North Marquesan is spoken in the northern islands (
Nuku Hiva,
Ua Pou, and
Ua Huka), and South Marquesan in the southern islands (
Hiva Oa,
Tahuata, and
Fatu Hiva). In Ua Huka, which was almost entirely depopulated in the 19th century and repopulated with people from both the Northern and Southern Marquesas, the language shares traits of both North Marquesan and South Marquesan. Comparative data on the various dialects of Marquesan can be found in the
Linguistic Atlas of French Polynesia (
Charpentier & François 2015). The most noticeable differences between the varieties are Northern Marquesan in some words where South Marquesan has or (glottal stop), and in all words where South Marquesan has . The table below compares a selection of words in various dialectal varieties of Marquesan, according to the
Linguistic Atlas of French Polynesia, with their pronunciation in the
IPA. Tahitian and Hawaiian are also added for comparison. The northern dialects fall roughly into four groups: • Tai Pi, spoken in the eastern third of
Nuku Hiva, and according to some linguists, a separate language,
Tai Pi Marquesan • Teiʻi, spoken in western
Nuku Hiva • Eastern
Ua Pou • Western
Ua Pou The southern dialects fall roughly into three groups: • Pepane: Eastern
Hiva ʻOa and
Ua Huka •
Fatu Hiva • Nuku: Western Hiva ʻOa and
Tahuata North Marquesan exhibits some original characteristics. While some Polynesian languages maintained the velar nasal , many have lost the distinction between the nasals and , merging both into . North Marquesan, like
South Island Māori dialects of New Zealand, prefers . Another feature is that, while some Polynesian languages replace *k with , North Marquesan has retained it. (
Tahitian and formal
Samoan have no whatsoever, and the in modern Hawaiian is pronounced either [k] or [t] and derives from Polynesian *t.) The dialects of
Ua Huka are often incorrectly classified as North Marquesan; they are instead transitional. While the island is in the northern Marquesas group, the dialects show more morphological and phonological affinities with South Marquesan. The North Marquesan dialects are sometimes considered two separate languages: North Marquesan and
Tai Pi Marquesan, the latter being spoken in the valleys of the eastern third of the island of Nuku Hiva, in the ancient province of
Tai Pi. Puka-Pukan, spoken in
Puka-Puka and the
Disappointment Islands in northeastern
Tuamotu, is a dialect of South Marquesan, and should not be confused with the homonymous
Pukapukan language spoken in
Pukapuka, one of the
Cook Islands. ==References==