Rapa Nui language

Rapa Nui
Vānaŋa Rapa Nui
Pronunciation	rap
Native to	Chile
Region	Easter Island
Ethnicity	Rapa Nui
Native speakers	1,000[1] (2016)[2]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Polynesian Eastern Polynesian Rapa Nui
Writing system	Latin script, possibly formerly rongorongo
Official status
Official language in	Easter Island (Chile )
Language codes
ISO 639-1	rap
ISO 639-3	rap
Glottolog	rapa1244[3]
Rapa Nui is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Rapa Nui or Rapanui (English: /ˌræpəˈnuːi/,^[4] Rapa Nui: rap, Spanish: [ˈrapa ˈnu.i]), also known as Pascuan (/ˈpæskjuən/) or Pascuense, is an Eastern Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family. It is spoken on Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui.

The island is home to a population of just under 6,000 and is a special territory of Chile . According to census data,^[5] there are 9,399 people (on both the island and the Chilean mainland) who identify as ethnically Rapa Nui. Census data does not exist on the primary known and spoken languages among these people. In 2008, the number of fluent speakers was reported as low as 800.^[6] Rapa Nui is a minority language and many of its adult speakers also speak Spanish. Most Rapa Nui children now grow up speaking Spanish and those who do learn Rapa Nui begin learning it later in life.^[7]

History

The Rapa Nui language is isolated within Eastern Polynesian, which also includes the Marquesic and Tahitic languages. Within Eastern Polynesian, it is closest to Marquesan morphologically, although its phonology has more in common with New Zealand Māori, as both languages are relatively conservative in retaining consonants lost in other Eastern Polynesian languages.

Like all Polynesian languages, Rapa Nui has relatively few consonants. Uniquely for an Eastern Polynesian language, Rapa Nui has preserved the original glottal stop of Proto-Polynesian. It is, or until recently was, a verb-initial language.

One of the most important recent books written about the language of Rapa Nui is Verónica du Feu's Rapanui (Descriptive Grammar) (ISBN:0-415-00011-4).

Very little is known about the Rapa Nui language prior to European contact. The majority of Rapa Nui vocabulary is inherited directly from Proto–Eastern Polynesian. Due to extensive borrowing from Tahitian there now often exist two forms for what was the same word in the early language. For example, Rapa Nui has Tahitian ʻite alongside original Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. for 'to see', both derived from Proto-Eastern Polynesian *kiteʻa. There are also hybridized forms of words such as Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. 'to teach', from native Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (causative prefix) and Tahitian ʻite.

According to archaeologist José Miguel Ramírez "more than a dozen Mapuche - Rapa Nui cognates have been described", chiefly by Sebastian Englert.^[8] Among these are the Mapuche/Rapa Nui words toki/toki (axe), kuri/uri (black) and piti/iti (little).^[8]

Language notes from 1770 and 1774

Spanish notes from a 1770 visit to the island record 94 words and terms. Many are clearly Polynesian, but several are not easily recognizable.^[9] For example, the numbers from one to ten seemingly have no relation to any known language. They are compared with contemporary Rapa Nui words, in parentheses:

1. cojána (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)
2. corena (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)
3. cogojú (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)
4. quirote (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)
5. majaná (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)
6. teúto (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)
7. tejéa (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)
8. moroqui (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)
9. vijoviri (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)
10. queromata-paúpaca quacaxixiva (Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.)

It may be that the list is a misunderstanding, and the words not related to numbers at all. The Spanish may have shown Arabic numerals to the islanders who did not understand their meaning, and likened them to some other abstraction. For example, the "moroqui" for number eight would have actually been Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data., a small fish that is used as a bait, since "8" can look like a simple drawing of a fish.^[10]

Captain James Cook visited the island four years later, and had a Tahitian interpreter with him, who, while recognizing some Polynesian words (up to 17 were written down), was not able to converse with the islanders in general. The British also attempted to record the numerals and were able to record the correct Polynesian words.^[9]

Post-Peruvian enslavement

In the 1860s the Peruvian slave raids began, as Peruvians were experiencing labor shortages and came to regard the Pacific as a vast source of free labor. Slavers raided islands as far away as Micronesia, but Rapa Nui was much closer and became a prime target.

