Tahitian (te reo tahiti/te reo Māʼohi)

Tahitian is a Polynesian language spoken in French Polynesia by
about 125,000 people. Most speakers of the language live in the
Society Islands (Îles de la Société)
and some islands in the Tuamotus including the Mihiroa group. It
is also spoken in New Caledonia, New Zealand and Vanuatu, and is
closely related to Rarotongan and Hawai’ian.

Until the early 19th century Tahitian was a purely oral language.
A Tahitian spelling system using the Latin alphabet was developed
by John Davis, a Welsh historian and linguist, and proposed on 8th
March 1805. Davis produduced the first printed book in Tahitian, an
ABC called Te Aebi no Tahiti, in 1810. Most of the written
material published since has been of a religious or educational nature.

Tahitian alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

Every syllable in Tahitian ends in a vowel. There are no silent letters.
There are no consonants clusters, but vowel clusters are common. In such
cases, each vowel is pronounced as a separate syllable. A macron (ā,
ē, etc.) lengthens a vowel.

Sample text in Tahitian

E fanauhia te tā’āto’ara’a o te ta’atātupu ma te
ti’amā e te ti’amanara’a ‘aifaito. Ua ‘ī te mana’o pa’ari e i te
manava e ma te ‘a’au taea’e ‘oia ta ratou ha’a i rotopū ia ratou iho,
e ti’a ai;

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)