Samoan language

It is not for want of trouble taken, nor of an impartial temper, and if my plain speaking shall cost me any of the friends that I still count, I shall be sorry, but I need not be ashamed.

In particular, the spelling of Samoan words has been altered, and the characteristic nasal n of the language written throughout, ng instead of g.

Thus I put Pango Pango instead of Pago Pago, the sound being that of the soft ng in English, as in singer, not as in finger.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima, Upolu, Samoa.

And yet, if he sufficiently outraged clan sentiment, was liable to deposition.

As to authority, the parallel is not so close.

Doubtless the Samoan chief, if he be popular, wields a great influence, but it is limited.

Important matters are debated in a fono, or native parliament, with its feasting and parade, its endless speeches and polite genealogical allusions.

How about

among Reotiti, how about other Polynesian languages, Samoan, Hawaiian, Maori? Where do you see intelligibility among related in that same language family?

Yes, there is also a connection, you know, between the languages of French Polynesia and the languages of the other South Pacific islands or culture, I'll say, or countries.

And history can tell because we all, through the history, you know, there was that whole migration of people who travel between all these islands.

And then fare in Māori, it's W-A-H-A-R-E.

In Hawaiian house is hale.

In Samoan is fale.

In Tongan is also fale.

It is not for want of trouble taken, nor of an impartial temper, and if my plain speaking shall cost me any of the friends that I still count, I shall be sorry, but I need not be ashamed.

In particular, the spelling of Samoan words has been altered, and the characteristic nasal N of the language written throughout NG instead of G.

Thus I put Pango Pango instead of Pago Pago, the sound being that of the soft NG in English, as in singer, not as in finger.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima, Upolu, Samoa.

And yet, if he sufficiently outraged clan sentiment, was liable to deposition.

As to authority, the parallel is not so close.

Doubtless the Samoan chief, if he be popular, wields a great influence, but it is limited.

Important matters are debated in a fono, or native parliament, with its feasting and parade, its endless speeches and polite genealogical allusions.

It is not for want of trouble taken, nor of an impartial temper, and if my plain speaking shall cost me any of the friends that I still count, I shall be sorry, but I need not be ashamed.

In particular, the spelling of Samoan words has been altered, and the characteristic nasal n of the language written throughout, ng instead of g.

Thus I put Pango Pango instead of Pago Pago, the sound being that of the soft ng in English, as in singer, not as in finger.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima, Upolu, Samoa.

He was sometimes appointed its chief officer and conventional father, was loved and respected and served and fed, and died for implicitly if he gave loyalty a chance, and yet, if he sufficiently outraged clan sentiment, was liable to deposition.

As to authority, the parallel is not so close.

Doubtless the Samoan chief, if he be popular, wields a great influence, but it is limited.

Important matters are debated in a fono, or native parliament, with its feasting and parade, its endless speeches and polite genealogical allusions.

Language has always been something that was a bit iffy with me, but with you?

Yeah, well, for me, I would say I've kind of lost a lot of, like, not part of the Samoan language that I... which is my native language.

But yeah, I'm slowly getting back into it.

But

Like for example the Maathai part of it, right? So I used to understand them but not as I used to be anymore.

And I think that's something that's on me to be able to regain it back and finding ways to do that.

of being back in New Zealand during my internship actually there's so many people that have offered different Samoan cultural or language classes online which is so cool to see because I think our young people nowadays are more in tune with culture than ever because they're so you know proud of who they are and the culture that they belong and language they want to speak as well so

Yeah, I find it interesting.

And if my plain speaking shall cost me any of the friends that I still count, I shall be sorry, but I need not be ashamed.

In particular, the spelling of Samoan words has been altered, and the characteristic nasal n of the language written throughout, ng instead of g.

Thus I put pango pango instead of pago pago, the sound being that of the soft ng in English, as in singer, not as in finger.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima, Upolu, Samoa End of Section 0 Section 1 of a footnote to history, Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, by Robert Louis Stevenson This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Alistair Chapter 1.

And yet, if he sufficiently outraged clan sentiment, was liable to deposition.

As to authority, the parallel is not so close.

Doubtless the Samoan chief, if he be popular, wields a great influence, but it is limited.

Important matters are debated in a fono, or native parliament, with its feasting and parade, its endless speeches and polite genealogical allusions.

