Fijian language

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Categories: Malayo-Polynesian languages | Austronesian languages | Languages of Fiji

Fijian Na vosa vaka-Viti
Spoken in:	Fiji
Region:	Spoken as first language on Vanua Levu, the eastern half of Viti Levu, and on the lesser islands of Kadavu, Nayau, Lakeba, Oneata, Moce, Komo, Namuka, Kabara, Vulaga, Ogea and Vatoa; spoken as second language in the rest of Fiji
Total speakers:	350,000 native speakers, 200,000 second-language users
Language family:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Central-Eastern MP Eastern MP Oceanic Central-Eastern Oceanic Remote Oceanic Central Pacific East Fijian-Polynesian East Fijian Fijian
Official status
Official language in:	Fiji
Regulated by:	no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	`fj`
ISO 639-2:	`fij`
ISO 639-3:	`fij`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken in Fiji. It has 350,000 first-language speakers, which is less than half the population of Fiji, but another 200,000 speak it as a second language. The 1997 Constitution established Fijian as an official language of Fiji, along with English and Hindustani, and there is discussion about establishing it as the "national language", though English and Hindustani would remain official. Fijian is a VOS language.

Standard Fijian is based on the language of Bau, which is an East Fijian language.

1 Phonology
2 Orthography
3 Syntax
4 The national language debate
5 Sources
6 See also
7 External links

Phonology

The consonant phonemes of Fijian are as shown in the following table:

	Bilabial		Labiodental	Dental and alveolar			Velar
Plosive	(p)	mb		t	nd		k	ŋg
Nasal		m			n			ŋ
Fricative		β	(f)	s	ð		(x)
Trill					r
Prenasalized trill					nr
Approximant						j			w
Lateral approximant					l

The sounds [p f] occur only in loanwords from other languages. The sounds [x h] only occur in certain regions of the country.

The vowel phonemes are:

Monophthongs	Short		Long
Monophthongs	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	i	u	iː	uː
Mid	e	o	eː	oː
Open	a		aː

Diphthongs	Closing to [i]	Closing to [u]
First component is [i]		iu
First component is [e]	ei	eu
First component is [o]	oi	ou
First component is [a]	ai	au

Orthography

The Fijian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and consists of the following letters.

A B C D E F G I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y

a b c d e f g i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w y

Among the consonants, there is almost a one-to-one correspondence between letters and phonemes:

b = [mb]
c = [ð]
d = [nd]
f = [f]
g = [ŋ]
j = [x]
k = [k]
l = [l]
m = [m]

n = [n]
p = [p]
q = [ŋɡ]
r = [r]
s = [s]
t = [t]
v = [β]
w = [w]
y = [j]

In addition, the digraph dr stands for postalveolar [n̠d̠], sometimes trilled [n̠d̠r̠] for some people or in careful pronunciation.

The vowel letters a e i o u have roughly their IPA values, but the vowel length contrast is not usually indicated in writing, except in dictionaries and textbooks for learners of the language, where it is indicated by a macron over the vowel in question.

Word stress falls on any long vowel or diphthong, or the penultimate vowel in an accent unit, which may be either two or three moras in length: tū [ˈtuː] 'stand', kau [ˈkau] 'wood', gone [ˈŋone] 'child', tagane [taˈŋane] 'male'. In longer words, the last accent unit is emphasized; the accented vowels in preceding units are perceived as having secondary accent: itukutuku [iˌtukuˈtuku] 'story', kedatou [ˌkendaˈtou] 'we (3)'.

Syntax

The normal Fijian word order is VOS (Verb Object Subject):

E rai-c-a (1) na no-na (2) vale (3) na gone (4).
3-sg.-sub. see-trans.-3-sg.-obj. (1) the 3-sg.-poss. (2) house (3) the child (4).
(The child sees his house.)

The national language debate

See main article: National language debate in Fiji

In May and June 2005, a number of prominent Fiji Islanders called for the status of Fijian to be upgraded. It was not an official language before the adoption of the 1997 Constitution, which made it co-official with English and Hindustani. It is still not a compulsory subject in schools, however; the present Education Minister, Ro Teimumu Kepa, has endorsed calls for it to be made so, as has Great Council of Chiefs Chairman Ratu Ovini Bokini. Similar calls came from Misiwini Qereqeretabua, the Director of the Institute of Fijian Language and Culture, and from Apolonia Tamata, a linguistics lecturer at Suva’s University of the South Pacific, who both said that recognition of the Fijian language is essential to the nation’s basic identity, as a unifying factor in Fiji’s multicultural society.

Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry also endorsed the call for Fijian to be made a national language and a compulsory school subject, provided that the same status be given to Hindi—a position echoed by Krishna Vilas of the National Reconciliation Committee.

Sources

Dixon, R. M. W. (1989). A Grammar of Boumaa Fijian. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-15428-9.
Schütz, Albert J. (1985). The Fijian Language. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1005-8.