Languages of the Pacific

Find out about our strong tradition in Austronesian/Pacific research.

Almost one-quarter of the world's languages are spoken in the Pacific, making it linguistically the most complex region in the world. Our School has a strong tradition in Austronesian/Pacific research. Several of our staff members share a common concern with describing and helping to maintain and revitalise indigenous languages in this region.

Active research projects in this area

The syntax of the agent emphatic construction in Polynesian languages
A reappraisal of Austronesian higher-order phylogeny via a comparative look at morphosyntactic variation in higher-order languages
Comparative morphosyntax of Philippine-type languages
Comparative morphosyntax of Indonesian-type languages
Language variation and change in western Austronesian
Translanguaging to support Samoan language maintenance efforts
Translanguaging to support te reo Māori language reclamation and maintenance efforts
Heritage language policy of Pacific languages in Aotearoa
Discourses of mobility amongst the Tongan diaspora in Aotearoa
Phrasal prosody of heritage speakers of Samoan in Aotearoa
Signalling of information structure in Samoan, with a particular interest in prosodic cues

Researchers able to supervise in this area

Corinne Seals (heritage language policy; language(s) education; translanguaging; te reo Māori; Samoan; Tongan)
Sasha Calhoun (prosody; phonology-syntax interface; Samoan; Māori; Polynesian languages)
Victoria Chen (Austronesian comparative & diachronic morphosyntax; linguistic subgrouping)