Editing Rapa language (section)

== History ==
The loss of the indigenous Old Rapa began with an enormous population decrease due to disease brought by foreigners (mainly Europeans). Within the span of five years the population decreased by 75%. By 1867 the population was down to 120 residents from its estimated original of two thousand. Of the islands of French Polynesia, Tahiti had become a large influence and had become a filter for Western influence, so before anything entered the islands it would have to pass through Tahiti. Being the powerful influence it was, its ways of religion, education, and government were easily adopted by the people of Rapa Iti, and the language of Tahiti followed.{{sfn|Walworth|2015}} The language known as Reo Rapa was not created by the combination of two languages but through the introduction of Tahitian to the Rapa monolingual community. Reo Rapa is not a completely different language from Old Rapa or Tahitian but a mixed language.

Old Rapa is considered to be endangered.{{sfn|Walworth|2015}}<ref>The language is classed by Ethnologue as a "Shifting Language"</ref> It has few speakers and the only people who speak Old Rapa proficiently, as of 2015, are in their 60s.{{sfn|Walworth|2015}} The oldest published documentation of Old Rapa dates back to 1864, a short word list compiled by James L. Green under the London Missionary Society.{{sfn|Walworth|2015|page=33}} The most comprehensive study of the language is Walworth's 2015 description of the language, following only the 1930 five-volume unpublished manuscript by John F.G. Stokes. Additionally, a book of legends was published in 2008 that was the product of the work of French ethnologist {{Ill|Christian Ghasarian|fr}} and a Rapa elder, Alfred Make.{{sfn|Walworth|2015|page=34}}