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4. Questions - Got a question about Tahitian Language then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
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8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Tahitian Language site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Tahitian Language, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Tahitian Language, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
{{language|name=Tahitian|nativename=Reo Tahiti
Reo Mā'ohi|familycolor=Austronesian|states=
French Polynesia(MP)|fam3=[Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages|fam4=
Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages|fam5=Oceanic languages|fam6=Central-Eastern Oceanic languages|fam7=
Remote Oceanic languages|fam8=Central Pacific languages|fam9=East Fijian-Polynesian languages|fam10=
Polynesian languages|fam11=Nuclear Polynesian languages|fam12=Eastern Polynesian languages|fam13=Central Eastern Polynesian languages|fam14=
Tahitic languages|iso1=ty|iso2=tah|iso3=tah-->
Tahitian, a
Tahitic languages, is one of the two official languages of French Polynesia (along with French language). It is an Eastern Polynesian language closely related to Rarotongan language, Māori language, and
Hawaiian language.
Geographic spread
Tahitian is primarily spoken in the Îles de la Société (
Society Islands), which includes, notably, the island of Tahiti (which is where the capital of
French Polynesia,
Papeete, is situated). It is also spoken on the
Tuha’a pae (les Australes, the five
Austral Islands) and on the islands of l'Archipel des Tuamotu (the Tuamotu Archipelago), but shows more and more dialectic variations the farther one progresses away from Tahiti, to a point that one may as well speak of different languages. The languages of the Marquesan group (see
Marquesic languages) are completely distinct. In general, the peoples of French Polynesia who speak one language, speak French, if two, then Tahitian is added, if three, then their local language or dialect is added. Furthermore, there is a diverse diaspora of Tahitian speakers throughout Oceania, including pockets as far south as New Zealand.
With respect to cognate languages, some oft-quoted figures include 76% lexical similarity with Hawaiian and 85% with Rarotongan. Considering the distance between, for example, Hawaii and Tahiti, this degree of similarity is of particular note. Both the Hawaiians and the Tahitians have lived in their respective archipelagos for centuries; infrequent contact between the two cultures was made using double-hulled sailing canoes.
Captain Cook mentions the large canoes being used in the 1760's. To celebrate this feat of ocean navigation, the Hokule'a traveled from Honolulu to Papeete in 1976.
For example - Tahitian
ra’i (sky) is
lani in Hawaiian, and
rangi in both Rarotongan and Māori. Another example is
fare (house), represented by
hale in Hawaiian,
are in Rarotongan and whare in Māori (where 'wh' is approximately pronounced 'f').
Alphabet
Typologically, Tahitian word order is VSO (Verb-Subject-Object), which is typical of Polynesian languages. It also features a very small number of phonemes, as further evidence of its linguistic heritage: five vowels and eight consonants not counting the lengthened vowels, diphthongs and the glottal stop.
{]! align="center"|Englishapproximation|-| align="center"|
a| align="center"|’ā| align="center"| | align="center"|
a: b
utter,
ā: f
ather|-| align="center"|
e| align="center"|’ē| align="center"| | align="center"|
e: l
ate,
ē: same but longer|-| align="center"|
f| align="center"|fā| align="center"| | align="center"|
friend| align="center"|becomes bilabial after
o and
u|-| align="center"|
h| align="center"|hē| align="center"| | align="center"|
house| align="center"|becomes (as in English
shoe) after
i and before
o or
u|-| align="center"|
i| align="center"|’ī| align="center"| | align="center"|as in mach
ine| align="center"|may become diphthong
ai in some words like
rahi|-| align="center"|
m| align="center"|mō| align="center"| | align="center"|
mouse|-| align="center"|
n| align="center"|nū| align="center"| | align="center"|
nap|-| align="center"|
o| align="center"|’ō| align="center"| | align="center"|
o: n
ot,
ō: g
o| align="center"||-| align="center"|
p| align="center"|pī| align="center"| | align="center"|s
punge (not aspirated)|-| align="center"|
r| align="center"|rō| align="center"| | align="center"|-| align="center"|alveolar trill|-|}
The glottal stop or
’eta is a genuine consonant. (People unfamiliar with Tahitian might mistake it for a punctuation mark.) This is typical of [Polynesian languages (compare to the Hawaiian
okina and others). However, in Tahitian the glottal stops are seldom written in practice, and if they are, often as a straight apostrophe
' , instead of the curly apostrophe. The native speakers know where to pronounce them and are not taught to write them down. Alphabetical word ordering in dictionaries ignores the existence of glottals. Admittedly, the Tahitian glottal is normally weak, except in a few words like
i’a (fish), and easily missed by the untrained ear of the non-native speaker.
