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Anaphoric pronouns such as 'it' are referentially underspecified and therefore depend on prior context for interpretation. The factors influencing their interpretation are a long-standing topic of research in syntactic and pragmatic literature. We present a novel study of pronoun resolution in the ergative-absolutive Polynesian language Niuean, investigating whether Niuean exhibits the same subject preference found for nominative-accusative languages (e.g. Chafe 1976) or whether, alternatively, the absolutive argument is preferred as a referent. Niuean also exhibits split ergativity, allowing for isolation of further effects of case (wherein listeners show a preference for antecedents that bear the same case as the pronoun) and transitivity (wherein direct objects are preferred as antecedents as compared with adjuncts). Most importantly, we observe that ergative arguments are consistently preferred as referents over clause-mate absolutive arguments, providing evidence that ergative arguments exhibit behavior parallel to that of 'subjects' in nominativeaccusative languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern generative linguistic theory furnishes a variety of general principles that appear to be at work in the grammar of all the world's languages. One of the most basic and uncontroversial of these principles is that Agree/Move operates according to the constraint Attract Closest, which dictates that the closest suitable goal must be the target for the relevant operation (Rizzi 1990; Chomsky 1995, 2000; Richards 1998). The Polynesian language Niuean (Tongic subgroup, predicate initial word order, ergative-absolutive case system) presents a well known challenge to the universality of Attract Closest. The challenge manifests in a variety of distinct constructions in Niuean, but the best known case involves an operation first documented by Seiter (1980), which he terms "raising." Specifically, Niuean raising appears to license an A-type dependency between the subject position of thematrix clause and the object position of an immediately embedded clause. This is illustrated in (1), where the semantic object of the embedded subjunctive clause, Sione, appears as the syntactic subject of the matrix predicate maeke. (1) To FUT maeke possible a ABS Sione1 Sione [ke SBJ lagomatai help he ERG ekekafo doctor t1]. 'It's possible the doctor can help Sione.' (lit.: Sione is possible that the doctor help [him]) Granting that the filler-gap dependency in (1) is A-type, this is both a clear violation of Attract closest (Rizzi 1992; Chomsky 1995; Richards 1998) and a typological anomaly. Our aim in this paper is to argue that such apparent violations of Attract Closest are only that. Specifically, we show first that the challenge inherent in Seiter's raising construction is pervasive throughout the language: in general, objects are accessible to syntactic operations even if the intervening clause-mate subject is also a licit target. In other words, Niuean clause-mate subjects and objects are equally accessible to syntactic operations. Then, we argue that this typologically uncommon equal-accessibility follows from the convergence of several otherwise independently attested operations: (i) a configurational system of case licensing, with a vP as the case computation domain; (ii) obligatory object shift to Spec(vP); (iii) an EPP on T triggering V/VP-raising rather than DP externalization. The resulting basic clause structure is then as below, so that Niuean adheres to standard locality constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Niuean (ISO 639-3 code niu) is a Polynesian language spoken on the island of Niue, with an additional population of speakers living in New Zealand. Figure 1 indicates where Niue is located with respect to other neighboring islands in the South Pacific. The 2011 Niue Census of Populations and Households cited the number of individuals who had either basic or fluent spoken abilities at 1121 (with 101 non-speakers) (Statistics Niue 2012). English is the second most widely used language on the island. The 2013 New Zealand census cited 4548 individuals living in New Zealand who listed Niuean as one of their languages (Statistics New Zealand 2013). Niuean is classified as ‘definitely endangered’ by UNESCO (Moseley 2010). There are historically two distinct dialects: the older Motu dialect from the northern area, and the more recent Tafiti from the southern area. These dialect differences were once reflected in slight phonological differences in vocabulary items, but the differences have since eroded in the modern language (see McEwen 1970: ix). Previous research on Niuean phonetics and phonology includes a brief outline in Seiter (1980: x), two dictionaries (McEwen 1970, Sperlich 1997), and an article on vowel length (Rolle & Starks 2014). While these works provide an overview of some of the phenomena to be addressed below, this sketch attempts a more thorough documentation of the phonetic structures of Niuean, and provides novel acoustic and articulatory data from the language. Recordings accompanying this paper are of a male speaker (Mr. Krypton Okesene) and a female speaker (the second author). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English is not canonically considered a pro-drop language. Despite this, it does allow null pronouns, although less freely than traditional pro-drop languages like Italian and Japanese. The focus of this paper is the instructional register (characteristic of recipes) where we claim that object pronouns are obligatorily null in English: “Take 3 eggs. Break _ into a bowl.”