via Hawai’i Public Radio, 08 September 2021: In the Pacific Ocean, new research points to the origin of the Hawaian language.
New research on the origins of the Hawaiian language is stirring debate over the long-held theory in Polynesian migration that the islands were settled from Sāmoa.
A Big Island Hawaiian language professor uncovered linguistic evidence for a new theory – that Hawaiʻi’s first inhabitants may have migrated from a small chain of coral atolls closer to home.
For some 50 years, conventional understanding of Polynesian migration to Hawaiʻi was that the islands were settled from Sāmoa by way of the Marquesas more than 2,000 miles south of here. But UH Hilo Linguistics Professor William “Pila” Wilson says his research reveals a new theory.
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Wilson says he found that East Polynesia settlers originated from small Polynesian outlier islands such as Takuu. They sailed directly east to the Phoenix, Line, and Marquesas Islands, before migrating throughout East Polynesia.
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