39-525: Chatham Island ( / ˈ tʃ æ t ə m / CHAT -əm ) ( Moriori : Rēkohu , lit. 'Misty Sun'; Māori : Wharekauri ) is the largest island of the Chatham Islands group, in the south Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of New Zealand 's South Island . It is said to be "halfway between the equator and the pole, and right on the International Date Line ", although that point
78-529: A 'v'. Words in Moriori often have different vowels from their Māori counterparts. The preposition a in Moriori corresponds to e in Māori, the preposition ka to ki , eriki to ariki (lord, chief), reimata to roimata (tear), wihine to wahine (woman), and so forth.</ref> Sometimes a vowel is dropped before a consonant such as na ( ena ), ha ( aha ) and after
117-510: A guttural diction and consistent suppression of terminal vowels, meaning that unlike in Māori words may end in consonants. The Chatham Islands' first European contact was on 29 November 1791 with the visit of HMS Chatham , captained by William Broughton. The crew landed in Waitangi harbour and claimed the island for Britain. The genocide of the Moriori people by mainland Māori iwi (tribes) Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama occurred during
156-451: A unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonemic glottal stop . It is also used in many other Polynesian languages, each of which has its own name for the character. Apart from the ʻokina or the somewhat similar Tahitian ʻeta, a common method is to change the simple apostrophe for a curly one, taking a normal apostrophe for the elision and the inverted comma for
195-459: A consonant like rangat ( rangata ), nawen ( nawene ), hok ( hoki ), or ( oro ), and mot ( motu ), thus leaving a closed syllable. In this regard, it is similar to the Southern dialects of Māori , in which apocope is occasionally found. A vowel is also sometimes dropped after a vowel in the case the preceding vowel is lengthened and sometimes before a vowel, where
234-404: A cultural revival movement, Moriori people began attempts to revive the language and compiled a database of Moriori words. There is a POLLEX (Polynesian Lexicon Project Online) database of Moriori words as well. A language app is available for Android devices. The 2006 New Zealand census showed 945 people choosing to include "Moriori" amongst their tribal affiliations, compared to 35 people in
273-526: A difference in meaning. One example is the Samoan word susu , which takes the o-possessive in lona susu (her breast) and the a-possessive in lana susu (her breastmilk). Compare also the particles used in the names of two of the books of the Māori Bible: Te Pukapuka a Heremaia (The Book of Jeremiah) with Te Pukapuka o Hōhua (The Book of Joshua); the former belongs to Jeremiah in
312-416: A long vowel, while a vowel without that diacritical mark is short, for example, ā versus a . Sometimes, a long vowel is instead written double, e.g. Maaori . The glottal stop (not present in all Polynesian languages, but, where present, one of the most common consonants ) is indicated by an apostrophe , for example, 'a versus a . Hawaiʻian uses the ʻokina , also called by several other names ,
351-462: A population of under 200 in 2017. Chatham Island (or "Isle") is featured in the first and in the final chapter of Cloud Atlas , the 2004 novel by David Mitchell . The novel was adapted for screen in 2012. Moriori language Moriori , or ta rē Moriori ('the Moriori language'), is a Polynesian language most closely related to New Zealand Māori . It is spoken by the Moriori ,
390-483: A significant degree of understanding of each other's speech. When a particular language shows unexpectedly large divergence in vocabulary, this may be the result of a name-avoidance taboo situation – see examples in Tahitian , where this has happened often. Many Polynesian languages have been greatly affected by European colonization. Both Māori and Hawaiian, for example, have lost many speakers to English , and only since
429-449: Is 173 miles WSW of the island's westernmost point. The island is called Rekohu ("misty skies") in Moriori , and Wharekauri in Māori . The island was named after the survey ship HMS Chatham which was the first European ship to locate the island in 1791. It covers an area of 920 km (355 sq mi). Chatham Island lies 650 km (404 mi) south-east of Cape Turnagain ,
