South Marquesan language

South Marquesan is the Marquesic, East Central Polynsian language spoken in the southern Marquesas Islands, as well as on Ua Huka in the nortern Marquesas.

The three most noticible differences between it and North Marquesan are its preference for /n/, /f/ and // (glottal stop) in some cases where North Marquesan uses /k/, /h/ and /k/.

This difference can be seen in such pairs as
:North Marquesan <

> South Marquesan
::haka <

> fana (bay)
::ha`e <

> fa`e (house)
::koe <

> `oe (you (singular))

Even the name of the island Ua Huka is, in South Marquesan, "Ua Huna".

The dialects fall roughly into four groups:
:Pepane: Eastern Hiva `Oa
:Fatu Hiva
:Nuku: Western Hiva `Oa and Tahuata
:Ua Huka, spoken on that island, and closely related to those of eastern Hiva Oa

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