The dissertation is divided into five chapters and focuses primarily on Melville’s Typee, Omoo, Mardi, and Moby Dick. Chapter I introduces the idea that Melville understood Polynesian better than what critics have demonstrated, and that he used the Polynesian language to develop his own multicultural aesthetic. Chapter II discusses how Melville attempts to resolve his aesthetic preoccupations by opening his narratives to the literary potential of the Polynesian language. The chapter examines representative examples of the orthographic idiosyncrasies of Melville’s Polynesian adoptions and adaptations which describe his new literary aesthetic. The chapter also investigates how Melville’s Polynesian aesthetic affects the construction of meaning in his texts. The chapter finally discusses examples of past editorial choices which have sidestepped Melville’s Polynesian aesthetic and, thus, provided readers with a limited understanding of the Polynesian language’s role in Melville’s texts. Chapter III analyzes samples of Melville’s Polynesian adoptions and adaptations from the above narratives to emphasize the role of the Polynesian language in his Pacific experience. This chapter’s intention is to underline the interaction between Melville’s Polynesian language and culture and his texts, which engendered a complex multicultural aesthetic that permeated his first three works, continued to influence his later writings, and contributed significantly to his cosmopolitan vision of American cultural identity. Chapter IV contains the dictionary, which incorporates approximately two hundred entries. Each entry is divided into four sections. The first is a series of quotes from Melville’s texts that illustrate the various meanings that Melville has given to the term being examined. The second is a list of definitions from various dialects, intended to underline the various Polynesian linguistic elements that Melville adopted or adapted to construct each particular term. The third is an interpretative paragraph that explains how each term is divided into its constituent parts based on Melville’s aesthetic. The fourth section contains specific quotes from other sources of the particular term that underline the significance of that source to Melville’s knowledge of the particular term. Chapter V concludes with the idea that this dissertation is meant as a starting guide to reexamining Melville’s Polynesian aesthetic.

Diss.-- Göttingen. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-209).

A handful of rat species are among the most pervasive mammal species across the globe, primarily because of their close relationship with humans. The processes involved in this relationship, commensalism, are described in detail. Two rat species, Rattus rattus and Rattus exulans, are the focus of this thesis and their biology and taxonomy are described and discussed. Their modern distributions are the direct result of some of the earliest and most extensive human migration events in human history. The archaeology of the Pacific and Indian Oceans is described and migration vectors and spheres of interaction are identified. These possible patterns of human migration and exchange networks provide testable hypotheses that can be investigated using the subject rat species as proxies for long distance human movement. Modern and archaeological tooth samples of R. exulans and modern samples of R. rattus are analysed using geometric morphometrics. The results reveal important aspects of human migration and differences between these species' biology. R. exulans was likely to have been transported out of Island Southeast Asia at a very early date. Human colonisation of the Pacific occurred in a series of complex pulses and pauses that are clearly reflected in the R. exulans data. For the first time it is possible to demonstrate, within one dataset, the multiple origins and directions of colonisation across the Pacific. The R. rattus data provides a striking comparison, showing very different results that allude to a different level of modern gene-­‐ flow and therefore a difference in behaviour and biology. The results provide a framework for comparison with future archaeological material. The results presented and hypotheses raised have immediate application to existing archaeological material and areas of interest. Further commensal species should be examined following similar lines of questioning as applied here.

This thesis concerns the life-histories of the two contemporary Polynesian vovaging canoes from Aotearoa New Zealand. It documents the background, construction and voyages of Hawaiki Nui (1979 - 1986) built by Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell and Te Aurere (1992 - 1998) built by Hekenukumai Puhipi Busby. It also highlights the historical and cultural significance of waka for Maori and other indigenous Pacific peoples. Based on my field work as a participant in Maori voyaging between 1996 and 1998, I argue that this revival of waka voyaging reaffirms the cultural identities of contemporary Maori and other Polynesians. The case studies of Hawaiki Nui and Te Aurere confirm the ongoing significance of waka not only in Aotearoa New Zealand, but Pacific-wide. Contemporary Polynesian waka voyaging is historically significant as it revives unique Polynesian skills, such as traditional waka-building, navigation and sailing techniques. It is also culturally significant, as it reinforces central Maori (and Polynesian) cultural concepts, such as whakapapa (genealogy ties) and whanaungatanga (sense of belonging). At a time when Maori(as well as other indigenous Pacific peoples) are constantly negotiating and redefining their cultural boundaries within their respective socio-political contexts, Polynesian voyaging waka are reappearing as a strong symbol of Pacific Islanders� cultural identities. As a symbol of a shared seafaring past they create timeless platforms for Maori and other Polynesians to negotiate the boundaries of their cultures.

