Saving a tongue
p. 62 · Read in the full issue
A Tahitian grammar book to help Tahitians preserve their own language has been published by a young Tahitian linguist, Duro Raapoto.
This book of over 300 pages is en titled Te Reo Haohi—Elements of Tahitian Grammar. It has been pub lished with the help of Jacques Drollet of the cultural group POL and the Protestant Education Depart ment in Tahiti. It is the first time such a work has been published by a Tahitian, seeking to explain the depths of meaning in his native tongue.
The teaching medium for school children throughout French Polynesia is French, and Raapoto's book is seen as part of a movement to reassert the significance of the Tahitian language and provide a basis for island chil dren to be correctly taught the tongue closest to their way of life.