| Also Known As: Easter Island,Pascuense,Rapa Nui
Description:
The Rapa Nui language (also Rapanui) is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Rapanui, the inhabitants of Easter Island.
The Rapanui language has ten consonants:
Five vowels:
Rapanui is sometimes transcribed with long vowels; however, it is not clear that these are distinct from double vowels. Similarly with diphthongs: All vowel sequences are found. There are no final consonants in Rapanui. Syllables are restricted to the form vowel and consonant-vowel.
The Rapa Nui language is isolated within Eastern Polynesian, whereas all other Eastern Polynesian languages (the Marquesic languages, Rapan, and the Tahitic languages) form a separate branch, Central Eastern Polynesian.
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 a VSO language. Specific Rapa Nui features also include the change of..... full article at Wikipedia |
