Cook language

Under the phrase "Kuk language" usually mean either the language of the southern Cook Islands, or all languages ​​of the archipelago ^[4] .

Used, among other things, in linguistic publications such as Ethnologue (2015), the word “rarotonga” is used by carriers only to designate the dialect of the island of the same name ^[1] , and in newer editions it is replaced by the word “Kuksky”.

The language has several self-names. The most commonly used word is Māori or Te Reo Māori (“Maori language”), which can also mean the languages ​​of and Tongareva ^[5] . The phrase "Maori of the Cook Islands" ( Te Reo Māori Kuki Airani ) often unites all the East Polynesian islands, although in the legislation under the "Maori of the Cook Islands" are meant including the Pukapuk not belonging to this group ^[6] .

East Polynesian dialects are also denoted by the terms Te reo Ipukarea (“motherland language”), Te Reo Tupuna (“ancestral language”) and Te Reo ꞌEnua (“language of [this] earth”) ^[6] .

Te Reo Māori o te Pae Tonga o te Kuki Airani (lit .: “South Maori of the Cook Islands”) is used in contrast to the northern languages ​​of Pukapuk and Tongareva) ^[1] .

The consensus of linguists is that the Kuk language belongs to the Central Eastern subgroup of the East Polynesian group of Austronesian languages:

Austronesian Languages → Malaysian-Polynesian Heads → Central-East-Malay-Polynesian Heads → East-Malay-Polynesian Branch → Oceanic Subzone → Central Pacific Boreal → East Fijian-Polynesian → → Pacific Ocean → → Pacific Ocean → → Central Pacific Ocean → → East Fijian-Polynesian → → Polynesian → Pacific Ocean → → Central Pacific Ocean → → East Fijian-Polynesian → → Polynesian → → Pacific Ocean → → Eastern Pacific .

There are also languages ​​such as Hawaiian , Marquis, and Maori . Rapanui belongs to the Eastern Polynesian languages.

The internal structure of the Polynesian group is controversial: some scientists unite the Maori of Cook Islands with the New Zealand Maori and Tahitian language into the Tahitian subgroup, others argue that the Tahitian subgroup is not reconstructed and instead allocate the Mangai-Staropanuy subgroup instead; in this case, the Rakahanga and Tongareva find themselves directly in the central-eastern subgroup of Polynesian languages ^[3] .

Before colonization in the XIX century, the islands of the archipelago were independent and did not belong to a single union; only nearby islands ( Atiu , Mauke and Mitiaro ) were politically united ^[7] . In 1888, Britain became the ruler of all the islands, and since 1901, New Zealand . Since 1965, the Cook Islands have been in free association with New Zealand, while remaining self-governing territory.

Most of the inhabitants of the Cook Islands live abroad. In New Zealand, the pupae constitute the second largest Pacific diaspora after the Samoans , and the number of pupae in Australia is gradually increasing ^[8] . The number of native speakers is more or less precisely known only in New Zealand (7,725 people, which is 12.8% of New Zealand puppets; these include all the languages ​​of the Cook Islands), the total number of speaking Ku-language is estimated at 15-20 thousand people ^[9] . At the same time, among young puppets of New Zealand (under 30), 80% speak only English ^[10] . Many elderly residents of the islands own the New Zealand Māori, as they were taught in schools, and then many of them moved to New Zealand, where they continued to be among the carriers ^[11] . For some time, the use of Kuk in lessons or changes was forbidden ^[12] . Also, many Kuk speakers report proficiency in Tahitian and Suva languages, if they studied there ^[11] .

In the educational system of the Cook Islands follow the New Zealand system; The first 6 years of study are recommended to teach in the Maori of the Cook Islands or another local indigenous language, then gradually include English over the 7-10th years with the transition to English in the 11th and 13ths ^[13] . De facto , Rarotong English is used at all levels and the only subject taught in Kuk is actually Kuk language ^{[13] [12]} .

On the Cook Islands, the first five years of study in Kuk are compulsory for all students ^[14] . In New Zealand, Kuki is offered as a second language in some schools ^[13] . The problem of lack of competent teachers, educational texts and manuals is widespread; teachers often have to use the Bible as a textbook ^[14] . It is widely believed that any speaker can teach others his own language ^[15] .