. We present an analysis of Instructional Register Null Objects that also accounts for obligatorily null pronouns in certain radical pro-drop languages like Niuean. In this language, most pronouns are optionally null, however 3rd person inanimate pronouns are obligatorily null. We argue that the obligatorily null nature of such pronouns (whether register-specific like in English, or general as in Niuean) is a result of their lack of φ-features, which leaves them with only the option of being realized through Neeleman & Szendrői’s (2007) general Zero Spell-out Rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a semantic analysis of the perfect aspect in Niuean (Polynesian). We argue based on novel data that the Niuean perfect shares many properties with the English perfect, but also several striking differences. The Niuean perfect disallows universal perfect readings, can induce inchoative readings, and with some event-types allows present in-progress readings. We analyze the Niuean perfect as introducing inchoative semantics: it adds an initial change-of-state to the predicate to which it attaches, and places that change-of-state inside the Perfect Time Span. Our findings cast doubt on a model of grammar whereby lexical aspectual operations such as inchoativization are strictly separated from viewpoint aspectual operations such as the perfect. We argue for a flexible approach whereby different components of meaning (inchoativity, a Perfect Time Span restriction, current relevance effects) can be introduced at different levels and combined in different ways by languages to produce surface cross-linguistic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers data from Niuean, a Polynesian language with VSO word order and an extensive range of grammatical particles. We focus on three question particles, nakai, ka and kia, examining their possible historical origins. In related languages the preferred means of forming a yes–no question is by intonation alone, while in the Polynesian languages that have yes–no question particles, the forms are lexically distinct from those found in Niuean. We argue that the Niuean unmarked question particle nakai is derived from the negative, the pragmatically marked kia construction from the polite form of the imperative, and the ka construction from a lexical item which signals confirmation. In all three cases, the question particles do not replace their original grammatical or lexical source words but rather co-exist with them in new contexts. The three question particles have all undergone a process of semantic bleaching, increased syntactic bonding, and in some cases, phonetic reduction. While two of the processes have occurred early in Niuean, one is a very recent development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

At the surface level, Niuean has a three-way distinction between vowels of the same quality: short vowels, written as ; double (or rearticulated) vowels, written as ; and long vowels, written as . While the Polynesian literature suggests that the distinction between long and double vowels is one based on stress assignment, little evidence has been presented to support such a claim for Niuean. This paper presents a series of arguments on how best to understand the status of Niuean vowels. We argue that double and long vowels are reducible to an underlying sequence of two identical short vowels and support this analysis with two main pieces of evidence: a corpus of words in Sperlich's dictionary of Niuean show long vowels and double vowels to be in complementary distribution; and phonetic analyses of Niuean words suggest that the phonetic difference between long and double vowels can best be captured in terms of pitch height rather than duration, a main correlate of stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents the rich array of nuclear complex predicates in Niuean, an Oceanic (Polynesian) language of the Tongic subgroup. Niuean exhibits closed class secondary elements such as pre-verbs and light verbs and post-verbal directionals and completion verbs. In addition, there is a wide range of open class secondary elements denoting resultative, depictive, and modificational meanings, as well as many ‘duplicates’ where both predicates have essentially the same meaning, and exocentric noun-adjective compound predicates. After the various types of complex predicates are presented, they are grouped into four categories, according to their argument-sharing properties: external argument shared, internal argument shared, no arguments shared, and all arguments shared. Based on these properties, and on word order, a structural analysis is developed. It is argued that the secondary predicates are merged in one of four different positions in the structure, taking an IP, vP, VP, or V complement. Due to two types of VP movement independently posited for Niuean (rollup VP movement and predicate fronting), each of these merge positions results in a surface V+V juxtaposition structure, but each merge position correlates with different semantic, word order, and argument-sharing properties for the resulting complex predicate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines genitive subjects in relative constructions in Polynesian languages, with a focus on Niuean and Maori. In these languages, the subject of a relative clause may optionally be expressed as a genitive, appearing outside the relative clause, akin to English examples such as “his book to read”. The construction is compared to similar ones in Altaic languages, with a key difference being that in the Polynesian examples, genitive case clearly originates outside the relative clause. The question arises as to how the genitive nominal relates