Resources

Buse, J.W., 1960, Rarotongan personal pronouns: form and distribution. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 23:123-137
1963a, Structure of Rarotongan nominal, negative and conjunctival pieces. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 25: 393-419.
1963b, Structure of the Rarotongan verbal piece. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 26: 152-169
1965, Problems of morphology and classification illustrated from Rarotongan. Lingua 15: 32-47.

Raranga or weaving a moenga or mat

This photo, from the 1920s, shows a group of Cook Islands women (va'ine tini) weaving a large mat from dried 'ara or pandanus leaves. Mats were used for floor coverings (āriki ta'ua) and bedding (kaka'u moe). The term for a floor mat - moenga suggests its use for sleeping (moe). Mats were made wide enough to double over the top of the sleeping family for warmth. Traditionally all work was undertaken collectively as the photo shows.