Rapa Nui language

E11001

The Rapa Nui language is a Polynesian language spoken by the indigenous people of Easter Island, known for its close relation to other Eastern Polynesian languages and its role in preserving the island’s unique cultural heritage.


Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Eastern Polynesian language
Polynesian language
natural language
alternativeName Rapanui
Vananga Rapa Nui
closelyRelatedTo Hawaiian language
Mangarevan language
Marquesan languages
Māori language
Tahitian language
country Chile
culturalRole expression of Rapa Nui identity
preservation of Rapa Nui cultural heritage
transmission of traditional knowledge
ethnicGroup Rapa Nui people
hasConsonantPhonemes small set typical of Polynesian languages
hasFeature VSO basic word order
glottal stop phoneme
limited consonant inventory
phonemic vowel length
reduplication
hasGrammarType analytic language
hasLoanwordsFrom Spanish language
hasMorphology primarily suffixing and reduplicative morphology
hasPhonologicalSystem five-vowel system
influencedBy Spanish language
ISO639-1Code none
ISO639-2Code rap
ISO639-3Code rap
languageFamily Austronesian languages
Malayo-Polynesian languages
Oceanic languages
Polynesian languages
numberOfSpeakersEstimate between 3000 and 6000 speakers
officialStatus recognized indigenous language of Chile
region Eastern Polynesia
Polynesia
spokenBy bilingual speakers of Rapa Nui and Spanish
spokenIn Chile
Easter Island
status endangered language
subgroupOf Eastern Polynesian languages
usedFor local media
oral tradition
primary education (bilingual programs)
songs
traditional chants
writingSystem Latin script


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