In December 1862 eight Peruvian ships landed their crewmen and between bribery and outright violence they captured some 1,000 Rapanui, including the king, his son, and the ritual priests (one of the reasons for so many gaps in knowledge of the ancient ways). It has been estimated that 2,000 Rapanui were captured over a period of years. Those who survived to arrive in Peru were poorly treated, overworked, and exposed to diseases. Ninety percent of the Rapa Nui died within one or two years of capture.

Eventually the Bishop of Tahiti caused a public outcry and an embarrassed Peru rounded up the few survivors to return them. A shipload headed to Rapa Nui, but smallpox broke out en route and only 15 arrived at the island. They were put ashore. The resulting smallpox epidemic nearly wiped out the remaining population.

In the aftermath of the Peruvian slave deportations in the 1860s, Rapa Nui came under extensive outside influence from neighbouring Polynesian languages such as Tahitian. While the majority of the population that was taken to work as slaves in the Peruvian mines died of diseases and bad treatment in the 1860s, hundreds of other Islanders who left for Mangareva in the 1870s and 1880s to work as servants or labourers adopted the local form of Tahitian-Pidgin. Fischer argues that this pidgin became the basis for the modern Rapa Nui language when the surviving part of the Rapa Nui immigrants on Mangareva returned to their almost deserted home island.^{[citation needed]}

Language notes from 1886

William J. Thomson, paymaster on the USS Mohican, spent twelve days on Rapa Nui from 19 to 30 December 1886. Among the data Thomson collected was the Rapa Nui calendar.

Language notes from the twentieth century

Father Sebastian Englert,^[11] a German missionary living on Easter Island during 1935–1969, published a partial Rapa Nui–Spanish dictionary in his La Tierra de Hotu MatuTemplate:Saltilloa in 1948, trying to save what was left of the old language. Despite the many typographical mistakes, the dictionary is valuable, because it provides a wealth of examples which all appear drawn from a real corpus, part oral traditions and legends, part actual conversations.^[12]

Englert recorded vowel length, stress, and glottal stop, but was not always consistent, or perhaps the misprints make it seem so. He indicated vowel length with a circumflex, and stress with an acute accent, but only when it does not occur where expected. The glottal stop /ʔ/ is written as an apostrophe, but is often omitted. The velar nasal /ŋ/ is sometimes transcribed with a ⟨g⟩, but sometimes with a Greek eta, ⟨η⟩, as a graphic approximation of ⟨ŋ⟩.

Rongorongo

It is assumed that rongorongo, a possible undeciphered script once used on Rapa Nui, transcribes the old Rapa Nui language if it is indeed a true writing system.

Hispanisation

The island has been under the jurisdiction of Chile since 1888 and is now home to a number of Chilean continentals. The influence of the Spanish language is noticeable in modern Rapa Nui speech. As fewer children learn to speak Rapa Nui at an early age, their superior knowledge of Spanish affects the 'passive knowledge' they have of Rapa Nui. A version of Rapanui interspersed with Spanish nouns, verbs and adjectives has become a popular form of casual speech.^[13][14] The most well integrated borrowings are the Spanish conjunctions Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (or), Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (but) and y (and).^{[DF 1]} Spanish words such as problema (problem), which was once rendered as poroporema, are now often integrated with minimal or no change.^[15]

Spanish words are still often used within Rapanui grammatical rules, though some word order changes are occurring and it is argued that Rapanui may be undergoing a shift from VSO to the Spanish SVO. This example sentence was recorded first in 1948 and again in 2001 and its expression has changed from VSO to SVO.^[16]

'They both suffer and weep'

1948: he Template:Saltilloaroha, he tatagi ararua

2001: ararua he Template:Saltilloaroha he tatagi

Rapa Nui's indigenous Rapanui toponymy has survived with few Spanish additions or replacements, a fact that has been attributed in part to the survival of the Rapa Nui language.^[17] This contrasts with the toponymy of continental Chile, which has lost many of its indigenous names.^{[citation needed]}

Phonology

Rapa Nui has ten consonants and five vowels.

