| Pukapukan | |
|---|---|
| Te Leo Wale | |
| Region | Pukapuka and Nassau islands, northern Cook Islands; some in Rarotonga; also New Zealand and Australia |
Native speakers | 450 in Cook Islands (2011 census)[1] 2,000 elsewhere (no date)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | pkp |
| Glottolog | puka1242 |
| ELP | Pukapuka |
 Pukapukan is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Pukapukan is a Polynesian language that developed in isolation on the island of Pukapuka 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.
Recent research suggests that the languages of Pukapuka, Tokelau and Tuvalu group together as a cluster, and as such had significant influence on several of the Polynesian Outliers, such as Tikopia and Anuta, Pileni, Sikaiana (all in the Solomon Islands) and the Takuu Atoll in Papua New Guinea. There is also evidence that Pukapuka had prehistoric contact with Micronesia, as there are quite a number of words in Pukapukan that appear to be borrowings from Kiribati (K. & M. Salisbury conference paper, 2013).
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 the cyclone in 2005. Literacy in the Pukapukan language was introduced in the school in the 1980s, resulting in an improvement in the quality of education on the atoll.
The majority of those speaking the language live 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.[2][3] An indepth study of the language has resulted in a reference grammar.[4] The most significant publication in the Pukapuka language will be the "Puka Yā" (Bible), with the New Testament and Psalms (diglot edition, Pukapukan and English) expected to be published in early 2024.[needs update]
- ^ a b Pukapukan at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Douglas, Briar (13 August 2013). "Pukapuka dictionary goes live". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ "Te Pukamuna – Pukapuka Dictionary". 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ Salisbury 2002.
