Proto-Polynesian language

Proto-Polynesian is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Polynesian languages, inferred by comparing systematic similarities among their sound systems, words, and grammar.

Comparative method: A method for reconstructing ancestral languages by comparing systematic correspondences among related languages. Regular sound correspondences among Polynesian languages support reconstruction of Proto-Polynesian forms.
Austronesian languages: A language family extending from Taiwan through Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific to Madagascar. Proto-Polynesian is a descendant of Proto-Austronesian within this wider family.
Historical linguistics: The study of how languages change and how they are related through descent. Proto-Polynesian is a central object of historical linguistic reconstruction.
Tongan language: A Polynesian language spoken primarily in Tonga and a member of the Tongic branch. Tongan preserves distinctive evidence for one major branch of Proto-Polynesian's descendants.
Proto-Polynesian phonology: The reconstructed sound system of Proto-Polynesian, including its consonants, vowels, and syllable patterns. Its sound inventory is inferred from recurring correspondences across daughter languages.
Proto-Oceanic language: The reconstructed ancestor of Oceanic languages, a major branch of the Austronesian family. Proto-Oceanic is the broader ancestral stage from which Proto-Polynesian developed.
Proto-language: A reconstructed ancestral language inferred from systematic similarities among related languages. Proto-Polynesian is one such inferred ancestor, not a directly recorded language.
Samoan language: A Polynesian language spoken in Samoa and American Samoa, belonging to the Nuclear Polynesian branch. Samoan provides comparative evidence from outside the Tongic branch.
Sound change: A regular alteration in how a sound is pronounced over time within a language or language community. Daughter languages preserve different outcomes of ancestral Proto-Polynesian sounds.
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian language: The reconstructed ancestor of Malayo-Polynesian languages, a large Austronesian subgroup. Its descendants include the Oceanic branch that eventually gave rise to Proto-Polynesian.

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