to its assumed theta position inside the relative clause. Arguments are presented against a raising and a control analysis. Instead, it is posited that the genitive nominal is externally merged outside the relative clause, forming a constituent with the entire relative construction, not with the relative clause, nor with the head of the relative clause. The genitive nominal receives its theta role in this external position through a process of semantic control directly of a theta feature within the lexical predicate in the relative clause. A remaining issue is that the relative clause does not appear to be reduced in Polynesian languages, as it more clearly is in similar constructions in Altaic languages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper addresses the issue of whether there are determiners in the Polynesian language Niuean. In the literature, determiners are viewed as having three main functions: allowing a nominal phrase to serve as an argument, encoding definiteness and specificity, and providing referentiality. The left peripheral elements in the Niuean noun phrase are detailed, and it is argued that case in conjunction with a feature for proper/common serves the first function, that definiteness and specificity are not encoded in Niuean except in a secondary manner, and that referentiality is provided by number, which is distributed across several items in the noun phrase. It is demonstrated that while definiteness and specificity are not contrastive features in Niuean, a feature encoding focused and new information is central to the Niuean nominal system. Niuean thus supports a view of determiners that allows them to vary in their semantic and featural content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This discussion by the Vagahau Niue (Niue language) talanoa group pertains to the struggle against the loss of Vagahau Niue and culture in Aotearoa/New Zealand. We talk critically about ideas that will revive and maintain Vagahau Niue in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The talanoa group knows and understands that our language is at risk. This knowledge is strengthened by our use of existing figures available on Pacific Islands languages in Aotearoa/New Zealand, shared by the pulotu (knowledgeable), John McCaffery. These figures show that Vagahau Niue has a dangerously low number of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of word order in Niuean, a Polynesian language traditionally considered to be V1. The central issue explored is: what are the relations between languages traditionally described as V1 and those traditionally described as V2? Landing sites, motivations for movement, and movement types are compared, and although at first glance the language types seem different, many common points can be discerned. Particular attention is paid to whether Niuean, a language in which tense does not appear on the verb but rather as a separate constituent, can fit into recent hypotheses that both V1 and V2 languages arise through an attempt to avoid verb-first (*V-1) or tense-first (*T-1) orders. The conclusion is that it can, in spite of appearances, but several tricky issues emerge regarding the definition of “first”. For example, neither *V-1 nor *T-1 can be a simple phonological constraint, and it becomes evident that to determine the validity of the two constraints we need a clearer understanding of the visibility (or not) of different types of elements including null and syncretic morphemes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This introduction presents the research project of the volume Verb-first, Verb-second and sketches its empirical domain and theoretical background, introducing the contributions to the volume through a survey of the main issues at stake. I present a typology of V2 languages, and discuss their parallels and divergences with V1 languages in a comparative and theoretical perspective. The definitional contrast between V1 and V2 is set up by an inventory of what can come first in V2 orders, from multiple XPs to heads, and V2 is discussed in the broader context of other second position phenomena. The syntactic properties associated in the literature with V2 are systematically confronted with crosslinguistic variation: verb-finality, particular underlying word orders, verb landing site, agreement morphology, VS adjacency, left periphery specific to V2, information structure constraints, and expletives. The reader is provided with robust typological generalisations and a clear terminology for a better understanding of the contributions in this volume and their context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines a small group of Niuean New Zealanders typical of their community; all have English as their primary language, and most only a passive knowledge of the Niuean language. The speakers are members of a lower socio-economic community, yet they lack most of the grammatical variation associated with similar communities which have English as a first language. The paper considers agreement in there existential constructions in the spontaneous and scripted spoken discourse of a Niuean interviewer and her 14 Niuean participants. This variable is of interest because singular agreement in existential constructions is widespread and relatively unstigmatised in most varieties of spoken New Zealand English, yet stigmatised in some written forms. The findings point to patterns of variation which are both similar to and distinct from that of the wider New Zealand speech community, and highlight the need for qualitative analyses of grammatical variation in immigrant communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines