Polynesian languages

The Polynesian languages are a group of languages spoken in Oceania. They all belong in the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages. They are mostly spoken in Polynesia, but some are spoken in nearby Melanesia and Micronesia.

Polynesian languages
Ethnicity:	Polynesian people
Geographic distribution:	Polynesia, with outliers in Melanesia and Micronesia
Linguistic classification:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Central Pacific East Fijian-Polynesian Polynesian languages
Subdivisions:	Tongic Nuclear Polynesian

There are around 30-40 Polynesian languages, with Samoan having the most speakers.^[1] Other well-known Polynesian languages include Māori, Tongan, Hawaiian and Tahitian.

History

The Polynesian languages formed when Austronesians in New Caledonia (the Lapita culture) started moving to other parts of Oceania.^[2] Navigation of Oceania continued until 1300AD, with the discovery of New Zealand (Aotearoa) by the Māori people.^[3]

Today, there are over 2 million Polynesians, although speakers of Polynesian languages number far less due to historical reasons such as disease and colonialism.^[4]

Immigrant populations

Language	Number of speakers in Australia[5]	Number of speakers in New Zealand
Cook Islands Māori	5,119	7,725
Māori	11,746	50,000 fluent 149,000 with some knowledge
Niuean	253	5,400
Samoan	44,875	86,403
Tokelauan	956	1,144 (mainland), 1,400 (Tokelau)
Tongan	17,694	31,839

Sound changes

Throughout the Polynesian languages, many sound changes occur. They mainly exist in consonants. For example, Samoan "f" corresponds to Hawaiian "h".

Hawaiian hale - Samoan fale (house)

Hawaiian aloha - Samoan talofa (hello)

Related pages

• Polynesian people
• Polynesia