This thesis concerns the life-histories of the two contemporary Polynesian vovaging canoes from Aotearoa New Zealand. It documents the background, construction and voyages of Hawaiki Nui (1979 - 1986) built by Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell and Te Aurere (1992 - 1998) built by Hekenukumai Puhipi Busby. It also highlights the historical and cultural significance of waka for Maori and other indigenous Pacific peoples. Based on my field work as a participant in Maori voyaging between 1996 and 1998, I argue that this revival of waka voyaging reaffirms the cultural identities of contemporary Maori and other Polynesians. The case studies of Hawaiki Nui and Te Aurere confirm the ongoing significance of waka not only in Aotearoa New Zealand, but Pacific-wide. Contemporary Polynesian waka voyaging is historically significant as it revives unique Polynesian skills, such as traditional waka-building, navigation and sailing techniques. It is also culturally significant, as it reinforces central Maori (and Polynesian) cultural concepts, such as whakapapa (genealogy ties) and whanaungatanga (sense of belonging). At a time when Maori(as well as other indigenous Pacific peoples) are constantly negotiating and redefining their cultural boundaries within their respective socio-political contexts, Polynesian voyaging waka are reappearing as a strong symbol of Pacific Islanders� cultural identities. As a symbol of a shared seafaring past they create timeless platforms for Maori and other Polynesians to negotiate the boundaries of their cultures.

Thesis (MA--Art and Design) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2003. / Also held in print (60 leaves, col. ill., 30 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection (T 305.488994 CHR)

There is a need for more psychological studies that inform culture-specific adaptations in psychotherapy among Polynesian Americans. The use of humor has been identified as a potential adaptation in psychotherapy. Humor can be a catalyst for building and strengthening a healthy working alliance between counselor and client. The utilization of humor in therapy has significantly reduced mental health-seeking stigma. Evidence of the use of humor exists among Polynesian people prior to western colonization of Polynesia which suggests humor to be a culturally salient practice. The current study explored attitudes of seeking mental health counseling among Polynesian Americans while investigating the potential predictive relationship of humor coping and humor production on depression, stress, anxiety. The current study reports the findings of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Moreover, the psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale--21 (DASS-21), the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Help (ATSPH), and Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS) among Polynesian Americans were investigated. Overall Polynesian American participants n= 613 reported a significant positive relationship between the level of negative mental health states of depression, anxiety, stress, and the level of willingness toward seeking professional help. Another main finding was the significant relationship between these negative mental health states with and higher levels of skepticism towards seeking professional help. Humor coping was found to be a salient practice among male participants as well as with participants 18 to 29 years of age. Social humor production and personal humor production were marked preferences among participants 18 to 49 years of age. These findings suggest an urgent need for the development and implementation of culture-specific adaptations in psychotherapy among Polynesian Americans.

To date, no real consensus has emerged among syntacticians about how to derive verb-initial order (V1); but the two main approaches, \(V^0\)-raising and VP-raising, receive particularly widespread support in the literature. The syntax of Niuean pseudo noun incorporation (PNI) has played an important role in the propagation of the VP-raising analysis (Massam 2001), especially for VSO languages and languages with a VSO option. In this thesis, I present an analysis of the prosody of Niuean PNI and show that the PNI verb and incorporated argument form a prosodic constituent. While this result is consistent with the syntactic analysis of Massam (2001), it is also consistent with a prosodic restructuring analysis that explains the VOS order of PNI by appealing to prosodic well-formedness. I take the second approach. Specifically, the principle behind Selkirk's (1984) Sense Unit Condition requires that the verb and its internal argument(s) form a unique phonological phrase. In order to satisfy this requirement, the incorporated argument moves into a position adjacent to the verb at PF. Positionally motivated categorical feature sharing (Adger and Svenonius 2011; Pesetsky and Torrego 2007) allows PF to reference the head-argument relationship between the verb and its internal argument, even though they are not sent to PF in structurally adjacent positions. The main result for the syntactic analysis of Niuean is that \(V^0\)-raising replaces VP-raising. The benefits of the \(V^0\)-raising approach include i) less phonologically vacuous structure in places where Niuean has overt morphology, e.g., a perpetually null \(T^0\) in the face of overt tense markers; and ii) observance of the idea that thematic roles are correlated to structural positions. Thus, the prosodic analysis of Niuean PNI has a number of positive outcomes for Niuean syntax, as well as the potential to simplify the derivation of VSO cross-linguistically. / Linguistics

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 116-138). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis -- Indiana University. / Vita. Photoreproduction. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International, 1979. -- 22 cm. Includes bibliographical references.