Tuamotuan language
| Pa‘umotu | |
|---|---|
| Reo Pa’umotu Reko Pa’umotu | |
| Native to | French Polynesia |
| Region | Tuamotus, Tahiti |
| Ethnicity | 15,600 (2007 census?) |
Native speakers | 4,000 in Tuamotu (2007 census) many additional speakers in Tahiti |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | pmt |
| Glottolog | tuam1242 |
| ELP | Tuamotuan |
Pa‘umotu is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Tuamotuan, Pa’umotu or Paumotu (Tuamotuan: Reo Pa’umotu or Reko Pa’umotu) is a Polynesian language spoken by 4,000 people in the Tuamotu archipelago, with an additional 2,000 speakers in Tahiti.
The Pa‘umotu people today refer to their islands as Tuamotu while referring to themselves and their language as Pa‘umotu (or Paumotu). Pa‘umotu is one of six Polynesian languages spoken in French Polynesia, the other five languages being Tahitian, Marquesan, Mangarevan, Rapa, and Austral.
The Pa‘umotu alphabet is based on the Latin script.
The language was particularly studied by anthropologist John Francis Stimson (1893–1958), and by linguist Jean-Michel Charpentier (1943–2014).