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Pukapukan is a Polynesian language that developed in isolation on the island of Pukapuka (Danger Island) in the northern group of the Cook Islands. As a "Samoic Outlier" language with strong links to western Polynesia, Pukapukan is not closely related to any other languages of the Cook Islands, but does manifest substantial borrowing from some East Polynesian source in antiquity. Pukapukan is also known as "te leo Wale" ('the language of Home') in reference to the name of the northern islet where the people live. The atoll population has declined from some 750 in the early 1990s to less than 500 since 2005. Literacy in the Pukapukan language was introduced in the 1980s, resulting in an improvement in the quality of education. The language is spoken by over 3000 people, the vast majority living in a number of migrant communities in New Zealand and Australia. A bilingual dictionary was started by the school teachers on the island and completed in Auckland within the Pukapukan community there (publication date 2010). An indepth study of the language has resulted in a reference grammar (Mary Salisbury, A Grammar of Pukapukan, 700pp. � in press). [references to be added shortly] |