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m Template:Angle	n Template:Angle	ŋ Template:Angle
Stop	p Template:Angle	t Template:Angle	k Template:Angle	ʔ Template:Angle
Fricative	v Template:Angle			h Template:Angle
Flap		ɾ Template:Angle

As present generation Rapa Nui speak Spanish as their first language in younger years and learn Rapa Nui later in life, flap /ɾ/ in word-initial position can be pronounced alveolar trill [r].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

All vowels can be either long or short and are always long when they are stressed in the final position of a word.^{[DF 2]} Most vowel sequences are present, with the exception of *uo. The only sequence of three identical vowels is Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data., also spelled Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. ('yes').^{[DF 3]}

Syllable structure

Syllables in Rapa Nui are CV (consonant-vowel) or V (vowel). There are no consonant clusters or word-final consonants.^{[DF 3]}

Orthography

Written Rapanui uses the Latin script. The Latin alphabet for Rapanui consists of 20 letters:

A, Ā, E, Ē, H, I, Ī, K, M, N, Ŋ, O, Ō, P, R, T, U, Ū, V, Template:Saltillo

The nasal velar consonant /ŋ/ is generally written with the Latin letter ⟨g⟩, but occasionally as ⟨ng⟩. In electronic texts, the glottal plosive /ʔ/ may be written with a (always lower-case) saltillo ⟨Template:Saltillo⟩ to avoid the problems of using the punctuation mark ⟨'⟩.^{[PK 1]} A special letter, ⟨ġ⟩, is sometimes used to distinguish the Spanish /ɡ/, occurring in introduced terms, from the Rapa Nui /ŋ/.^{[DF 4]} Similarly, /ŋ/ has been written ⟨g̈⟩ to distinguish it from Spanish g. The IPA letter ⟨ŋ⟩ is now also coming into use.^{[PK 1]}

Morphology

Reduplication

The reduplication of whole nouns or syllable parts performs a variety of different functions within Rapa Nui.^{[DF 5]} To describe colours for which there is not a predefined word, the noun for an object of a like colour is duplicated to form an adjective. For example:

• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (mist) → Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (dark grey)
• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (dawn) → Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (white)

Besides forming adjectives from nouns, the reduplication of whole words can indicate a multiple or intensified action. For example:

• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (weave) → Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (fold)
• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (undo) → Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (take to pieces)
• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (dive) → Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (go diving)

There are some apparent duplicate forms for which the original form has been lost. For example:

• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (tired)

The reduplication of the initial syllable in verbs can indicate plurality of subject or object. In this example the bolded section represents the reduplication of a syllable which indicates the plurality of the subject of a transitive verb:

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (dance):

E Template:Saltilloori ro Template:Saltilloa (he/she/they is/are dancing)

E Template:SaltillooTemplate:Saltilloori ro Template:Saltilloa (they are all dancing)

The reduplication of the final two syllables of a verb indicates plurality or intensity. In this example the bolded section represents the reduplication of two final syllables, indicating intensity or emphasis:

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (tell):

Ka haTemplate:Saltilloaki (Tell the story)

Ka haTemplate:SaltilloakiTemplate:Saltilloaki (Tell the whole story)

Borrowed words

Rapa Nui incorporates a number of borrowed words in which constructions such as consonant clusters or word-final consonants occur, though they do not occur naturally in the language. Historically, the practice was to transliterate unfamiliar consonants, insert vowels between clustered consonants and append word-final vowels where necessary.

e.g.: Britain (English loanword) → Peretane (Rapa Nui rendering)

More recently, loanwords – which come primarily from Spanish – retain their consonant clusters. For example, "litro" (litre).^{[DF 6]}

Word Classes

Rapa Nui can be said to have a basic two-way distinction in its words, much like other Polynesian languages. That is between full words, and particles.^{[PK 1]} Full words occur in the head of the phrase and are mostly open classes (exceptions like locationals exist). Particles occur in fixed positions before or after the head, and have a high frequency. There also exists an intermediate category, Pro-Forms, which occur in the head of a phrase, and can be preceded or followed by a particle. Unlike full words, they do not have lexical meaning, and like particles, form a closed class. Pro-forms include personal, possessive and benefactive pronouns, as well as interrogative words. Additionally, two other intermediate categories are the negator (Template:Saltilloina) and the numerals. While both of them form a closed class, they are able to function as phrase nuclei.^{[PK 1]}

Demonstratives

Rapa Nui does not have one class of demonstratives, instead it has four classes of particles with demonstrative functions. Each class is made up of three particles of different degrees of distance; proximal, medial, or distal. This is a three-way distinction, similar to Samoan and Māori, two closely related languages from the same language family. Tongan, by contrast, has a two-way contrast.^[18]

Rapa Nui speakers hence distinguish between entities that are close to the speaker (proximal), something at a medium distance or close to the hearer (medial), and something far away, removed from both the speaker and hearer (distal). This is called a person-oriented system, in which one of the demonstratives denotes a referent in proximity of the hearer.^[19] For Rapa Nui speakers, that is the medial distinction, Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data./Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data./Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.. This system of spatial contrasts and directions is known as spatial deixis, and Rapa Nui is full of ways to express this, be it through locationals, postverbal or postnominal demonstratives, or directionals.

These four classes that function as demonstratives are similar in form, but differ in syntactic status and have certain differences in functions.

Classes of Demonstratives^{[PK 2]}

Distance\Demonstrative	Demonstrative Determiners	Postnuclear Demonstratives	Deictic Locationals	Demonstrative Pronouns
Proximal	nei, nī	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	nei	nei
Medial	nā	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	nā	nā
Distal	rā	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	rā	rā
Neutral	tau/tou/tū, hū		ira

Postnominal Demonstratives

The postnominal demonstratives are used to indicate different degrees of distance. They always occur on the right periphery of the noun phrase.^{[PK 3]}

Postnominal demonstratives are obligatory when following a t-demonstrative (tau/tou/tū) unless the noun phrase contains the identity marker Template:Saltilloā/ Template:Saltilloana. They can also co-occur with other determiners, like articles in this example:

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Postnominal demonstratives can be used deictically or anaphorically. As deictic markers they are used to point at something visible, while as anaphoric markers they refer to entities in discourse context (entities which have been discussed before or are known by other means). In practice, the anaphoric use is much more common.^{[PK 3]}

Distal/Neutral era

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. is used deictically to point to something at a distance from both speaker and hearer.

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

However, it's more common to see Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. used anaphorically, as a general purpose demonstrative. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. is often found co-occurring with the neutral t-demonstrative determiner, as the general form tau/tou/tū (N) era, and this combination doubles as a common strategy to refer to a participant mentioned earlier in the discourse. So common, that era is the seventh most common word overall in the text corpus.^{[PK 4]}

For example, the two main characters in this story are simply referred to as tau taŋata era 'that man' and tau vi Template:Saltilloe era 'that woman'.

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

era is also used in combination anaphorically with te, a more conventional determiner instead of a demonstrative determiner. Rapa Nui uses this combination to refer to something which is known to both speaker and hearer, regardless of whether it has been mentioned in the discourse. This means the "te N era" construction (Where N is a noun), indicates definiteness, making it the closest equivalent to English (or Spanish) definite article, rather than a demonstrative.^{[PK 5]}

Te N era can also be used to refer to entities which are generally known, or presumed to be present in context. In the example, the cliffs refer to the cliffs in general, which can be presumed to be known by all Rapa Nui speakers on Rapa Nui with the coastline being a familiar feature. No specific cliff is meant.

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Deictic Locationals

Deictic locationals utilize the same form as demonstrative determiners (nei, nā and rā). They can be the head of a phrase as they are locationals, and like other locationals they can be preceded by a preposition, but not by a determiner.^{[PK 6]} They indicate distance with respect to the origo, which is either the speaker or the discourse situation.^{[PK 7]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Pronouns

Pronouns are usually marked for number: in Rapa Nui there are markers for first, second and third personal singular and plural; however, there is only a marker for dual in the first person. The first person dual and plural can mark for exclusive and inclusive. The pronouns are always ahead of the person singular (PRS) a and relational particle (RLT) i or dative (DAT) ki. However, in some examples, they do not have PRS, RLT and DAT.^{[DF 7]}

There is only one paradigm of pronouns for Rapa Nui. They function the same in both subject and object cases.