Journey through the heart of Europe on an elegant Viking longship with thoughtful service, destination-focused dining and cultural enrichment onboard and onshore And every Viking voyage is all inclusive with no children and no casinos Discover more at viking.com

Section zero of a footnote to history eight years of trouble in Samoa This is a LibriVox recording All Libri Vox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit librivoxorg Read by Alistair A Footnote to History Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa By Robert Louis Stevenson Preface An affair which might be deemed worthy of a note of a few lines in any general history has here been expanded to the size of a volume or a large pamphlet The smallness of the scale and the singularity of the manners and events and many of the characters considered It is hoped that in spite of its outlandish subject the sketch may find readers It has been a task of difficulty Speed was essential Or it might come too late To be of any service To a distracted country Truth In the midst Of conflicting rumours And in the dearth Of printed material Was often Hard to ascertain And since Most of those engaged Were of my personal Acquaintance It was Often More than Delicate To express I must Certainly have Erred Often And much It is not for want of trouble taken Nor of an impartial temper And if My plain speaking Shall cost me Any of the friends That I still count I shall Be sorry But I need Not be ashamed In particular The spelling of Samoan words Has been altered And the characteristic Nasal n Of the language Written throughout Ng Instead of g Thus I put Pango pango instead of Pago pago the sound being that of the soft ng in English as in singer not as in finger robert lewis stevenson vailima upolu samoa End of section 0 Section one of a footnote to history Eight years of trouble in Samoa By Robert Lewis Stevenson This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Read by Alastair Chapter One The Elements of Discord Native The story I have to tell Is still going on As I write The characters Are alive And active It is a piece of contemporary history In the most exact sense And yet For all its actuality And the part played in it By the mails and telegraphs And iron warships The ideas and manners Of the native actors Date back before the Roman Empire They are Christians Churchgoers Singers of hymns At family worship Hardy cricketers Their books are Printed in London By Spotterswood Trubner or the Tract Society But in most other points they are the contemporaries of our tattooed ancestors who drove their chariots on the wrong side of the Roman wall We have passed the feudal system; they are not yet clear of the patriarchal we are in the thick of the age of finance they are in a period of communism and this makes them hard to understand To us With our Feudal Ideas Samoa Has the first appearance Of a land of despotism An elaborate Courtliness Marks the race Alone among The Polynesians Terms of Ceremony Fly thick as Oaths On board a ship Commoners Mylord each Other when they meet And urchins As they play Marbles For the real Noble a whole Private dialect Is set apart The common names For an axe For blood For bamboo A bamboo knife A pig Food Entrails And an oven Are taboo In his presence As the common Names for a bug And for many Officers and members Of the body Are taboo In the drawing Rooms of english Ladies Special Words are Set apart For his leg His face His hair His belly His eyelids His son His daughter His wife His wife's Pregnancy His wife's Adultery adultery with his wife his dwelling his spear his comb his sleep his dreams his anger the mutual anger of several chiefs his food his pleasure in eating the food and eating of his pigeons his ulcers his cough his sickness his recovery his death his being carried on a bier the exhumation of his bones and his skull after death to address these demigods is quite a branch of knowledge and he who goes to visit a high chief does well to make sure of the competence of his interpreter to complete the picture the same word signifies the watching of a virgin and the warding of a chief and the same word means to cherish a chief and to fondle a favourite child men like us full of memories of feudalism hear of a man so addressed so flattered and we leap at once to the conclusion that he is hereditary and absolute hereditary he is born of a great family he must be a man of mark but yet his office is elective and in a weak sense is held on good behaviour compare the case of a highland chief born one of the great ones of his clan he was sometimes appointed its chief officer and conventional father was loved and respected and served and fed and died for implicitly if he gave loyalty a chance.

