Tahitian

Facts

  • Language: Tahitian
  • Alternate names:
  • Language code: tah
  • Language family: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central Pacific linkage, Tokelau-Fijian, Polynesian, Nuclear Polynesian, Northern Outlier Polynesian-East Polynesian, Solomons Northern Outlier Polynesian-East Polynesian, Central Northern Outlier Polynesian-East Polynesian, East Polynesian, Central Eastern Polynesian, Tahitian-Austral
  • Number of speakers: 124262
  • Script: Latin script

More information:

    Introduction

    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 Zealand Māori, and Hawaiian.

    Tahitian relies on the use of "helper words" (such as prepositions, articles, and 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 singular, plural and dual numbers.

    The verb

    Sample verb: amu

    amu, to eat

    Sg.1`ua 'amu au
    Sg.2`ua 'amu 'oe
    Sg.3`ua 'amu 'ōna
    Du.1, inclusive'ua amu tāua
    Du.1, exclusive'ua amu māua
    Du.2'ua amu 'ōrua
    Du.3'ua amu rāua
    Pl.1, inclusive'ua amu tātou
    Pl.1, exclusive'ua amu mātou
    Pl.2'ua amu 'outou
    Pl.3'ua amu rātou

    Verblist

    External Links