Tahitian makes a phonemic distinction between long and short vowels; long vowels are marked with a
tārava or macron. For example,
pāto, meaning "to pick, to pluck" and
pato, "to break out", are distinguished solely by their
vowel length. However, macrons are seldom written.
Finally there is a
toro ’a’ï, a Umlaut (diacritic) put on the
i, but only used in
ïa when used as a reflexive pronoun. It does not indicate a different pronunciation.
Although the use of
’eta and
tārava is equal to the usage of such symbols in other Polynesian languages, is promoted by
l'Académie Tahitienne, and is adopted by the territorial government, there are at least a dozen other ways of applying accents. Some methods are historical and no longer used, while others are heavily promoted by people who think they know better. This only adds to the confusion. See list. At this moment l'Académie Tahitienne seems to have not made a final decision yet whether the `eta should appear as a small normal curly comma (’) or a small inverted curly comma (‘). Compare
'okina.
Further, Tahitian syllables are entirely open, as is usual in Polynesian languages. In its Morphology (linguistics) Tahitian relies on the use of "helper words" (such as
prepositions, article (grammar)s, and
grammatical particles) to encode grammatical relationships, rather than on inflection, as would be typical of European languages. It is practically an isolating language, except when it comes to the
personal pronouns, which have separate forms for Grammatical number,
plural and dual grammatical numbers.
Taboo names (pi’i)
In many parts of Polynesia the name of an important leader was (and sometimes still is) considered sacred and was therefore accorded appropriate respect. In order to avoid offence, all words resembling such a name were suppressed and replaced by another term of related meaning until the personage died. If, however, the leader should happen to live to a very great age this temporary substitution could become permanent.In the rest of Polynesia
tū means to stand, but in Tahitian it is
ti’a, because of king Pomare I. likewise
fetū (star) has become in Tahiti
feti’a and aratū (pillar) became arati’a. Although
nui (big) still occurs in some compounds, like Tahiti-nui, the normal word is
rahi (which is common Polynesian for 'large'). And also
’ē’a fell in disuse, replaced by
purūmu or
porōmu. Nowadays
’ē’a means 'path',
purūmu is 'road'.Tū also had a nickname, Pō-mare (night coughing), under which his
List of Rulers of Tahiti has become best known. By consequence
pō (night) became
ru`i (nowadays only used in the Bible, pō having become the normal word again), but
mare (literally cough) has irreversibly been replaced by
hota.Other examples:
vai (water) became
pape as in the names of Papeari, Papeno’o, Pape’ete.
moe (sleep) became
ta’oto (the original meaning of which was 'to lie down'). Some of the old words are still used on the
Leeward Islands (Society Islands).
See also
External links
- Tahitian–English dictionary
- Académie Tahitienne — Fare Vāna’a
- Puna Reo — Cultural Association, English section too
- Lexique Français–Tahitien (with some english words)
- A short English–Tahitian–Japanese phrasebook incl. sound files
References
- Y. Lemaître; Lexique du tahitien contemporain; 1973 ISBN 2-7099-0228-1
- same; second, reviewed edition, 1995 ISBN 2-7099-1247-3
- T. Henry; Ancient Tahiti – Tahiti aux temps anciens
- D.T. Tryon; Conversational Tahitian; ANU 1970
{{language|name=Tahitian|nativename=Reo Tahiti
Reo Mā'ohi|familycolor=Austronesian|states=
French Polynesia(MP)|fam3=[Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages|fam4=
Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages|fam5=Oceanic languages|fam6=Central-Eastern Oceanic languages|fam7=Remote Oceanic languages|fam8=
Central Pacific languages|fam9=East Fijian-Polynesian languages|fam10=
Polynesian languages|fam11=Nuclear Polynesian languages|fam12=
Eastern Polynesian languages|fam13=Central Eastern Polynesian languages|fam14=
Tahitic languages|iso1=ty|iso2=tah|iso3=tah-->
Tahitian, a Tahitic languages, is one of the two official languages of French Polynesia (along with French language). It is an Eastern Polynesian language closely related to
Rarotongan language, Māori language, and
Hawaiian language.