And yet, if he sufficiently outraged clan sentiment was liable to deposition as to authority the parallel is not so close doubtless the Samoan chief If he be popular wields a great influence but it is limited important matters are debated in a fono or native parliament with its feasting and parade Its endless speeches and polite genealogical allusions Debated I say Not decided For even a small minority will often strike A clan Or a province Impotent In the midst of these ineffective councils The chief sits usually silent A kind of gagged audience for village orators And the deliverance of the fono seems for the moment To be final The absolute chiefs of Tahiti and Hawaii were addressed As plain John and Thomas The chiefs of Samoa Are surfeited With lip honor But the seat and extent Of their actual Authority Is hard to find It is so in the members of the state And worse in the belly The idea of a sovereign pervades the air The name we have The thing We are not so sure of And the process of election to the chief power is a mystery Certain provinces Have in their gift certain high titles or names as they are called These can only be attributed to the descendants of particular lines Once granted Each name conveys at once the principality Whatever that be worth Of the province which bestows it And counts as one suffrage towards the general sovereignty of Samoa To be indubitable king They say Or some of them say I find few in perfect harmony A man should resume five of these names in his own person But the case is purely hypothetical Local jealousy forbids its occurrence There are rival provinces far more concerned in the prosecution of their rivalry than in the choice of a right man for King If one of these shall have bestowed its name on competitor A It will be the signal and the sufficient reason for the other to bestow its name on competitor B or C The majority of Savaii and that of Ana are thus in perennial opposition Nor is this all In 1881 Laupepa the present king held the three names of Malietoa Notoatele and Tamasualii Tamasese held that of Tiaana and Mataafa that of Tiatua Laopepa had thus a majority of suffrages He held perhaps as high a proportion as can be hoped in these distracted islands and he counted among the number the preponderant name of Maliatoa Here if ever Was an election here If a king was at all possible was the king and Yet the natives Were not satisfied Laopepa was crowned March nineteenth and the next month the provinces of Arana Anatura met in joint Parliament and elected their own two princes Tamasese and Mataafa to an alternate monarchy Tamasese taking the first trick of two years War was imminent when the consuls interfered and any war were preferable to the terms of peace which they procured By the Lacawana treaty Laopepa was confirmed king and Tama sesse set by his side in the nondescript office of vice-king The compromise was not I am told without precedent but it lacked all appearance of success To the constitution of Samoa Which was already All wheels and no horses the Consuls Had added a fifth wheel in addition to the old conundrum who is the king? They had supplied a new one what is the Vice King Two royal Lines Some cloudy Idea of alternation between the two An electorate in which the vote of each Province is immediately effectual as regards itself So that every candidate Who attains One Name becomes a perpetual and dangerous Competitor for the Other four Such are a Few of the More trenchant absurdities Many argue That the whole idea of Sovereignty is modern and imported but it Seems impossible that anything so Foolish Should have been suddenly devised and the Constitution bears On its front the marks of dotage But the King once Elected and nominated What does he become? It may be said he remains precisely as he was Election to one of the Five Names is significant It brings not Only dignity but Power and the Holder is secure from that Moment of a certain following in War But I cannot Find that the further step of Election to kingship implies Anything worth mention The successful Candidate is now the tupu o samoa Much good May it do him He can so Sign himself on proclamations Which it Does not follow that anyone Will heed He can summon parliaments It does not Follow they will assemble If he be too flagrantly disobeyed He can go to war But so he could before When he was only the Chief of certain Provinces His own provinces will support Him The provinces of his Rivals will take the field upon the other part just as Before insofar as he is the holder of Any of the Five Names in short he is a Man to be reckoned with insofar as he is King of Samoa I Cannot find but what the President of a College debating society is a Far more formidable officer and unfortunately although the credit Side of the account proves Thus imaginary the debit side For he is now set up to be the mark of the consuls.

He will be badgered to raise taxes, to make roads, to punish crime, to quell rebellion; and how he is to do this is not asked.

If I am in the least right in my presentation of this obscure matter no one need be surprised to hear that the land is full of war and rumours of war.

