| Penrhyn | |
| Also Known As: | Mangarongaro, Penrhynese, Tongareva |
| Nativename: | tongareva |
| States: | Cook Islands |
| Region: | Penrhyn Island, Northern Cook Islands |
| Speakers: | 200 |
| Date: | 2011 census |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | Oceanic |
| Fam4: | Polynesian |
| Fam5: | Eastern Polynesian |
| Fam6: | Tahitic |
| Iso3: | pnh |
| Glotto: | penr1237 |
| Glottorefname: | Māngarongaro |
| Map: | Lang Status 40-SE.svg |
The Penrhyn language is a Cook Islands Maori dialectal variant belonging to the Polynesian language family. It is spoken by about 200 people on Penrhyn Island and other islands in the Northern Cook Islands.[1] It is considered to be an endangered language as many of its users are shifting to Cook Islands Māori and English.
The alphabet used in the Penrhyn Dictionary has 21 letters: [2]
Long vowels are written with a macron.
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ (ng) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Fricative | (pronounced as /ink/) pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Liquid | pronounced as /ink/ (r) |
Tongareva is one of the few Cook Islands languages without a glottal stop pronounced as /link/. There is allophonic voicing of stops present.[2]