How Borrowing Led to "Marquesic" and Obscured East Polynesian Distal

Abstract

Abstract:Addressed here are earlier researchers' proposals for a Marquesic subgroup of East Polynesian including Marquesan, Hawaiian, and Mangarevan, and sometimes Rapan and dialects of Tuamotuan. Instead of marking a genetic subgroup, shared lexical similarities are here attributed to late borrowing emanating from the Marquesas. As demonstrated in Wilson (2021), Marquesan belongs to the East Polynesian Distal subgroup, nested within which is the Far Eastern Polynesian subgroup containing Mangarevan and Rapa Nui. Later, Mangarevan borrowed features developed in Marquesan and not found in Rapa Nui. Some members of East Polynesian Proximal, the sister subgroup of East Polynesian Distal, share late features otherwise exclusive to Marquesan or to Marquesan and Mangarevan. Hawaiian, for example, shares a considerable number of such features. Borrowings from Marquesan into Hawaiian and Mangarevan are evidence of Marquesan influence in eastern East Polynesia. That influence also resulted in borrowings into Tuamotuan, Tahitian, and Rapan. Differentiating the borrowing relationship of Mangarevan to Marquesan from the genetic relationship of Mangarevan to Marquesan and Rapanui is important relative to determining the southeastern direction of settlement movement from the Marquesas. The influence of Marquesan on other languages can be attributed to the Marquesas being the first high island area colonized in East Polynesia, with that influence waning after the Society Islands were colonized and became more populated.