136 



EASTER ISLAND. 



The vowel flexibility lies within the triangle of the neutral vowel ; its 

 occurrence is in unaccented syllables and it is most strongly marked in 

 the mutation e-a, the other alterations being rare. In the consonant 

 structure we find that all the palatals and all the Unguals are susceptible 

 of extinction. We have already commented upon this as a dialectic 

 criterion in the matter of the palatal ng and k. In the lingual series 

 the extinction of the liquid is all but universal ; its retention, in the form 

 of r, seems to have no reference to dialect ; in the printed vocabulary r 

 appears as initial in but 37 entries and its occurrence in the medial posi- 

 tion is indicated by no higher note of frequency ; the prime character of 

 the Marquesan phonetics is the loss of the liquid ; it is that which sets it 

 off distinctively from all the other languages of the Polynesian family. 

 In the labial series we find the same fixed points as in the other lan- 

 guages of Southeastern Polynesia, the same variable point, the f , and 

 the variants there involve no new principles of phonetics. 



Table 21. 



Pau-Rn-Mgv-Ta-Mq 



Pau-Rn-Ta-Mq 



Pau-Rn-Mgv-Mq 



Pau-Rn-Mq 



Mgv-Rn-Ta-Mq 



Mgv-Rn-Mq 



Ta-Rn-Mq 



Total 



Pau-Mgv-Ta-Mq .... 



Pau-Ta-Mq 



Pau-Mgv-Mq 



Pau-Mq 



Mgv-Ta-Mq 



Mgv-Mq 



Ta-Mq 



Ta-Ha-Mq 



Total 



Grand total 



Southeast Poly- 

 Polynesia, nesian. 



8 



1 



7 



2 



21 



31 



'7 



87 



1 1 

 32 



4 

 18 

 42 

 207 

 85 

 23 



227 

 14 

 15 

 1 

 89 

 24 

 10 



380 



40 



18 



8 



1 



73 

 20 



34 



Samoal iTongafiti. j Total. 



9 



4 

 I 

 I 



9 

 6 

 1 



40 



9 

 6 

 2 



16 

 8 

 o 



284 

 28 



29 

 6 



'35 

 69 

 28 



3' 



8 

 10 



2 

 4 

 34 

 31 

 30 



422 



509 



194 



574 



129 



81 



579 



47 

 29 

 4 

 7 

 42 

 32 

 17 



106 



89 



18 



40 



191 



290 



166 



23 



178 



923 



160 



259 



1502 



Yet here we find a character which serves to create a class division 

 within the province. The mutability which is expressed by the formula 

 f /, v, h is found in the Paumotu, Mangareva, and Tahiti. Before we 

 set the Marquesas in this company, as might seem justifiable from the 

 consonant scheme just presented, we are to note that f-/ characterizes 

 the dialect of the southeastern Marquesas, i-h the northwest. The 

 only language in which i-h holds exclusive place is Rapanui. 



In the foregoing chapters a considerable amount of the Marquesan 

 material has been caught in the meshes of the identification of various 

 affiliates netted in the sedulous examination of the Paumotu, Manga- 



