Niuean

This volume explores the grammar of Niuean, an endangered Polynesian language spoken on the island of Niue and in New Zealand, with a focus on the issue of predication. Since Aristotle, it has been claimed that a sentence consists of a subject and a predicate. Niuean constitutes the perfect testing ground for this claim: it displays verb-subject-object word order, in which the subject interrupts the predicate, and has an ergative case system, in which subjects are not clearly distinguished from objects in their marking for grammatical case. Diane Massam uses the framework of generative grammar to carry out a detailed analysis of the internal structure of Niuean predicates and arguments, as well as the relations between them, touching on many other topics including the nature of displacement, word formation, determiners, and thematic roles. The proposal is that Niuean complex predicates are formed via successive inversion, prior to the merge of all arguments (high argument merge), and that the predicate undergoes fronting to initial position across the arguments, with the same structure found also in nominal clauses. The conclusion is that Niuean does not have a subject in the usual sense, and this is related to the fact that the language has isolating morphology, lacking all tense and agreement inflection and nominative case. Instead, the language exhibits low absolutive predication, applicative ergative agents, and predicate fronting in lieu of subject extraction. The book extends our understanding of cross-linguistic sentence structure and grammatical case, and will be of interest to scholars in the fields of Austronesian linguistics, typology, and theoretical linguistics.

Tohi Vagahau Niue is a significant new dictionary detailing the Polynesian language of Niue, and will benefit Niuean studies for years to come. While its main aim is to be a repository for native speakers, it will also serve a wider linguistic audience, including comparativists and theorists in lexicography. Detailed user notes introduce the reader to the basic challenges in Niuean lexicography and grammar. With some 10,000 Niuean word entries, the present dictionary is a significant expansion on an earlier work. The Niuean contributors took great care to present their language as a living entity while preserving its valuable past, but they are also aware of its uncertain future. Language revival is essential to preserve a linguistic Pacific jewel, and as such the new dictionary will lend status to Niuean language studies as well as be an invaluable help in using Niuean confidently in everyday life.

Niue is a small Pacific island nation located 2,400 kilometers northeast of New Zealand. The island, with a population of approximately 1,600 people, has a rich history and culture that is reflected in its unique language, traditional crafts, and dance. Niueans are Polynesians, with their culture, religion and way of life intertwined with the environment. The island is known for its crystal-clear waters and coral reefs, making it a popular destination for tourists seeking adventure and relaxation. The island has been inhabited for over 1,000 years and was discovered by Captain James Cook in 1774. Niue gained independence in 1974 from New Zealand but still maintains a special relationship with it. The island is self-governed but is supported by New Zealand in areas such as defense and foreign affairs. Niue’s economy is primarily driven by tourism, selling of postage stamps, and the use of its internet domain name, .nu. The small island has faced challenges such as cyclones and economic struggles, but its unique culture and strong community continue to thrive. Overall, Niue is a fascinating and unique destination with a rich cultural history that is intertwined with its breathtaking natural environment.

"The papers presented within this volume were selected from the fourteenth meeting of the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association (AFLA XIV), held May 4-6, 2007 at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada."

This volume contains twelve chapters on the derivation of and the correlates to verb initial word order. The studies in this volume cover such widely divergent languages as Irish, Welsh, Scots Gaelic, Old Irish, Biblical Hebrew, Jakaltek, Mam, Lummi (Straits Salish), Niuean, Malagasy, Palauan, K'echi', and Zapotec, from a wide variety of theoretical perspectives, including Minimalism, information structure, and sentence processing. The first book to take a cross-linguistic comparative approach to verb initial syntax, this volume provides new data to some old problems and debates and explores some innovative approaches to the derivation of verb initial order.

Pacific Islanders have engaged in transnational practices since their first settlement of the many islands in the region. As they moved beyond the Pacific and settled in nations such as New Zealand, the U.S. and Australia these practices intensified and over time have profoundly shaped both home and diasporic communities. This edited volume begins with a detailed account of this history and the key issues in Pacific migration and transnationalism today. The papers that follow present a range of case studies that maintain this focus on both historical and contemporary perspectives. Each of the contributors goes beyond a narrowly economic focus to present the human face of migration and transnationalism; exploring questions of cultural values and identity, transformations in kinship, intergenerational change and the impact on home communities. Pacific migration and transnationalism are addressed in this volume in the context of increasing globalisation and growing concerns about the future social, political and economic security of the Pacific region. As the case studies presented here show, the future of the Pacific depends in many ways on the ties diasporic Islanders maintain with their homelands.

Ethnographic case studies explore what it means to “belong” in Oceania, as contributors consider ongoing formations of place, self and community in connection with travelling, internal and international migration. The chapters apply the multi-dimensional concepts of movement, place-making and cultural identifications to explain contemporary life in Oceanic societies. The volume closes by suggesting that constructions of multiple belongings—and, with these, the relevant forms of mobility, place-making and identifications—are being recontextualized and modified by emerging discourses of climate change and sea-level rise.