Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
South Marquesan language
| South Marquesan (‘E‘o ‘Enana) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Southern Marquesas Islands, Tahiti |
| Total speakers: | ~5,000 |
| Ranking: | not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian South Marquesan |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | unofficial local use in the southern Marquesas Islands |
| Regulated by: | - |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | - |
| ISO 639-2 | - |
| SIL | QMS |
South Marquesan is the Marquesic, East Central Polynsian language spoken in the southern Marquesas Islands, as well as on Ua Huka in the nortern Marquesas.
The three most noticible differences between it and North Marquesan are its preference for /n/, /f/ and // (glottal stop) in some cases where North Marquesan uses /k/, /h/ and /k/.
This difference can be seen in such pairs as
- North Marquesan <==> South Marquesan
- haka <==> fana (bay)
- ha`e <==> fa`e (house)
- koe <==> `oe (you (singular))
Even the name of the island Ua Huka is, in South Marquesan, "Ua Huna".
The dialects fall roughly into four groups:
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