Tongan

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A language of Tonga

ISO 639-3
ton
Alternate Names
Tonga
Population

96,300 in Tonga (1998). Population total all countries: 141,290.

Location

Also in American Samoa, Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, Niue, United States, Vanuatu.

Language Maps
Language Status

1 (National). De facto national working language, considered co-offical with English [eng].

Classification
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, Central Pacific, East Fijian-Polynesian, Polynesian, Tongic
Dialects

Similar to Niue [niu]. Slight dialect differences north to south. Lexical similarity: 86% with Wallisian [wls], 66% with Samoan [smo].

Typology

VSO

Language Use

Ethnic group predominantly monolingual in Tongan (1997 J. Siegel).

Language Development
Newspapers. New media. Radio programs. Dictionary. Bible: 1862–1966.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Tongan
Writing
Latin script.