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 Further reading Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum Bulletins. External links Online version of the Grammaire et dictionnaire de la langue des Iles Marquises – Marquisien–Français (Paris, Institut d'Ethnologie, 1931) Aperçu de la langue des îles Marquises et de la langue taïtienne, accompagné d'un vocabulaire inédit de la langue taïtienne (Johann Buschmann & Guillaume de Humboldt, Berlin, 1843) DoBeS — Marquesan language Box of 458 index cards of plant and animal names archived with Kaipuleohone Marquesan culture Marquesic languages Languages of French Polynesia