The Kuk language is used in New Zealand churches, which were mainly attended by the puppets, however, as religiousness decreases among the country's population, the churches stop transmitting the language of the youth ^[16] . At the same time, many carriers believe that conducting service in Kuk is an important part of the ritual ^[17] .

Several cultural practices are associated with the Kuk language: sewing , weaving (rarang), creating garlands ' ei and rākei costumes, playing drums ^[18] . The use of language in politics is limited: for example, unlike Samoa , the debate in parliament usually takes place in English, and the use of Kuk is considered a political statement ^[19] .

Legal status

Since 1915, the only official language of the archipelago was English . Kuk language (“Maori”) became the second official language of the islands in 2003 under the Te-Reo-Maori Law of 2003, he also announced the creation of a regulatory organization Kopapa Reo ^[20] . The Maori language in the document is defined as follows:

• (a) means Maori language (including dialects), which is used on the Cook Islands;
• (b) as well as the Pukapuku language used on the island of Pukapuka ; and
• (c) includes Maori, which complies with national standards approved by the main regulatory body, Kopapa Reo .

In New Zealand, the Kuk language has no official status or legal protection, in violation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ^[11] . In 2008–2017, the government reacted negatively to teaching in any language except New Zealand Maori and English ^[13] .

Youth Language Transmission

English replaces Kuk, despite the fact that the Europeans never massively colonized the islands; the reason is the policy of the colonial administration ^[21] .

The number of young native speakers is declining in both New Zealand and the Cook Islands. UNESCO and Ethnologue estimate intergenerational language transmission at a medium level, while researcher Sally Akevai Nicholas believes that transmission to children has almost stopped and it would be more correct to assess the degree of language preservation between 7 (transitional stage) and 8a (extinct) ^[10] .

The total number of carriers is estimated by Nicholas as follows ^[22] :

• 1400 people on the islands of the southern group speak the language as the first, at a high level;
• 1,200 people in the islands of the northern group speak Kuk as second, also at a high level;
• 14,000 inhabitants of Rarotonga quickly switch to English;
• 80,000 people in the diaspora , almost everyone speaks only English.

Dialects

Each island has its own Kuk language dialect ^[4] . Predominant among specialists and speakers, a look at the dialectal fragmentation of the language includes 4 main dialects (the ranges and base code are shown in brackets ^[5] ) ^[5] :

• rarotonga ( Rarotonga , raro1242);
• Aitutaki ( Aitutaki , aitu1237);
• mangaia ( Mangaia , mang1042);
• Nga Pu Toru ( Atiu , atiu1237; Mauke , mauke1238; Mitiaro , miti1242).

Sayings of the atolls Penrin and Manihiki are not mutually intelligible with the Kuku dialects and are considered separate languages: rakahanga-manihiki and Tongarev ^[6] . The inhabitants of Pukapuk and Nassau speak the language of the Pukapuk , not belonging to the East Polynesian branch and more closely related to the Samoan and Tokelau ^[6] .

In education, the Rarotonga dialect is often preferred, even if local people usually speak a different language ^[23] . If students answer exam questions in their own dialect, they can lower marks, despite the direct prohibition of the Ministry of Education ^[24] .

Below is a table of the words of various dialects of Kuk language and related languages.

The spelling of the kukuk language was created in the middle of the 19th century by British missionaries and was quickly learned by the speakers, but it is inconvenient to learn: neither the macron (-), denoting the vowel length , nor the guttural bow ('), which is a separate phoneme , are not displayed on the letter ^{[25 ]} . The above problem leads to the fear of mistakes while reading aloud and unwillingness to do it ^[26] .

Missionary spelling inconsistently breaks a speech into words, its punctuation is also criticized. From the middle of the 20th century, several attempts were made to reform the spelling, but they were unable to overcome the resistance of older speakers, and also to correct how “it is written in the Bible” ^[26] . In 2014, the reissue of the New Testament by reformed spelling was published ^[26] .

Phonetics and phonology

Kuk language has 14 phonemes (not counting separately long vowels). As in the other Polynesian languages, there is no contrast between explosive consonants ^[27] . Explosive consonants are pronounced without breathing or with very weak ^[28] .

A syllable has a structure (C) V, concatenations of consonants are not resolved, whereas a sequence of three vowels in a row is quite common ^[29] . The exception is borrowings in which the vowel, usually / i /, separates the nasal and explosive consonants: in them the vowel is often removed ^[30] . Ascending vowel sequences are usually implemented as one syllable, and descending - as two syllables ^[29] .

