Penrhyn language
Northern Cook Islands Māori dialect
| Penrhyn | |
|---|---|
| Mangarongaro, Penrhynese, Tongareva | |
| tongareva | |
| Native to | Cook Islands |
| Region | Penrhyn Island, Northern Cook Islands |
Native speakers | 200 (2011 census)[1] |
Language family | Austronesian
|
| 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 | |
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.
Phonology
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
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | |
| Stop | p | t | k | |
| Fricative | (f)[a] v | s | h | |
| Liquid | l ⟨r⟩ |
- ^ [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
References
- ^ Penrhyn at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Te Reo Maori Act 2003 – via www.paclii.org
- ^ "Penrhyn". Ethnologue. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
- ^ a b "About - Penrhyn Dictionary". Dictionary of Cook Islands Languages.
Further reading
- Shibata, Norio, ed. (2003). Penrhyn-English Dictionary. ELPR Publications Series. Vol. A1-005. Kyoto: Nakanishi. OCLC 249683569.
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Languages of the Realm of New Zealand
| New Zealand | |
|---|---|
| Cook Islands | |
| Niue | |
| Tokelau |
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