Geographic spread
Tahitian is primarily spoken in the Îles de la Société (Society Islands), which includes, notably, the island of Tahiti (which is where the capital of French Polynesia,
Papeete, is situated). It is also spoken on the
Tuha’a pae (les Australes, the five
Austral Islands) and on the islands of l'Archipel des Tuamotu (the
Tuamotu Archipelago), but shows more and more dialectic variations the farther one progresses away from Tahiti, to a point that one may as well speak of different languages. The languages of the Marquesan group (see
Marquesic languages) are completely distinct. In general, the peoples of French Polynesia who speak one language, speak French, if two, then Tahitian is added, if three, then their local language or dialect is added. Furthermore, there is a diverse diaspora of Tahitian speakers throughout Oceania, including pockets as far south as New Zealand.
With respect to cognate languages, some oft-quoted figures include 76% lexical similarity with Hawaiian and 85% with Rarotongan. Considering the distance between, for example, Hawaii and Tahiti, this degree of similarity is of particular note. Both the Hawaiians and the Tahitians have lived in their respective archipelagos for centuries; infrequent contact between the two cultures was made using double-hulled sailing canoes. Captain Cook mentions the large canoes being used in the 1760's. To celebrate this feat of ocean navigation, the Hokule'a traveled from Honolulu to Papeete in 1976.
For example - Tahitian
ra’i (sky) is
lani in Hawaiian, and
rangi in both Rarotongan and Māori. Another example is
fare (house), represented by
hale in Hawaiian,
are in Rarotongan and whare in Māori (where 'wh' is approximately pronounced 'f').
Alphabet
Typologically, Tahitian word order is VSO (Verb-Subject-Object), which is typical of Polynesian languages. It also features a very small number of phonemes, as further evidence of its linguistic heritage: five vowels and eight consonants not counting the lengthened vowels,
diphthongs and the
glottal stop.
{]! align="center"|Englishapproximation|-| align="center"|
a| align="center"|’ā| align="center"| | align="center"|
a: b
utter,
ā: f
ather|-| align="center"|
e| align="center"|’ē| align="center"| | align="center"|
e: l
ate,
ē: same but longer|-| align="center"|
f| align="center"|fā| align="center"| | align="center"|
friend| align="center"|becomes bilabial after
o and
u|-| align="center"|
h| align="center"|hē| align="center"| | align="center"|
house| align="center"|becomes (as in English
shoe) after
i and before
o or
u|-| align="center"|
i| align="center"|’ī| align="center"| | align="center"|as in mach
ine| align="center"|may become diphthong
ai in some words like
rahi|-| align="center"|
m| align="center"|mō| align="center"| | align="center"|
mouse|-| align="center"|
n| align="center"|nū| align="center"| | align="center"|
nap|-| align="center"|
o| align="center"|’ō| align="center"| | align="center"|
o: n
ot,
ō: g
o| align="center"||-| align="center"|
p| align="center"|pī| align="center"| | align="center"|s
punge (not aspirated)|-| align="center"|
r| align="center"|rō| align="center"| | align="center"|-| align="center"|alveolar trill|-|}
The glottal stop or
’eta is a genuine consonant. (People unfamiliar with Tahitian might mistake it for a punctuation mark.) This is typical of [Polynesian languages (compare to the Hawaiian
okina and others). However, in Tahitian the glottal stops are seldom written in practice, and if they are, often as a straight
apostrophe ' , instead of the curly apostrophe. The native speakers know where to pronounce them and are not taught to write them down. Alphabetical word ordering in dictionaries ignores the existence of glottals. Admittedly, the Tahitian glottal is normally weak, except in a few words like
i’a (fish), and easily missed by the untrained ear of the non-native speaker.
Tahitian makes a phonemic distinction between long and short vowels; long vowels are marked with a
tārava or macron. For example,
pāto, meaning "to pick, to pluck" and
pato, "to break out", are distinguished solely by their vowel length. However, macrons are seldom written.
Finally there is a
toro ’a’ï, a
Umlaut (diacritic) put on the
i, but only used in
ïa when used as a reflexive pronoun. It does not indicate a different pronunciation.