As in other Eastern Polynesian languages, combinations of [vu] and [vo] are forbidden in Kukks, they are found only in a few depreciations ^[30] .

Consonants

In Kuk language, there are 9 consonant phonemes: ng , m , n , p , t , k , r , v and laryngeal bow ( amata - from the Kuma word amata ), denoted in letter by an apostrophe .

In the Rakahanga-Manichiki language, the consonants f and h are also used. The sound [ r ] in the northern languages ​​/ dialects corresponds to [ l ] ^[4] .

In the position before / i / phoneme / t / is implemented as an affricate : tiaki [t͡ʃiaki] ^[28] .

The prepolynesian laryngeal bow in the Kuki has disappeared, its own laryngeal bow has developed from the Prapolinesian * f and * s ^[28] . Laryngeal bow is realized as a deaf explosive consonant only with careful pronouncing and at the beginning of a phrase; in the position between the vowels, it sounds loud and laryngalizes the vowels following it, turning into a creaky, guttural approximant ^[31] . Occasionally, especially in singing, / ʔ / is realized as [ h ], a similar phenomenon is found in the Marquesian language ^[32] .

The pre-Polynesian * h in Kuk also disappeared, and * w turned into [v] ^[28] . At the same time, front vowels [v] are often implemented as labial ^[33] .

The phoneme / r / is realized either as a one-punch alveolar consonant [ ɾ ] or as a side approximant [ l ] ^[33] .

Vowels

The vowel system is typical for Polynesian languages: there are 5 short vowel phonemes: a , e , i , o , u ^[34] . The vowels of the back row are rounded off ^[34] . The phonemes / i / and / e / are often implemented very close to each other, as in the New Zealand Māori ^[35] .

The longitude of the vowels is meaningful ^[36] . Orthographically, it is denoted by macron ( mākārōni ): ā , ē , ī , ō , ū .

In quick speech, the last vowel phrases are often stunned ^[35] :

• Pēnei kua oti paꞌa ia Mama Mere te konākono i te tātāꞌanga o te Reo Pukapu̥kḁ.

Prosody

For doll prosody, syllable weight is important. There is a limit on the minimum prosodic word and two types of reduplication. The main stress is phrasal, not verbal; word stress often falls on the first or penultimate mora ^[37] . The intonation of the narrative sentence is ascending-descending.

Prosodic word

A syllable with a short vowel is , and a long vowel is considered heavy. The minimum prosodic word consists of two pestials , most of the primordial words contain 2–4 mora at the root ^[30] . The minimum length of the syntactic phrase is three mora, in case there is not enough moro in the phrase, special particles are added to them, optional in longer phrases ^[38] :

• e in imperative phrases:
  • E no'o ki raro! - "Sit down!"
• e in vocative phrases:
  • Kia orana e Mere. - "Hello, Measure."
• e in numerals (numerals 2-9; also 1, if it is not expressed by the word 'okota'i ):
  • Kua tapaꞌia ngā ꞌenua e toru mei te reira tuātau mai e tae mai ki tēianei ē, ko Ngā-Pū-Toru - “These three islands have been called Nghaptoru since that time.”
• ra ending short borrowing time:
  • okera - “okay”.

The same mechanism causes the personal article a to be extended to ā in the position in front of pronouns and names consisting of 1 or 2 mor ^[11] :

• ā koe ,
• ā Mere
• a taua .

Similarly, the verb particle ka is extended ^[13] :

• kā tū
• ka pēti .

Reduplication

Two types of reduplication are used in Kuk language: full and partial ^[13] . Full reduplication most often affects the roots of the two pestilence, but occasionally the roots of the structure of the CVCVCV type ma'ata , (C) VVCV type 'aere or (C) VVCVV type mūmū are exposed to it ^[16] . Partial reduplication consists in the repetition of the first root of the root, moreover, if there is more than two in the root of the sea, the reduplication is accompanied by a change in the quality or longitude of the vowels ^[39] :

• āpuku → āpukupuku ,
• karanga → kārangaranga ,
• meitaki → mēmeitaki .

