The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.
SIL code: TOV
ISO 639-2: ton
| Population | 103,200 in Tonga (1987), 98.3% of the population. Population total all countries 123,000 or more (1993). |
| Region | Also spoken in American Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, USA, Vanuatu. |
| Alternate names | TONGA |
| Classification | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, Central Pacific, East Fijian-Polynesian, Polynesian, Tongic. |
| Comments | Closely related to Niue. There are slight dialect differences from north to south. 86% lexical similarity with Wallisian, 66% with Samoan. The ethnic group is predominantly monolingual in Tongan (1997 J. Siegel). National language. Dictionary. VSO. Newspapers, radio programs. Agriculturalists. Bible 1862-1966. |