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#1732848571850468-417: Is over 150 m above sea level. The south coast of the island is mostly cliffs 100 m high or more. The highest point of the island (299 m) lies close to its southernmost point. Chatham Island has an oceanic climate ( Koppen : Cfb ) characterised by a narrow temperature range and relatively frequent rainfall. Their isolated position far from any sizeable landmass renders the record high temperature for
507-561: The Tonga and Samoa areas about 3,000 years ago. Linguists and archaeologists estimate that this first population went through common development during about 1000 years, giving rise to Proto-Polynesian , the linguistic ancestor of all modern Polynesian languages. After that period of shared development, the Proto-Polynesian society split into several descendant populations, as Polynesian navigators scattered around various archipelagoes across
546-486: The Trewartha climate classification , Chatham Island has a humid subtropical climate (Cf) for the lack of cold weather during the winter and a daily mean temperature above 10 °C (50 °F) for eight months or more. Chatham Island hosts the only known breeding population of the endemic and critically endangered magenta petrel or tāiko ( Pterodroma magentae ). The seabird was thought to be extinct until 1978, and had
585-447: The 1870s few spoke the language. The three principal documents on which knowledge of the Moriori language is now based are a manuscript petition written in 1862 by a group of surviving Moriori elders to Governor George Grey ; a vocabulary of Moriori words collected by Samuel Deighton, Resident Magistrate from 1873 to 1891, published in 1887; and a collection of Moriori texts made by Alexander Shand and published in 1911. The death of
624-401: The 1901 census. In the 2013 New Zealand census the number of people who identified as having Moriori ancestry declined to 738, however members of the imi (Moriori equivalent for iwi ) estimate the population to be as many as 3,500. In 2021 an app called Ta Rē Moriori was launched to teach the Moriori language to as many new people as possible. In 2023, there was a petition for
663-682: The 1990s have they resurged in popularity. In general, Polynesian languages have three numbers for pronouns and possessives: singular, dual and plural. For example, in Māori: ia (he/she), rāua (they two), rātou (they 3 or more). The words rua (2) and toru (3) are still discernible in endings of the dual and plural pronouns, giving the impression that the plural was originally a trial (threesome) or paucal (a few), and that an original plural has disappeared. Polynesian languages have four distinctions in pronouns and possessives: first exclusive, first inclusive, second and third. For example, in Māori,
702-832: The 522 Oceanic languages, and 3 percent of the Austronesian family. While half of them are spoken in geographical Polynesia (the Polynesian triangle ), the other half – known as Polynesian outliers – are spoken in other parts of the Pacific: from Micronesia to atolls scattered in Papua New Guinea , the Solomon Islands or Vanuatu . The most prominent Polynesian languages, by number of speakers, are Samoan , Tongan , Tahitian , Māori and Hawaiian . The ancestors of modern Polynesians were Lapita navigators , who settled in
741-468: The East Polynesian languages were more closely related to Samoan than they were to Tongan, calling Tongan and its nearby relative Niuean "Tongic" and Samoan and all other Polynesian languages of the study "Nuclear Polynesian". Previously, there had been lexicostatistical studies that squarely suggested a "West Polynesian" group composed of at least Tongan and Samoan and that an "East Polynesian" group
780-485: The East Polynesian tree, further study paused for almost twenty years until Wilson published a study of Polynesian pronominal systems in 1985 suggesting that there was a special relationship between the East Polynesian languages and all other Nuclear Polynesian but for Futunic, and calling that extra-Futunic group the " Ellicean languages ". Furthermore, East Polynesian was found to more likely have emerged from extra-Samoan Ellicean than out of Samoa itself, in contradiction to
819-453: The Moriori language went unrecorded, but Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Baucke (1848–1931) was the last man who could speak it. Samuel Deighton's vocabulary of Moriori words was republished as an appendix of Michael King 's Moriori: A People Rediscovered (1989). The language was reconstructed for Barry Barclay 's 2000 film documentary The Feathers of Peace , in a recreation of Moriori contact with Pākehā and Māori. In 2001, as part of
