Penrhyn language

The Penrhyn language is a Cook Islands Maori dialectal variant^[2] belonging to the Polynesian language family. It is spoken by about 200 people on Penrhyn Island and other islands in the Northern Cook Islands.^[3] It is considered to be an endangered language as many of its users are shifting to Cook Islands Māori and English.

Penrhyn
Mangarongaro, Penrhynese, Tongareva
tongareva
Native to	Cook Islands
Region	Penrhyn Island, Northern Cook Islands
Native speakers	200 (2011 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Polynesian Eastern Polynesian Tahitic Penrhyn
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pnh
Glottolog	penr1237
ELP	Penrhyn
Penrhyn is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Phonology

Main article: Cook Islands Maori § Writing system and pronunciation

Alphabet

The alphabet used in the Penrhyn Dictionary has 21 letters: ⟨a, ā, e, ē, f, h, i, ī, k, m, n, ng, o, ō, p, r, s, t, u, ū, v⟩^[4]

Long vowels are written with a macron.

Consonants

Consonants in Penrhyn

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Stop	p	t	k
Fricative	(f)[a] v	s		h
Liquid		l ⟨r⟩

1. [f] is present in loanwords from languages like Rakahanga-Manihiki and Tahitian.

Tongareva is one of the few Cook Islands languages without a glottal stop [ʔ]. There is allophonic voicing of stops present.^[4]

Grammar

Main article: Cook Islands Maori § Grammar