The Rapa Nui language (also Rapanui) is the Eastern Polynesian language of Easter Island, forming its own subgroup of that classification. Within this group, it shares the most in common with Marquesan morphologically, although its phonology is much closer to that of New Zealand Maori.

Rapanui has the distinction of being the only language in Oceania to have been committed to writing prior to the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 17th century, albeit some (including Jared Diamond) believe the idea of writing to have spread there earlier through European contact. The unique (to date undeciphered) pictographic script is called Rongorongo.

Together with Marquesic, Rapan and Tahitic, Rapa Nui, the language of Easter Island comprise the whole of the "eastern" Polynesian languages. A Tahitian man brought by Captain James Cook was said to be able to communicate with the locals.

Books

The most important recent book written about the language of Rapa Nui is Verónica du Feu's Rapanui (Descriptive Grammar) (ISBN: 0415000114).

External links

• An online Rapanui-English/English-Rapanui dictionary from Rongorongo.org
• Easter Island Foundation's Rapanui Glossary