| Rakahanga-Manihiki | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Cook Islands |
| Region | Rakahanga and Manihiki islands |
Native speakers | 320 in the Cook Islands (2011 census)[1] 2,500 in New Zealand, based on a cited population of 5,000 (1981) being half in Cook Islands and half in New Zealand[2] |
Austronesian
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Cook Islands |
| Regulated by | Kopapa Reo |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | rkh |
| Glottolog | raka1237 |
| ELP | Rakahanga-Manihiki |
Rakahanga-Manihiki is a Tahitic language belonging to the Polynesian language 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.[3] Wurm and Hattori consider Rakahanga-Manihiki as a distinct language with "limited intelligibility with Rarotongan"[4] (i.e. the Cook Islands Maori dialectal variant of Rarotonga). According to the New Zealand Maori anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa who spent a 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"[3][5]
- ^ Rakahanga-Manihiki at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
- ^ Rakahanga-Manihiki at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
- ^ a b "Ethnology of Manihiki and Rakahanga", Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 1932. This book was the source of Wurm and Hattori Atlas
- ^ Wurm and Hattori,"atlas of Pacific area" (1981), the only source of the SIL and ISO 639-3 codification
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Te Rangi Hiroa 1932 The Languagewas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