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#1732848571850858-513: The Māori sounds /k/ , /ɾ/ , /t/ , and /ŋ/ correspond to /ʔ/ , /l/ , /k/ , and /n/ in Hawaiian. Accordingly, "man" is tangata in Māori and kanaka in Hawaiian, and Māori roa "long" corresponds to Hawaiian loa . The famous Hawaiian greeting aloha corresponds to Māori aroha , "love, tender emotion". Similarly, the Hawaiian word for kava is ʻawa . Similarities in basic vocabulary may allow speakers from different island groups to achieve
897-511: The Pacific – some travelling westwards to already populated areas , others navigating eastwards and settling in new territories ( Society Islands , Marquesas , Hawaii , New Zealand , Rapa Nui , etc.). Still today, Polynesian languages show strong similarity, particularly cognate words in their vocabulary; this includes culturally important words such as tapu , ariki , motu , fenua , kava , and tapa as well as * sawaiki ,
936-431: The autumn of 1835. Approximately 300 were killed, around one-sixth of the original population. Of those who survived, some were kept as slaves, and some were subsequently eaten . The Moriori were not permitted to marry other Moriori or have children, which endangered their survival and their language. The impact on the Moriori population, culture, and language was so severe that by 1862, only 101 Moriori remained alive. By
975-462: The establishment of a Moriori Language Week. In 2024, author Kate Preece published a trilingual children's book: Ten Nosey Weka, featuring words in English, Māori and Moriori. Like Māori , written Moriori uses the Latin script , with macrons to denote lengthened vowels. Note: Shand includes a 'v' in the Moriori language, however, none of the Moriori words captured by Deighton and Baucke feature
1014-426: The hills at the south end of the island. The next largest lakes are Rangitahi and Huro , respectively northeast and southwest of Te Whanga. The central and north part of Chatham Island are mostly flat, with altitudes ranging from a few metres on the northeast and centre to 50 m on the northwest, but with a few scattered hillocks. The south part is higher, generally sloping down towards north and west; about half of it
1053-517: The indigenous people of New Zealand 's Chatham Islands ( Rēkohu in Moriori), an archipelago located east of the South Island . Moriori went extinct as a first language at the turn of the 20th century, but revitalisation attempts are ongoing. Moriori is a Polynesian language that diverged from Māori dialects after centuries of isolation, while still remaining mutually intelligible. The language has
1092-506: The long assumption of a Samoan homeland for the origins of East Polynesian. Wilson named this new group "Ellicean" after the pre-independence name of Tuvalu and presented evidence for subgroups within that overarching category. Marck, in 2000, was able to offer some support for some aspects of Wilson's suggestion through comparisons of shared sporadic (irregular, unexpected) sound changes, e. g., Proto-Polynesian and Proto-Nuclear-Polynesian *mafu 'to heal' becoming Proto-Ellicean *mafo. This
1131-523: The main settlement (Waitangi) just 23.8 °C (74.8 °F). The climate is cool, wet and windy, with average high temperatures between 15 and 20 °C (59 and 68 °F) in summer, and between 5 and 10 °C (41 and 50 °F) in July (in the Southern Hemisphere winter). Snowfall is extremely rare, the fall recorded near sea level in July 2015 marking the first such reading for several decades. Under
1170-469: The missionaries, and the people had learned to read and write without marking vowel length or the glottal stop . This situation persists in many languages. Despite efforts at reform by local academies, the general conservative resistance to orthographic change has led to varying results in Polynesian languages, and several writing variants co-exist. The most common method, however, uses a macron to indicate
1209-548: The mythical homeland for some of the cultures. Polynesian languages fall into two branches, Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian . Tongan and Niuean constitute the Tongic branch; all the rest are part of the Nuclear Polynesian branch. The contemporary classification of the Polynesian languages began with certain observations by Andrew Pawley in 1966 based on shared innovations in phonology, vocabulary and grammar showing that