Here is the table for the pronoun forms in Rapa Nui:^{[DF 8][PK 8]}

		singular	dual	plural
1st-person	exclusive	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.
	inclusive		Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.
2nd-person		Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.
3rd-person		Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Questions

Yes/no questions are distinguished from statements chiefly by a particular pattern of intonation. Where there is no expectation of a particular answer, the form remains the same as a statement. A question expecting an agreement is preceded by Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data..^{[DF 9]}

Conjunction

Original Rapa Nui has no conjunctive particles. Copulative, adversative and disjunctive notions are typically communicated by context or clause order. Modern Rapa Nui has almost completely adopted Spanish conjunctions rather than rely on this.^{[DF 10]}

Possession

Alienable and inalienable possession

In the Rapa Nui, there are alienable and inalienable possession. Lichtenberk^{[definition needed]} described alienable possession as the possessed noun being contingently associated with the possessor, and on the other hand inalienable possession as the possessed noun being necessarily associated with the possessor. The distinction is marked by a possessive suffix^{[clarification needed][why does it come in front if it's a suffix?]} inserted before the relevant pronoun. Possessive particles:

• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (alienable) expresses dominant possession

Alienable possession is used to refer to a person's spouse, children, food, books, work, all animals (except horses), all tools and gadgets (including refrigerators), and some illnesses.^{[DF 11]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (children) is an alienable possession therefore Template:Saltilloa is used to indicate that in this sentence, therefore the possessive pronoun Template:SaltilloaTemplate:Saltillo^{[clarification needed][the original was not possible Rapa Nui, but this doesn't match the example]} is used instead of Template:SaltillooTemplate:Saltillooku.

• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. (inalienable) expresses the subordinate possession

It is used with parents, siblings, house, furniture, transports (including carts, cars, scooters, boats, airplanes), clothes, feeling, native land, parts of the body (including mind), horses, and their bridles.

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Inalienable possession o is used in this example, therefore Template:SaltillooTemplate:Saltillooku instead of Template:SaltilloaTemplate:Saltilloaku is used. It is talking about the speaker's brother, which is an inalienable relation.

There are no markers to distinguish between temporary or permanent possession; the nature of objects possessed; or between past, present or future possession.

A and O possession

A and O possession refer to alienable and inalienable possession in Rapa Nui. Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. marks for alienable possession and Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. marks for inalienable possession. a and o are marked as suffixes of the possessive pronouns; however, they are only marked when the possessive pronoun is in the first, second or third person singular. In (2) above, taina 'sibling' is inalienable and the possessor is first person singular Template:SaltillooTemplate:Saltillooku 'my'. However, for all the other situations, a and o are not marked as a suffix of the possessor.

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

In the above example, the possessor meTemplate:Saltilloe 'those' is not a possessive pronoun of the first, second or third person singular. Therefore, o is marked not as a suffix of the possessor but a separate word in the sentence.

Classifiers

There are no classifiers in the Rapa Nui language.

Exclamation

Ko and ka are exclamatory indicators.^{[DF 12]}

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. suggests a personal reaction:

Ko te aroha (Poor thing!)

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. suggests judgement on external events:

Ka haTemplate:SaltilloakiTemplate:Saltilloaki (Tell the whole story!)

Compound words

Terms which did not exist in original Rapa Nui were created via compounding:^{[DF 13]}

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. = ('spear fish') = harpoon

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. = ('spear food') = fork

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. = ('skin foot') = shoe

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. = ('bird spear') = wasp

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. = ('stool horse') = saddle

Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. = ('stool stay') = chair

Negation

In Rapa Nui, negation is indicated by free standing morphemes.^{[PK 9]} Rapa Nui has four main negators:

Template:Saltilloina (neutral)

kai (perfective)

(e)ko (imperfective)

taTemplate:Saltilloe (constituent negator)

Additionally there are also two additional particles/ morphemes which also contribute to negation in Rapa Nui:

kore (Existential/noun negator)

hia / ia (verb phrase particle which occurs in combination with different negators to form the meaning 'not yet')

Negation occurs as preverbal particles in the verb phrase,^{[PK 10]} with the clausal negator kai and (e)ko occurring in first position in the verbal phrase, while the constituent negator (taTemplate:Saltilloe) occurs in second position in the verbal phrase. Clausal negators occur in the same position as aspect markers and subordinators—this means it is impossible for these elements to co-occur.^{[PK 11]} As a result, negative clauses tend to have fewer aspectual distinctions.^{[PK 12]} Hia occurs in eighth position as a post-verbal marker. Verbal negators precede adjectives.^{[PK 13]} The table below roughly depicts the positions of negators in the Verb Phrase:

Position in the verb phrase

1	2	VERB	8
NEG (kai / eko)	determiner		hia
Aspect marker	CONNEG (taTemplate:Saltilloe)
subordinator	numeral

