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Tokelauan is an Austronesian language.
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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. 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. 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.
Loimata Iupati, Tokelau's resident Director of Education, is translating the Bible from English into Tokelauan.
Phrases
| Tokelauan | English |
|---|---|
| Fanatu au là? | Shall I come too? |
| Ko toku nena e i Nukunonu. | My grandmother lives in Nukunonu. |
See also
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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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 19 November 2008, at 13:07.
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