Chatham Island - Misplaced Pages Continue
1248-463: The nearest point of mainland New Zealand to the island. The geography of the roughly T-shaped island is dominated by three features: two bays and a lagoon. More than half of the west coast of Chatham is taken up by the deep indentation of Petre Bay. The island's main settlement of Waitangi is located in a small indentation in Petre Bay 's southern coast. Other significant settlements are Kaingaroa on
1287-476: The northeast promontory, and Owenga on the south side of Hanson Bay. On the east coast is the even larger Hanson Bay , which stretches for the entire length of the island (35 kilometres (22 mi)). Much of the area between the bays is taken up by the large Te Whanga Lagoon , which drains to the sea to the east, into the southern half of Hanson Bay. This lagoon covers about 160 square kilometres (62 sq mi), and drains several small rivers that rise in
1326-958: The plural pronouns are: mātou (we, exc), tātou (we, inc), koutou (you), rātou (they). The difference between exclusive and inclusive is the treatment of the person addressed. Mātou refers to the speaker and others but not the person or persons spoken to (i.e., "I and some others, but not you"), while tātou refers to the speaker, the person or persons spoken to, and everyone else (i.e., "You and I and others"). Many Polynesian languages distinguish two possessives . The a-possessives (as they contain that letter in most cases), also known as subjective possessives, refer to possessions that must be acquired by one's own action ( alienable possession ). The o-possessives or objective possessives refer to possessions that are fixed to someone, unchangeable, and do not necessitate any action on one's part but upon which actions can still be performed by others ( inalienable possession ). Some words can take either form, often with
1365-505: The remaining vowel is lengthened. The consonants [k] , [h] , and [t] can sometimes be aspirated and palatalised, such as Motchuhar instead of Motuhara . Polynesian languages The Polynesian languages form a genealogical group of languages , itself part of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family . There are 38 Polynesian languages, representing 7 percent of
1404-607: The sense that he was the author, but the Book of Joshua was written by someone else about Joshua. The distinction between one's birth village and one's current residence village can be made similarly. Numerals: Written Polynesian languages use orthography based on Latin script . Most Polynesian languages have five vowel qualities , corresponding roughly to those written i, e, a, o, u in classical Latin . However, orthographic conventions for phonemes that are not easily encoded in standard Latin script had to develop over time. Influenced by
1443-478: The traditions of orthographies of languages they were familiar with, the missionaries who first developed orthographies for unwritten Polynesian languages did not explicitly mark phonemic vowel length or the glottal stop . By the time that linguists trained in more modern methods made their way to the Pacific, at least for the major languages, the Bible was already printed according to the orthographic system developed by
1482-480: Was equally distant from both Tongan and Samoan. Pawley published another study in 1967. It began the process of extracting relationships from Polynesian languages on small islands in Melanesia, the " Polynesian Outliers ", whose languages Pawley was able to trace to East Futuna in the case of those farther south and perhaps to Samoa itself in the case of those more to the north. Except for some minor differentiation of
1521-733: Was made possible by the massive Polynesian language comparative lexicon ("Pollex" – with reconstructions) of Biggs and Clark. Partly because Polynesian languages split from one another comparatively recently, many words in these languages remain similar to corresponding words in others. The table below demonstrates this with the words for 'sky', 'north wind', 'woman', 'house' and 'parent' in a representative selection of languages: Tongan ; Niuean ; Samoan ; Sikaiana ; Takuu ; North Marquesan ; South Marquesan ; Mangarevan ; Hawaiian ; Rapanui language ; Tahitian ; Māori and Cook Islands Māori (Rarotongan). Certain regular correspondences can be noted between different Polynesian languages. For example,
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