Clausal negators

Template:SaltilloIna

Template:SaltilloIna is the neutral negator (regarding aspect).^{[PK 14]} It has the widest range of use in a variety of contexts.^{[PK 15]} It usually occurs in imperfective contexts, as well as habitual clauses and narrative contexts, and is used to negate actions and states.^{[PK 14]} It almost always occurs clause initially and is always followed by the neutral aspectual he + noun or he + verb.^{[PK 16]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

In the example above Template:Saltilloina is followed by the combination of he+ maTemplate:Saltilloeha (noun)

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

In this example, Template:Saltilloina is followed by he + takeTemplate:Saltilloa (verb)

In addition to negating verbal and nominal clauses, it also functions as the term ꞌnoꞌas shown below:^{[PK 17]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Unlike the other two clausal negators (which are preverbal particles), Template:Saltilloina is a phrase head,^{[PK 12]} thus it can form a constituent of its own.^{[PK 18]}

Kai

Kai negates clauses with perfective aspects.^{[PK 19]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

It is used to negate past events and narrative events, and is usually combined with Template:Saltilloina.^{[PK 19]} It is also used to negate stative verbs, and a verb phrase marked with kai may contain various post-verbal particles such as the continuity marker Template:Saltilloā / Template:Saltilloana. This marker occurs when the clause has perfect aspect (often obligatory with the perfect marker ko). When combined with kai, it indicates that the negative state continues.^{[PK 19]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

(E)ko

(E)ko is the imperfective negator, which (like kai) replaces the aspectual marker in front of the verb, and which can occur with the negator Template:Saltilloina.^{[PK 19]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

It marks negative commands in imperatives (usually with Template:Saltilloina) with the e often excluded in imperatives.^{[PK 20]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

In other contexts, especially when Template:Saltilloina is absent, the e is obligatory.^{[PK 20]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Constituent negator

TaTemplate:Saltilloe

TaTemplate:Saltilloe is a constituent negator used to negate anything other than a main clause.^{[PK 17]} This can be subordinate clauses, prepositional phrases, possessive predicates and other non-verbal clauses.^{[PK 21]} It also negates nominalised verbs and sub-constituents such as adjectives and quantifiers.^{[PK 22]} It does not negate nouns (this is done by the noun negator kore). It is also used to negate locative phrases, actor emphasis constructions, and is also used to reinforce the preposition mai.^{[PK 23]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

TaTemplate:Saltilloe is an indicator for subordinate clauses, as it can also negate subordinate clauses without subordinate markers (in which case it usually occurs with an aspect marker).^{[PK 22]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

It also occurs in main clauses with main clause negators and aspect markers i and e, when the clause has a feature of a subordinate clause such as oblique constituents^{[PK 24]}

Noun negator: kore

kore is a verb meaning 'the absence or lack of something'.^{[PK 25]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

It immediately follows the noun in the adjective position, and is used to indicate that the entity expressed by the noun or noun modifier does not exist or is lacking in the given context.^{[PK 25]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Hia / ia

Hia / ia is a morpheme used immediately after negated verbs and co-occurs with a negator to indicate actions or events which are interrupted or are yet to happen.^{[PK 26]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Double negation

In Rapa Nui, double negation is more frequent than single negation (with the negator Template:Saltilloina often co-occurring with another clause negator most of the time).^{[PK 27]} It is often used as a slight reinforcement or emphasis.^{[PK 28]}

Template:SaltilloIna can be combined with negators kai and (e)ko- both of these are main clause negators.

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

In the example above we see the negator Template:Saltilloina co-occurring with the perfective negator kai.

When taTemplate:Saltilloe occurs in double negation, if the other negator is kai or (e)ko, the negative polarity is cancelled out.^{[PK 24]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Template:SaltilloIna only negates main clauses so it never combines with the negator taTemplate:Saltilloe, which is a subordinate clause negator. When occurring with Template:Saltilloina, negation may be reinforced.^{[PK 24]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Double negation occurs very frequently in imperatives in particular.^{[PK 28]}

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Numerals

There is a system for the numerals 1–10 in both Rapa Nui and Tahitian, both of which are used, though all numbers higher than ten are expressed in Tahitian. When counting, all numerals whether Tahitian or Rapanui are preceded by ka. This is not used however, when using a number in a sentence.^{[DF 14]}

Rapa Nui Numerals 1–10:

	Cardinal	Counting
1	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	tahi tahi
2	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	ka rua
3	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	ka toru
4	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	ka hā
5	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	ka rima
6	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	ka ono
7	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	ka hitu
8	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	ka vaTemplate:Saltillou
9	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	ka iva
10	Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.	ka Template:Saltilloaŋahuru

Syntax

Word order

Rapa Nui is a VSO (verb–subject–object) language.^{[DF 15]} Except where verbs of sensing are used, the object of a verb is marked by the relational particle Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data..

