'South Marquesan' is the
Marquesic, East Central
Polynesian language spoken in the southern
Marquesas Islands, as well as on
Ua Huka in the northern Marquesas.
The three most noticeable differences between it and
North Marquesan are its preference for /n/, /f/ and // (glottal stop) in some cases where North Marquesan uses /k/, /h/ and /k/.
This difference can be seen in such pairs as
:North Marquesan <
> South Marquesan
::haka <
> fana (bay)
::ha`e <
> fa`e (house)
::koe <
> `oe (you (singular))
Even the name of the island Ua Huka is, in South Marquesan, "Ua Huna".
The dialects fall roughly into four groups:
:Pepane: Eastern
Hiva `Oa
:
Fatu Hiva
:Nuku: Western Hiva `Oa and
Tahuata
:
Ua Huka, spoken on that island, and closely related to those of eastern Hiva Oa