Although the use of
’eta and
tārava is equal to the usage of such symbols in other Polynesian languages, is promoted by
l'Académie Tahitienne, and is adopted by the territorial government, there are at least a dozen other ways of applying accents. Some methods are historical and no longer used, while others are heavily promoted by people who think they know better. This only adds to the confusion. See list. At this moment l'Académie Tahitienne seems to have not made a final decision yet whether the `eta should appear as a small normal curly comma (’) or a small inverted curly comma (‘). Compare
'okina.
Further, Tahitian syllables are entirely open, as is usual in Polynesian languages. In its Morphology (linguistics) Tahitian relies on the use of "helper words" (such as prepositions, article (grammar)s, and
grammatical particles) to encode grammatical relationships, rather than on inflection, as would be typical of European languages. It is practically an isolating language, except when it comes to the personal pronouns, which have separate forms for Grammatical number, plural and
dual grammatical numbers.
Taboo names (pi’i)
In many parts of Polynesia the name of an important leader was (and sometimes still is) considered sacred and was therefore accorded appropriate respect. In order to avoid offence, all words resembling such a name were suppressed and replaced by another term of related meaning until the personage died. If, however, the leader should happen to live to a very great age this temporary substitution could become permanent.In the rest of Polynesia
tū means to stand, but in Tahitian it is
ti’a, because of king Pomare I. likewise
fetū (star) has become in Tahiti
feti’a and aratū (pillar) became arati’a. Although
nui (big) still occurs in some compounds, like Tahiti-nui, the normal word is
rahi (which is common Polynesian for 'large'). And also
’ē’a fell in disuse, replaced by
purūmu or
porōmu. Nowadays
’ē’a means 'path',
purūmu is 'road'.Tū also had a nickname, Pō-mare (night coughing), under which his List of Rulers of Tahiti has become best known. By consequence
pō (night) became
ru`i (nowadays only used in the
Bible, pō having become the normal word again), but
mare (literally cough) has irreversibly been replaced by
hota.Other examples:
vai (water) became
pape as in the names of Papeari, Papeno’o, Pape’ete.
moe (sleep) became
ta’oto (the original meaning of which was 'to lie down'). Some of the old words are still used on the Leeward Islands (Society Islands).
See also
External links
- Tahitian–English dictionary
- Académie Tahitienne — Fare Vāna’a
- Puna Reo — Cultural Association, English section too
- Lexique Français–Tahitien (with some english words)
- A short English–Tahitian–Japanese phrasebook incl. sound files
References
- Y. Lemaître; Lexique du tahitien contemporain; 1973 ISBN 2-7099-0228-1
- same; second, reviewed edition, 1995 ISBN 2-7099-1247-3
- T. Henry; Ancient Tahiti – Tahiti aux temps anciens
- D.T. Tryon; Conversational Tahitian; ANU 1970
Tahitian language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tahitian, a Tahitic language, is one of the two official languages of French Polynesia (along with French). It is an Eastern Polynesian language closely related to Rarotongan, New ...
Tahitian - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tahitian could refer to. the Tahitian language; a resident of Tahiti or, occasionally, from elsewhere in French Polynesia, or something from these islands
Tahitian language, alphabet and pronunciation
Tahitian (te reo tahiti/te reo Māʼohi) Tahitian is a Polynesian language spoken in French Polynesia by about 125,000 people. Most speakers of the language live in the Society ...
Tahiti Language - Tahitian language and phrases
List of simple phrases, vocabulary and rules for pronunciation.
Translations from Tahitian to English and all other language ...
Translators of all language combinations. Translations from Tahitian to English, Translations from English to Tahitian, Tahitian tranlations, Tahitian engineering translations ...
Tahitian Translation Service - English to Tahitian Translation
Tahitian Translation services company offering high quality professional Tahitian Translation at excellent prices. Tahitian Translation to or from English ... Tahitian translation ...
Tahitian
Although the official language of French Polynesia is French, the "unofficial" language, Tahitian, is spoken as much, if not more. There are about 125,000 people who speak ...
Language
Although the official language of French Polynesia is French, the "unofficial" language, Tahitian, is spoken as much, if not more. It is not uncommon to hear locals speaking a ...
Category:Tahitian language - Wiktionary
Subcategories. This category has the following 5 subcategories, out of 5 total. * [+]
Ethnologue report for language code:tah
Ethnologue and bibliography information on Tahitian. ... Reduced 25% now US$ 60. Hardcover library binding; 1,272 pages; Articles for 6,912 living languages; Index of 39,491 ...