Emphasis

There are two main options for putting emphasis on individual words - on the first and on the penultimate mora, their preference depends on the person (and in the speech of the speakers they can occur simultaneously) ^[40] . The most consistent is the stress in words consisting only of light syllables, and the words of the CVCV structure always hit the first mora ^[40] . If there is a heavy syllable in the word (with a long vowel), he pulls the stress on himself, except when the long vowel is in the last syllable - then the penultimate mora hits ^[41] .

Phrase stress falls on the top of the predicate, usually on the same mora that would hit in a separate spoken word, if there are other phrases in the sentence, all of them, except the last, will get side stress on the penultimate moru, and in the last phrase the stress falls on the penultimate mora, or to the word that makes up the top of this phrase ^[42] .

Intonation

Intonation of a narrative sentence is ascending-descending; in the case of a complex sentence, the intonation of the main phrase remains ascending-descending, the subsequent phrases are pronounced in a exactly low tone, and the last one drops to the end more than all other phrases ^[43] .

Interrogative sentences with a special question can be formed either similar to the narrative ones - in this case, the upper peak falls on the interrogative word and has a greater height than in the narrative one - or the intonation of the question is high at almost the whole statement, and ^[44] . The remaining types of questions are usually intonated similarly to the second type of intonation of special questions: the tone of the voice either stays at a high level all the sentence, or rises on the last phrase ^[45] . The manner of terminating questions by raising intonation is borrowed from English (although in English, ascending intonation for special questions is not typical) ^[44] . Another variant of intonation in non-special issues is descending with a boost on the main phrase ^[46] .

The intonation of imperative sentences is similarly narrative, but the initial tone in them is higher than in narrative ones ^[46] .

Morphology

Kuksky is rather an isolating language ; morphemes indicating number and grammatical time are not related to other words ^[27] .

Syntax

Vocabulary

There are many Tahitian borrowings in the vocabulary of the Kuk language (especially in the Ngaputora dialects) due to the regular contacts of the islanders with the inhabitants of French Polynesia ^[6] . Since the XIX century, Kuk has borrowed a lot from New Zealand Maori ^[6] .

The first about the Kuk language was written by Jesper Buz, the author of a series of short essays on the structure of a Kuk phrase, types of sentences, denial, junction of words and parts of speech ^[47] . Also two master's theses are devoted to the language (Pearson, 1974 and Horton, 2000) ^[47] . The most detailed publication on the Kuk language is the 2017 Maori Grammar of the Southern Cook Islands by Nicholas ^[47] .

There are two Kuk-English dictionaries: Sevija 1962 and Buzy 1955 ^[47] . As of 2019, a project is underway to create a dictionary that is available online; they are studied at Auckland University of Technology, University of the South Pacific and the Cook Islands Department of Education ^[47] .

Despite the fact that there are several textbooks, in general, there is a lack of pedagogical resources, in particular for adults ^[47] .

At the time of contact with Europeans, there was a rich folklore tradition in the Kuk language, which was positively appreciated by visitors ^[48] . After the creation of spelling, a corpus of literature quickly appeared, consisting of genealogies and myths, liturgical texts, fiction, poetry, children's and educational literature ^[18] . In January 2018, he was replenished with students' comics in the direction “Diploma in Colloquial Language (Kuk language)” of the University of the South Pacific ^[18] .

Comments

Sources

• Sally Akevai Nicholas. Language Contexts: Te Reo Móori o te Pae Tonga o te Kuki Airani (English) // Language Documentation and Description / Editors: Peter K. Austin & Lauren Gawne. - 2018. - Vol. 15 - P. 36-64 .
• Sally Akevai Nicholas. Ko te Karāma o te Reo Māori o te Pae Tonga o Te Kuki Airani: A Grammar of Southern Cook Islands Māori . - University of Auckland , 2016.
• Carolin Biewer. South Pacific Englishes. A Sociolinguistic and Morphosyntactic Profile of Fiji English, Samoan English and Cook Islands English // Varieties of English Around the World / Stephanie Hackert. - John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2015. - ISBN 978-90-272-6895-2 .
• Vilisi Balawa. Cooks Islands Maori / / Pacific Languages ​​/ France Mugler, John Lynch. - Institute of Pacific Studies, 1996. - ISBN 982-02-0123-3 .

• 2003 Te-Reo-Maori Act
• Online dictionary of kuk language
• Te Kopapa Reo re-formed . Cooks Islands News