[4] The ten years between 2007 and 2017, based on official census numbers, have seen a global decline in the number of Mangarevan-speaking adults (i.e. people aged 15 and older who reported that Mangarevan was the language they spoke the most at home):[4] Speakers have some bilingualism in Tahitian, in which there is a 60% lexical similarity,[5] and usually with French, as well.

[5] Cultural traits shared between the Mangarevan and Māori, like the story of Māui, can all be traced back to the New Zealander's arrival as communication was clear due to linguistic similarities.

[11] Mangareva's phonology has been identified as a Marquesic derivative from Proto-Eastern Polynesian (PEP) and Proto-Central Eastern (PCE).

[7] Doublets, words that have different phonological forms but the same etymological root,[12] are more common in Mangarevan language in comparison to any other Eastern Polynesian culture.

[5] Similarities between Mangarevan, Rarotongan and Tahitian include the nominalizing suffix -ranga in place of -anga, and the plural marker mau.

Southern Austral migration from Rapa Nui to Mangareva in the 1300s characterized one of the final acts of Early Polynesian expansion.