LL-L "Language varieties" 2009.10.21 (02) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 21 October 2009 - Volume 02
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From: Paul Tatum <ptatum at blueyonder.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2009.10.20 (01) [EN]

Hi,

 From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com <mailto:sassisch at yahoo.com>>
> Subject: Language varieties
>

 Paul, I think the drift you are talking about is precisely what you are
> dealing with in the case of Polynesian. So I encourage you to spend some
> time familiarizing yourself with this case.
>
> Examples: woman/female, man/male, gardenia, canoe, parent, gray-haired,
> mullet
> Tongan: fafine, taŋata, siale, vaka, matu'a, hina, kanahe
> Samoan: fafine, taŋata, tiale, va'a, matua, sina, 'anae
> Niuean: fifine, taŋata, tiale, vaka, matua, hina, kanahe
> Rapa Nui*: hahine, taŋata, tiare, vaka, matu'a, hina, -
> Tahitian: vahine, ta'ata, tiare, va'a, metua, hinahina, 'anae
> Rarotongan: vaʻine, taŋata, tiare, vaka, matua ~ metua, 'ina, kanae
> Maori: wahine, taŋata, tīare, vaka, matua, hina, kanae
> Hawaiian**: wahine, kanaka, kiele, wa'a, makua, hina, 'anae
> Proto-Polynesian: *fafine, *taŋata, *tiale, *waka, *matu'a, *sina, *kanahe
>

It is always a pleasure to see these languages, and interesting to analyze
the unconditioned sound changes in terms of phonetic features. One question
I would like to ask is: what degree of homonymy does the reduction of the
consonant inventory in Hawaiian produce?

On a related note, I found the following, which some might find interesting,
though I've only read a part of it so far, (so if it ends in bloodshed, I'm
sorry, I didn't know!):

http://shimajournal.org/issues/v1n1/e.%20Long%20Shima%20v1n1.pdf

Another nice example of the development of an isolated language might be
that of the Australian languages.

Paul Tatum.

•

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