Tokelauan language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tokelauan | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | Tokelau | |
| Total speakers | 3,200 total, with 1400 in Tokelau (2004) | |
| Language family | Austronesian
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| Official status | ||
| Official language in | Tokelau, American Samoa, New Zealand | |
| Regulated by | No official regulation | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | – | |
| ISO 639-3 | tkl | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Tokelauan is an Austronesian language.
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[edit] Speakers
It is spoken by about 1,700 people on the atolls of Tokelau, and by the few inhabitants of Swains Island in neighbouring American Samoa. It is a member of the Samoic family of Polynesian languages. It is, alongside English, the official language of Tokelau. In addition to the population of Tokelau, it is spoken by approximately 2,900 Tokelauan expatriates in New Zealand. The language is currently being taught privately, and in a few schools, in Brentwood, Essex, UK. Its ISO 639-3 code is tkl.
[edit] Affinities with other languages
Tokelauan is intelligible with Tuvaluan, the main language of the neighbouring island realm of Tuvalu, and uses Samoan literature. It also has marked similarities to the Niuafo'ou language of Tonga.
Tokelauan is written in the Latin alphabet, albeit only using 15 letters: a, e, i, o, u, f, g, k, l, m, n, p, h, t, and v. This consists of 5 vowels: a (pronounced ah), e (pronounced eh), i (pronounced ee), o (pronounced or) and u (pronounced oo); and 10 consonants: f, g, k, l, m, n, p, h, t, v.
Loimata Iupati, Tokelau's resident Director of Education, is translating the Bible from English into Tokelauan.
[edit] Phrases
| Tokelauan | English |
|---|---|
| Fanatu au là ? | Shall I come too? |
| Ko toku nena e i Nukunonu. | My grandmother lives in Nukunonu. |
| Malo ni, ea mai koe? | Hello, how are you? |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Ethnologue report on Tokelauan
- Mini-dictionary sponsored by Tokelau Magic
- "Te Vaka" - A popular New Zealand music group that sings in the Tokelauan language
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