Native to Cook Islands Regulated by Kopapa Reo | Official language in Cook Islands | |
Region Rakahanga and Manihiki islands Native speakers 320 in the Cook Islands (2011 census)
2,500 in New Zealand, based on a cited population of 5,000 (1981) being half in Cook Islands and half in New Zealand Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Oceanic
Polynesian
Eastern Polynesian
Tahitic
Rakahanga-Manihiki |
Rakahanga-Manihiki is a Cook Islands Maori dialectal variant belonging to the Polynesian languages family, spoken by about 2500 people on Rakahanga and Manihiki Islands (part of the Cook Islands) and another 2500 in other countries, mostly New Zealand and Australia. Wurm and Hattori consider Rakahanga-Manihiki as a distinct language with "limited intelligibility with Rarotongan" (i.e. the Cook Islands Maori dialectal variant of Rarotonga). According to the New Zealand Maori anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa who spent few days on Rakahanga in the years 1920, "the language is a pleasing dialect and has closer affinities with [New Zealand] Maori than with the dialects of Tongareva, Tahiti, and the Cook Islands"
References
Rakahanga-Manihiki language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA