Polynesian languages belong to the wider Austronesian language family. There are three branches of Polynesian: Western, Central & Eastern. Today we'll examine two Eastern Polynesian languages: Hawaiian (of Hawaii) and Māori (of New Zealand).

Hawaiian & Māori share many cognates between each other. Unfortunately, no study between them has been conducted to get an estimate, but Hawaiian has been compared to its sister language Marquesan (70%) and Tahitian (76%). From this information, we can make an assumption based off of these percents, that Hawaiian & Māori share around 73-75% lexical similarity (the amount of cognates both languages share between each other).

Cognate Vocabulary

Cognates are words of the same etymology (evolved from the same word.) This doesn't mean these words will have the exact same form, but the relationship is clear between them. Examples:

We (Dual/You and Me): Hawaiian = Māua/Kāua - Māori = Māua/Tāua

[Notice there's a difference between the personal pronouns; One pronoun excludes the listener (Māua), and One pronoun that includes the listener (Kāua/Tāua).]

Fish: Hawaiian = I'a - Māori = Ika

Sleep: Hawaiian = Moe - Māori = Moe

Woman: Hawaiian = Wahine - Māori = Wahine

The (Plural Definite): Hawaiian = Nā - Māori = Ngā

My: Hawaiian = Ka'u/Ko'u - Māori = Tāku/Tōku/Taku

Car: Hawaiian = Ka'a - Māori = Kā (loanwords from English "Car") 

Sound Shifts

A glottal stop in Hawaiian [ʔ] corresponds with Māori [k]. An interesting shift is when Hawaiian has [k], Māori has [t].

Three: Hawaiian = Kolu - Māori = Toru

*Note the shift from [l] to [r/ɾ], which is a common shift between related languages.

Similar Grammar

Look again at the word for My:

Hawaiian = Ka'u/Ko'u - Māori = Tāku/Tōku/Taku

Polynesian Languages have an interesting feature of grammar in terms of possession. There are forms that show whether or not you can possess the object or not. (How can we tell the difference about what we can actually possess the object or not?)

A-Class/Dominant Possession: Items you can choose to own or not (glasses, pencils, food etc.), and also used for people younger than you in your family (mainly your children)

O-Class/Recessive Possession: Items you can't choose to own (you inherently own them), like body parts (eyes, fingers, etc.), and used for objects as extensions of your body (home, clothes, etc.)

(A-Class) My Dog: Hawaiian = Ka'u 'Īlio - Māori = Tāku/Taku Kurī, but

(O-Class) My House: Hawaiian = Ko'u Hale - Māori = Tōku/Taku Whare

[Māori has an additional neutral possessive in the singular for all three numbers, and can be used if the specific A-Class or O-Class form isn't used.]

Check out my video ↑ if you want to see more about how Hawaiian & Māori are similar.