Ideologies from Tongan Punake on Language, Land and Tuahi Va

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2016-05

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[Honolulu] : [University of Hawaii at Manoa], [May 2016]

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This thesis examines the heritage language of the Kingdom of Tonga and Tonga’s traditional orators, the Punake. The Punake have been identified as a special class of orators and poets whose language practices and language ideologies illuminate the state of traditional and contemporary Tongan. The three chapters of this work explain and clarify who the Punake are, their history, the roles they play within Tongan society, and especially their language practices, and document the self reflections of the Punake, their role in Tongan culture, language, and society, and thereby identify and interpret their language ideologies. With specific attention to borrowing, tauhi vā, and the concepts of tuʻufonua and fakafonua, this thesis argues that punake are carrying the Tongan language forward into the future as they are caring for Tonga and Tongan language through certain language ideologies connected to the land and the speech practices that correspond to that and are motivated by them. In this thesis my goal is to identify, describe, and begin to think with the language ideologies of the punake and suggest the centrality and importance they have played and could continue to play in preserving Tongan language use for future generations. This work contributes to a better understanding of the Punake, Tongan language, Tongan culture, the patters and currents of language change, and the dynamic challenges facing communities across all of Oceania. By highlighting traditional poetics and poetic ideology, this work brings attention to the centrality of Tongan poetics established by ʻOkusitino Māhina, ʻI. Futa Helu, and Queen Sālote. In a real and tangible way, this work explores traditional language use in the context of a changing Tongan language and society.

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M.A. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2016.
Includes bibliographical references.

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Theses for the degree of Master of Arts (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Pacific Islands Studies Program

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