Cook Is/ Aitutaki/ Penrhyn

The Cook Islands Maori language, also called Māori Kūki 'Āirani, is the official language of the Cook Islands. Most Cook Islanders also call it Te reo Ipukarea, literally "the language of the Ancestral Homeland". more...

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Cook Islands Maori. became an official language of the Cook Islands in 2003 . According to Te Reo Maori Act, Maori:

(a) means the Maori language (including its various dialects) as spoken or written in any island of the Cook Islands; and; (b) Is deemed to include Pukapukan as spoken or written in Pukapuka; and; (c) Includes Maori that conforms to the national standard for Maori approved by Kopapa Reo; (see external link).;

These dialects of the Cook Islands Maori are :

Rakahanga-Manihiki dialect;; Tongareva dialect (Penrhyn);; the Ngaputoru dialects of Atiu, Mitiaro and Mauke;; Aitutaki dialect;; Rarotonga dialect; and; Mangaia dialect.;

It is closely related to Tahitian and New Zealand Māori, and there is a degree of mutual intelligibility with these two languages.

The language is regulated by the kopapa reo created in 2003.

The Pukapukan language is considered by scholars as a distinct language closely related with Samoan and the language spoken on the three atolls of Tokelau.

Writing system and pronunciation

There is actually a debate about the standardization of the writing system. Although the usage of the macron (־) te makaroni, and the glottal (') is recommended, most speakers do not use these two diacritics in everyday writing.

Consonants

Vowels

Grammar

As for most South Pacific languages, classical descriptions are generally based on the system used for Indo-European languages, especially concerning grammatical classes. Today linguists try to avoid it, considering it a form of linguacentrism, even if any perfect description is adequate. Most of these examples are taken from Cook Islands Maori Dictionary, by Jasper Buse with Raututi Taringa edited by Bruce Biggs and Rangi Moeka'a, Auckland, 1995.

Personal deictics

Singular

Au : I, me;

Koe : you;

'Aia : he, she;

Dual

Tāua : we two, us two (you and I);

Māua : we two, us two (he/she and I);

Kōrua : you two;

Rāua : they, them (the two of them);

Read more at Wikipedia.org