ÿÖlino nei mälamalama: Polynesia

"The brightness of day is here," proclaims Pünana Leo, a Hawai'ian language advocacy organisation. Thanks to their efforts and those of other Polynesian language movements, their boast may well become a reality.

Polynesia, an immense diamond of Pacific Ocean anchored by New Zealand to the south, Easter Island to the east, Hawai'i in the north, and Tuvalu to the west, is both an example and a refutation of the doctrine of insularity. An vast stretch of open sea broken only by isolated pinpricks of land, Polynesia seems an unlikely cradle for cultural development. Yet the inhabitants of this region have overcome formidable challenges with unmatched ingenuity. Today, their languages reflect their remarkable accomplishments.

Maaori, Hawai'ian, and Samoan are three descendants of the Polynesian mother tongue, believed to have originated in the Fiji-Tonga area. From there, the first Polynesians launched themselves into the great Pacific, voyaging confidently between remote atolls at a time when European navigators hugged the coast for fear of sailing off the edge of the world. As a result, Polynesian communities were less isolated than their location might suggest; only rarely are the dialects of a given archipelago mutually unintelligible. But today, many of these far-flung communities face serious challenges to their cultural survival.

Maaori

New Zealand's Maaori (emphasise "Mao," as in Chairman Mao, then add "ree") are the senior statesmen of a Polynesia-wide movement to halt and reverse the cultural erosion. Maaori language and folklore mark them unmistakably as close relatives of the Hawai'ians and Tahitians. Linguists divide modern Maaori into two distinct dialects, which are significantly different but mutually intelligible, especially to speakers familiar with both.

In the 1960s the Maaori realised that their culture, which has left an indelible mark on greater New Zealand society, was in danger of extinction, and began to pound the drums, literally and figuratively. They founded Maaori-speaking preschools to ensure future survival, then applied pressure on the government for enfranchisement of the Maaori language in daily affairs. Eventually, they won their own court system blending Maaori and Anglo-Saxon tradition, and significant media presence.

Though Maaori has spawned a host of resources, including computer software, Maaori Web sites are rare and seldom expansive. However, given New Zealand's comparatively weak Internet showing overall, it's difficult to draw conclusions about the current health of the Maaori movement based on Web presence alone.

Hawai'ian

When the Americans forcibly annexed Hawai'i, then a sovereign nation, in the late 19th century, they banned the Hawai'ian language, and by the 1970s only a thousand speakers survived. Inspired by the Maaori movement, Pünana Leo called for a "nest movement" to reestablish Hawai'ian in Kamehameha's kingdom. The strategy calls for centralised communities of volunteers to raise and educate their children exclusively in the target language. Though difficult to pull off, the idea itself isn't particularly radical. However, Pünana Leo demonstrated rare insight and ideological integrity when, among its other projects, it required all participating adults to become fluent in Hawai'ian, too. If sustained, these nest communities will form a solid base upon which Hawai'ian will eventually be resurrected on all levels of society. The movement has already had stunning success; to date it has managed to get Hawai'ian official status, public school presence, and even federal funding.

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