Ground-breaking study of the Central Eastern Polynesian languages. GAUSSIN, Pierre Louis Jean Baptiste. Du dialecte de Tahiti, de celui des îles Marquises, et, en général, de la langue polynésienne. Paris, Firmin Didot frères, 1853

8vo. Contemporary brown cloth. With a library stamp and number on the inside of the back cover. [8], 284 pp. Good copy, partly foxed. Binding worn at the edges, title on the spine faded and the top and bottom of the spine damaged.

Rare philological study of the Marquesan and Tahitian languages compared with the broader family of Polynesian languages. In this Volney Prize winning study, the French hydraulics engineer Gaussin, identified a number of important aspects which had eluded past scholars (and would continue to elude some future ones). Of ground-breaking importance, was the manner in which Gaussin showed clearly how the Polynesian k had become a glottal stop in Hawaiian. Unlike his English-speaking colleagues, the Frenchman Gaussin also "accurately perceived glottal stops at the beginning of words" (SchUtz). Also included in this book is a transcription and translation of a Tahitian story about the Polynesian sea god Ruahatu.