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Niuean language

Niuean (/njuˈən/;[2] ko e vagahau Niuē) is a Polynesian language, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian languages. It is most closely related to Tongan and slightly more distantly to other Polynesian languages such as Māori, Samoan, and Hawaiian. Together, Tongan and Niuean form the Tongic subgroup of the Polynesian languages. Niuean also has a number of influences from Samoan and Eastern Polynesian languages.

Niuean

1,300 in Niue (2018)[1]
4,600 in New Zealand (2013)[1]

 Niue

Speakers[edit]

Niuean was spoken by 1,600 people on Niue Island (97.4% of the inhabitants) in 1991, as well as by speakers in the Cook Islands, New Zealand, and Tonga, for a total of around 8,000 speakers. There are thus more speakers of Niuean outside the island itself than on the island. Most inhabitants of Niue are bilingual in English.


In the early 1990s, 70% of the speakers of Niuean lived in New Zealand.[3]

Dialects[edit]

Niuean consists of two main dialects, the older Motu dialect from the north of the island and the Tafiti dialect of the south. The words mean, respectively, the people of the island and the strangers (or people from a distance).


The differences between the dialects are mainly in vocabulary or in the form of some words.


Examples of differences in vocabulary are volu (Tafiti) vs matā (Motu) for scrape, scraper and lala (Tafiti) vs kautoga (Motu) for guava (plant); examples of differences in form include hafule (T) / afule (M), aloka/haloka, nai/nei, ikiiki/likiliki, and malona/maona.

Grammar[edit]

Typology[edit]

Niuean can be considered a VSO language; however, one analysis of Niuean uses ergative terminology, in which case it may be better to speak of verb–agent–patient word order.


Because the unmarked case is the absolutive, Niuean transitive verb constructions often appear passive in a literal translation.


Compare:

Archive of at Kaipuleohone

index cards of plant and animal names in Niue