Hi Vandoo,
It's possible that the pata was a tongue, but I think something else is going on there.
For one thing, I remember that the archeologists dug up a whalebone pata somewhere around Tahiti, so we can argue that it's an old (but useful) design, sort of like the leaf-shaped knife blade.
The bigger issue is material. For whatever reason, we don't really see stone spearheads in Polynesian or Micronesian culture, except on Easter Island where they were an independent development. I'm not sure why this is the case, but I'm willing to bet it's that there's a fundamental problem with grinding sharp stone points out of basalt, jade, or whalebone (same process, different materials).
Since a pata is supposed to have a sharpish edge and they thrust with it, I bet that the axehead-like edge is a compromise that is effective when blunt, and more effective when sharp, especially when you target it properly. It's also good for chopping/smashing, on the same principle.
I also recall that some tribe went to war to capture a mere a one point, and they were named too. I don't know the details, but they were so valuable that I would be surprised if it wasn't the case.
Best,
F
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