Scarce a year goes by but what some province is in arms or sits sulky and menacing holding parliaments disregarding the king's proclamations and planting food in the bush—the first step of military preparation The religious sentiment of the people is indeed for peace at any price No pastor can bear arms And even the layman who does so is denied the sacraments In the last war the College of Malua where picked youth are prepared for the ministry lost but a single student: the rest 'in the bosom of a bleeding country,' and deaf to the voices of vanity and honour peacefully pursued their studies But if the Church looks askance on war the warrior in no extremity of need or passion forgets his consideration of the church The houses and gardens of her ministers are safe in the midst of armies A way is reserved for themselves along the beach Where they may be seen in their white kilts and jackets openly passing the lines While not a hundred yards behind the skirmishers will be exchanging the useless volleys of barbaric warfare Women are also respected They are not fired upon And they are suffered to pass between the hostile camps Exchanging gossip Spreading rumors And divulging to either army the secret counsels of the other This is plainly no savage war It has all the punctilio of the barbarian and all his parade Feasts precede battles Fine dresses and songs decorate and enliven the field And the young soldier comes to camp burning On the one hand To distinguish himself by acts of valour And on the other To display his acquaintance with field etiquette Thus after Mataafa became involved in the hostilities against the Germans and had another code to observe beside his own he was always asking his white advisers if things were done correctly Let us try to be as wise as Mataafa and to conceive that etiquette and morals differ in one country and another We shall be the less surprised to find Samoan war defaced with some unpalatable customs The childish destruction of fruit trees in an enemy’s country cripples the resources of Samoa And the habit of head-hunting Not only revolts foreigners But has begun to exercise the minds of the natives themselves Soon after the German heads were taken Mr Khan Wesleyan missionary Had occasion to visit Mataafa's camp and spoke of the practice with abhorrence Missy Khane Said one chief we have just been puzzling ourselves as to guess where that custom came from But missy Is it not so That when David killed Goliath He cut off his head and carried it before the King With the civil life of the inhabitants we have far less to do and yet even here a word of preparation is inevitable They are easy merry and pleasure loving Though by far from either the most capable Or the most beautiful Of the Polynesians Find dress is a passion And makes Samoan festival a thing of beauty Song is almost ceaseless The boatman sings at the oar The family At evening worship The girls At night in the guest house Sometimes The workman at his toil No occasion is too small For the poets and musicians A death A visit The day's news The day's pleasantry Will be Set to rhyme and harmony Even half grown girls [The occasion arising] Fashion words and train choruses of children for its celebration Song As with all Pacific islanders Goes hand in hand With dance And both Shade into the drama Some of the performances Are indecent and ugly Some Only dull Others are Pretty Funny and attractive Games are popular Cricket matches Were a hundred played Upon a side Endured at times For weeks And ate up the country Like the presence of an army Fishing The daily bath Flirtation Courtship Which is gone upon By proxy Conversation which is largely political and the delights of public oratory fill in the long hours But the special delight of the Samoan is the malaga When people form a party and go from village to village junketing and gossiping They are said to go on a malanga Their songs Have announced their approach Ere they arrive The guesthouse is Prepared for their reception The virgins of the village attend to prepare the kava bowl and entertain them with the dance Time flies in the enjoyment of every pleasure which an Islander conceives and when the malunga sets forth the same welcome and the same joys expect them beyond the next cape where the nearest Village nestles in its grove of palms To the visitors it is All golden For the hosts it Has another side In one or two Words of the language The fact peeps Slyly out The same word Afemoina Expresses ‘a long call,’ and “to come as a calamity.” The same word Lesolosulu signifies "To have no intermission of pain” and ”To have no cessation,” as in the arrival of visitors." And Sua used of epidemics bears the sense of being overcome with fire flood or Visitors But the gem of the dictionary is the verb alavoa which illustrates its pages like a humorous woodcut It is used in the sense of ’to avoid visitors’, but means literally hide in the wood So by the shorthand of popular speech we have the picture of the house deserted, the malunga disappointed and the host that should have been quaking in the bush.

We are thus brought to the beginning of a series of traits of manners highly curious in themselves and essential to an understanding of the war.

In Samoa authority sits on the one hand entranced; on the other property stands bound in the midst of chartered marauders.

With the Romance languages, however, we have an unusually convenient situation – in that their immediate ancestor latin is so widely documented that we don't need to reconstruct forms in order to make inferences about things like sound changes french cheval spanish caballo and italian cavallo are immediately traceable to latin and that allows us to deduce that for some reason a sound change occurred in gallo romance but not ibero romance namely the palatalization of velas before a back vowel taking us from the ca of latin cabalus to the sh sound of cheval in french which didn't occur in spanish or italian for example Polynesia is also an interesting example.

Languages there such as Maori, Hawaiian, Samoan and Tongan are separated by vast distances across the Pacific, but their similarities have allowed linguists to reconstruct Proto-Polynesian.

From the modern languages, researchers can infer not only vocabulary, but aspects of the sound system and grammar of a language spoken before Polynesian expansion across the Pacific.

Some reconstructive vocabulary is particularly evocative because it relates to the practical world of the speakers, things to do with canoes, navigation and the tropical environment.