since the time period of Mangareva's settlement paralleled the wayfaring period of other Polynesian cultures.[5] The transformation of the Gambier Islands to a Catholic religion was the only new implementation to the native vocabulary as a new religious vocabulary had to be constructed in order to encompass new concepts.[5]
In terms of consonants, Mangarevan shares linguistic similarities withCook Islands Māori,Paumotu,Tuamotoan,[13]Rarotongan, as well asNew Zealand Māori.[5]
Similarities between Mangarevan, Rarotongan and Tahitian include thenominalizing suffix-ranga in place of-anga, and the plural markermau.[10]
One difference between Mangarevan and Marquesan, is that the consonant *r became a glottal stop in Marquesan: for example, 'candlenut' israma in Mangarevan, butʻama[what language is this?] in Marquesan.[5] As far as this phoneme is concerned, Mangarevan is conservative (just like Tahitian or Pa'umotu), whereas Marquesan is innovative.[11]
The Gambier Islands were also probably located on the settlement routes towardsRapa Nui further East. Southern Austral migration from Rapa Nui to Mangareva in the 1300s characterized one of the final acts of Early Polynesian expansion.[13] Therefore, thelanguage of Rapa Nui shares a lot of vocabulary with Mangarevan.[14]
