On the Edge of Grammar: Discourse Particles in Niuean

This paper provides a first examination of discourse particles in Niuean, a Polynesian language of the Tongic subgroup, using data from interviews from the Pasifika Languages of Manukau project. Although there has been some research on grammatical particles in Niuean, there has been little or no reference to the structure and function of discourse particles. We provide an initial framework for categorizing the various types of discourse particles in the language, and give a preliminary account of the function of two affirmative discourse particles, haia and mitaki.