existential pseudo noun incorporating (PNI) constructions in Niuean (Polynesian). There are two types of existential PNI constructions in Niuean, one in which the incorporated element is the pivot of the existential construction, and the other in which the incorporated element is a pronominal locative phrase, with the pivot serving as an argument in the sentence. These are first analyzed as PNI constructions, and then they are compared both with existing analyses of existential constructions in other languages, and with other PNI constructions in Niuean. The two Niuean constructions line up with two conflicting analyses of existential sentences in English (the DP analysis and the small clause analysis). In comparing the existential PNI constructions with regular PNI constructions, it is noted that existential incorporation stands apart from regular incorporation in that the incorporated NP may be associated with a relative clause, and it introduces an entity with existential and discourse referential properties. It is argued that the referentiality of the incorporated NP is provided by the verb of existence, which thus functions both as a verb and a determiner, rather than by any DP-internal functional projection. In addition it is noted that phrases larger than noun phrases are subject to PNI in locative and existential constructions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper provides an initial analysis into the phonetic and phonological features of Niuean English as spoken in the New Zealand Niuean community. The paper highlights similarities and differences between New Zealand English and Niuean English, points to subtle differences due to potential substratal influences, and considers the effects of recent changes in New Zealand English on the English of Niuean speakers in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the Tongic subgroup of Polynesian, consisting of Niuean and Tongan, is defined by a number of shared innovations, Niuean is known to exhibit phonological and lexical features that can be taken as evidence of Eastern Polynesian (EPn) influence. Niuean also shows syntactic features that are prominent among EPn languages, but absent in Tongan. This paper examines whether these syntactic features can be taken to be shared innovations and hence constitute a basis for a subgroup including EPn and Niuean. The current study suggests that convergent development is the probable explanation for the syntactic similarities between Niuean and EPn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a first examination of discourse particles in Niuean, a Polynesian language of the Tongic subgroup, using data from interviews from the Pasifika Languages of Manukau project. Although there has been some research on grammatical particles in Niuean, there has been little or no reference to the structure and function of discourse particles. We provide an initial framework for categorizing the various types of discourse particles in the language, and give a preliminary account of the function of two affirmative discourse particles, haia and mitaki. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the Niuean community and the evolving roles of Niuean language and identity in New Zealand, where the majority of Niueans now reside. As part of the Pasifika Languages of Manukau Project (PLMP), 30 New Zealand Niueans participated in detailed interviews on issues relating to language maintenance. This paper considers their responses both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative data provide a basis for discussions on identity; considering age-graded changes in the areas of first language, reported language proficiency and language use. The qualitative data, which draw on personal narratives from the interviews, focuses on why these changes are taking place. The narratives provide vivid illustrations of the importance of both English and Niuean, the different roles that the two languages serve, and the conflict that many Niueans experience when attempting language maintenance initiatives in an English-dominant context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacific Island nations have recently been involved in selling their country domain names, notably, “.nu” (for Niue) and “.tv” (for Tuvalu). In Niue's case this has given free access to the Internet to those living in Niue, resulting in a subsequent rise in their participation in Web-based forums that deal exclusively with Niuean issues. One site, OKA-KOA, based in Australia and modeled on the KAVABOWL Web site catering generally to Pacific Islanders, has a number of forums in which Niueans discuss everything from politics to family weddings. Included is a forum dedicated to Niuean language issues. This paper analyzes the Niuean language use in the OKA-KOA site, looking at the potential for a Niuean language renaissance. On the positive side, Web-based discourse allows the Niuean diaspora to communicate with each other and with native-speaking Niueans who still reside in Niue, boosting exposure to native language use. However, as examples indicate, the fast-changing technology driving the Web attracts users of English and fosters a code-mixed English and Niuean insider language. In conclusion, speculations on the benefits offered online for the Niuean language are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the article "Vowel Length in Niuean" which focuses on the Niuean and Tongan languages, and the patterns of long and double vowels. Topics discussed include the writing of the long and double vowels which were recommended by author C. Maxwell Churchward, the prosodic stress algorithm, and the functions of language as a form communication.