From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tokelauan is a Polynesian
language closely related to Tuvaluan.
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.
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.
Phrases
| Tokelauan |
English |
| ko au e aloha atu kia hemapu hakalia |
| Ko toku nena e i Nukunonu. |
My grandmother lives in Nukunonu. |
| Malo ni, ea mai koe? |
Hello, how are you? |
See also
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