Marquesan Language - Phonology

Phonology

The most striking feature of the Marquesan languages is their almost universal replacement of the /r/ or /l/ of other Polynesian languages by a /ʔ/ (glottal stop).

Like other Polynesian languages, the phonology of Marquesan languages is characterized by a paucity of consonants and a comparative abundance of vowels. The consonant phonemes are:

Nasals: /m/ /n/ /ŋ/

Fricatives: /f/ /h/ /v/

Plosives: /p/ /t/ /k/ /ʔ/

Liquids: /r/

Of this small number of consonants, /ŋ/ is found only in eastern Nuku Hiva (Tai Pi Marquesan), and /f/ is found only in South Marquesan dialects. In writing, the phoneme /ŋ/ is represented by n(g), and /ʔ/ is represented as ‘ or ’.

Unlike Samoan, the /ŋ/ is not an isolated nasal: it is found only in conjunction with a following /k/. So, whereas the Samoan word for "bay" is faga, pronounced, it is hanga in Tai Pi Marquesan, and is pronounced /ˈha.ŋka/. (This word is useful to demonstrate one of the more predictable regular consonantal differences between the northern and southern dialects: in North Marquesan, the word is haka, and in South Marquesan, it is hana).

The letter h is used to represent a wide range of sounds, with some authors reporting that, in addition to representing /h/, it also represents a variety of fricatives from /s/ to /x/, along with a number of palatalized or labialized variants. The primary factor in this wide range of sounds appears a result of sandhi. These fricatives are all allophones of the simple /h/.

The vowel phonemes are the same as in other Polynesian languages, long and short versions of each:

/a/ /aː/

/e/ /eː/

/i/ /iː/

/o/ /oː/

/u/ /uː/