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Where a verb of sensing is used, the subject is marked by the agentive particle Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data..

Script error: No such module "Interlinear".

Directionals

Spatial deictics is also present in Rapa Nui, in the form of two directionals: mai and atu. They indicate direction with respect to a specific deictic centre or locus.

• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data. indicates movement towards the deictic centre, hence the gloss hither.
• atu indicates movement away from the deictic centre, and is as such glossed as away.^{[PK 29]} They are both reflexes of a larger system in Proto-Polynesian.^[20]

Postverbal Demonstratives

The postverbal demonstratives (PVDs) have the same form as the postnominal demonstratives, and they have the same meaning:

• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.: proximity, close to the speaker
• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.: medial distance, close to the hearer
• Lua error in Module:Language at line 197: Name for the language code "rap" could not be retrieved with mw.language.fetchLanguageName, so it should be added to Module:Language/data.: default PVD; farther distance, removed from both speaker and hearer.

How they differ from postnominal demonstratives is their function/where they can appear, as it is quite limited. They can only appear in certain syntactic contexts, listed here:

• PVDs are common after imperfective e to express a progressive or habitual action.
• The contiguous marker ka is often followed by a PVD, both in main and subordinate clauses.
• With the perfect ko V Template:Saltilloā, era is occasionally used to express an action which is well and truly finished.
• PVDs also appear in relative clauses

Overall, their main function is to provide nuance to the aspectual marker they are being used alongside.^{[PK 30]}

References

From Du Feu, Veronica (1996). Rapanui.

From Kieviet, Paulus (2017). A Grammar of Rapa Nui.

Other footnotes

<section begin="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/>

<section end="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/>

Bibliography

• Du Feu, Veronica (1996). Rapanui. London: Routledge. 
• Fischer, S.R. (2008). "Reversing Hispanisation on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)". in T. Stolz. Hispanisation: The Impact of Spanish on the Lexicon and Grammar of the Indigenous Languages of Austronesia and the Americas. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 149–165. 
• Latorre, Guillermo (2001). "Chilean toponymy: "the far-away possession"" (in es). Estudios Filológicos (Austral University of Chile) 36: 129–142. http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0071-17132001003600009. Retrieved 10 January 2014. 
• Kieviet, Paulus (2017). A Grammar of Rapa Nui. Studies in Diversity Linguistics 12. Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.17169/langsci.b124.303. ISBN 978-3-946234-75-3. http://langsci-press.org/catalog/view/124/303/581-1.  Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
• Makihara, Miki (2005a). "Rapa Nui ways of speaking Spanish: Language shift and socialization on Easter Island". Language in Society 34 (5): 727–762. doi:10.1017/S004740450505027X. 
• Makihara, Miki (2005b). "Being Rapa Nui, speaking Spanish: Children's voices on Easter Island". Anthropological Theory 5 (2): 117–134. doi:10.1177/1463499605053995. 
• Pagel, S., 2008. The old, the new, the in-between: Comparative aspects of Hispanisation on the Marianas and Easter Island (Rapa Nui). In T. Stolz, D. Bakker, R.S. Palomo (eds) Hispanisation: The Impact of Spanish on the Lexicon and Grammar of the Indigenous Languages of Austronesia and the Americas. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 167–201.

External links

Rapa Nui language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• Englert's Rapa Nui dictionary: Internet Archive version from 2007-10-16
• Mirror of Englert's Rapa Nui dictionary
• Rapa Nui Swadesh vocabulary list (Wiktionary)
• Rapa Nui words from the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
• Miki Makihara (Queens College), has several papers on contemporary Rapa Nui language and language revival efforts

0.00 (0 votes) Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapa Nui language. Read more