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The Pacific Languages | ||
Tags: Pacific Languages | Alexander Arguelles | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| qklilx Moderator United States Joined 6187 days ago 459 posts - 477 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Korean Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 8 25 March 2008 at 4:49pm | IP Logged |
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Professor,
No one on this forum, and possibly the world, can doubt that you have studied and understood a vast number of languages and that you have a resource pool which reaches even farther. It's an accomplishment I could only dream about. After going through your list of languages two or three times, I couldn't help but notice a lack of Pacific languages. To be more specific I am referring to those of countries within Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, including the state of Hawaii. Have you ever taken the time to study any of them to any extent? Have you ever considered doing so or studying one to competence? Where do you feel some of these languages stand in terms of linguistic importance (relevant to your claim that German, Latin, Arabic, and Chinese are the highest)? I'm sure you've had the opportunity to at least listen to them, either through media, people, or language resources; how do they sound to your ear? I live in Hawaii and am exposed to several of these languages each day, but unfortunately, save for Hawaiian Creole, understand nothing more than a set of words and phrases spoken in the Hawaiian language. I think it would be interesting to know your stance regarding the languages of this part of the world. - Evan Edited by qklilx on 25 March 2008 at 9:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6317 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 2 of 8 25 March 2008 at 5:07pm | IP Logged |
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As far as I know the Professor has Māori listed as a "recognition language" in the study-table sheet posted a while back. If there were more independant materials, I would most certainly learn it myself, if not for national and historical importance, then certainly out of interest and curiosity in the fact that there are apparently unusual similarities between it and Swedish, as I was once told a long time ago.
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| patlajan Triglot Groupie United States Joined 7150 days ago 59 posts - 65 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Turkish Studies: German, Mandarin, French | Message 3 of 8 25 March 2008 at 6:44pm | IP Logged |
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Outside of Maori, Hawaiian and Indonesian materials for these languages can be very difficult to come by. And unless you are in the region the chances of encountering a native speaker are fairly limited. I am seriously considering Indonesian as one of my targets. I have also obtained materials on Tongan and Hawaiian and filled notebooks with articles on others. However these articles tend to be focused on single grammatical points - and while interesting are of little conversational use. What intrigues me is that if one had Maori and Hawaiian many other Pacific Languages would be close - overlapping 50-80% lexical similarity.
I also wonder Professor, have you been tempted by this language group or do the factors mentioned above, make success unlikely? Rolf 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Michael F Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6137 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Italian | Message 4 of 8 26 March 2008 at 5:51am | IP Logged |
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Does anybody know where I could find some elementary materials for Indonesian?
I, myself, am half-Indonesian and feel slightly ashamed about my inability to speak the language. Any help would be very much appreciated. Edited by Michael F on 26 March 2008 at 9:16am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6703 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese | Message 5 of 8 26 March 2008 at 7:58am | IP Logged |
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Well, Colloquial, Teach Yourself and Assimil all offer books on Indonesian. Assimil is the best by far, though you might have to get the French-based version as I don't know if they made an English one. Looking at your profile, that shouldn't be a problem. I am currently about halfway through the book, and I give it a two thumbs up.
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| ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7257 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes | Message 6 of 8 30 March 2008 at 10:20pm | IP Logged |
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Evan,
The formal name for the languages that interest you is Austronesian, or “Southern Island,” and I believe it is more appropriate than “Pacific languages,” for some of the languages in this genetic grouping span the Indian Ocean as well (Madagascan), and not all of the languages of the Pacific Rim belong to it. If you look on my systematic chart, you will find that lines 100-107 paid at least minimal and nominal attention to this family in 2007—in any rate, I endeavor to remember what each one sounds like individually. I did indeed make a stab at Malay/Indonesian back in the late 1990’s, during my period of trying to learn something substantial of each major language grouping. I abandoned this when I felt too overburdened, but of late I have found myself reinstating other aborted endeavors, and it would not surprise me if I were to resume my acquaintance with these in the near future, as there is not only a substantial amount of material for learning them in existence, but actually in my own possession. Of all the languages in the group, it is actually Rapanui, the language of Easter Island, that interest me the most, for it not only had a written tradition, but there is a great mystery behind it (i.e., its historically impossible affinity to the Indus valley scripts), and furthermore, there so happens to be a source of crystal clear stories that you can listen to here. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| qklilx Moderator United States Joined 6187 days ago 459 posts - 477 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 8 05 April 2008 at 2:17am | IP Logged |
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Professor,
Thank you for your response. I didn't think to check your chart for the languages, but I found them. You say that you studied these in 2007, which is recent. I'm curious as to your opinion of the Hawaiian language, since that is the one which, of course, has much significance in the Hawaiian islands. I'm not asking for your opinion in relation to its history with the U.S. unless you feel it is relevant. And on a lighter note out of curiosity, have you ever traveled to Hawaii? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7257 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes | Message 8 of 8 06 April 2008 at 9:39pm | IP Logged |
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To clarify, I most certainly did not “study” any of these languages in 2007 — 30 minutes per year hardly counts as “studying!” In the most literal sense possible, I paid them lip-service, as I have resolved to periodically blind shadow the audio of everything in my collection in order to develop a sense for what every given language sounds like, what it might feel like to speak it, and what distinctive features it might have. While I have succeeded in developing at least this degree of instinctive ability to identify some languages, Hawaiian is not one of them—if I were to overhear it, I am sure that I would know it to be a Pacific island tongue, but I would be merely guessing correctly if I were to actually identify it as Hawaiian proper. Perhaps this is because I have never been to Hawaii!
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