Fakauvea
Encyclopedia
Wallisian or Uvean is the Polynesian language spoken on Wallis Island
(also known as Uvea). The language is also known as East Uvean to distinguish it from the related West Uvean spoken on the outlier island of Ouvéa
(near New Caledonia
). Wallisian tradition holds that the latter island was colonised from Wallis Island in ancient times.
Wallisian may be most closely related to Rennellese.
The consonants: f, g (always pronounced as ŋ (ng)), h, k, l, m, n, s (rare, usually from foreign words), t, v, '.
The , representing the glottal stop
(see also okina
), is known in Wallisian as fakamoga (belonging to the throat). The fakamoga is nowadays taught at schools, and can be written with straight, curly or inverted curly apostrophes. Similarly the macron
(Wallisian: fakaloa, 'to lengthen') is now taught in schools to mark long vowels, even though the older generation has never marked the glottal stop or vowel length.
For example: Mālō te ma'uli (hello)
Wallis Island
Wallis is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna....
(also known as Uvea). The language is also known as East Uvean to distinguish it from the related West Uvean spoken on the outlier island of Ouvéa
Ouvéa
Ouvéa is a commune in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The settlement of Fayaoué , on Ouvéa Island, is the administrative centre of the commune of Ouvéa. -Geography:...
(near New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
). Wallisian tradition holds that the latter island was colonised from Wallis Island in ancient times.
Wallisian may be most closely related to Rennellese.
Alphabet
The standard 5 vowels: a, e, i, o, u, with their lengthened variants: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū.The consonants: f, g (always pronounced as ŋ (ng)), h, k, l, m, n, s (rare, usually from foreign words), t, v, '.
The , representing the glottal stop
Glottal stop
The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
(see also okina
Okina
The okina, also called by several other names , is a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonetic glottal stop, as it is used in many Polynesian languages.- Geographic names in the United States :...
), is known in Wallisian as fakamoga (belonging to the throat). The fakamoga is nowadays taught at schools, and can be written with straight, curly or inverted curly apostrophes. Similarly the macron
Macron
A macron, from the Greek , meaning "long", is a diacritic placed above a vowel . It was originally used to mark a long or heavy syllable in Greco-Roman metrics, but now marks a long vowel...
(Wallisian: fakaloa, 'to lengthen') is now taught in schools to mark long vowels, even though the older generation has never marked the glottal stop or vowel length.
For example: Mālō te ma'uli (hello)
Vocabulary
| Phoneme correspondences | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoneme | Proto-Polynesian | Tongan Tongan Tongan can refer to:*Tongan people, a person from Tonga*Tongan language*Tong'an District, district in Xiamen, Fujian, China... |
Samoan Samoan language Samoan Samoan Samoan (Gagana Sāmoa, is the language of the Samoan Islands, comprising the independent country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language—alongside English—in both jurisdictions. Samoan, a Polynesian language, is the first language for most... |
Wallisian | English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
| /ŋ/ | *taŋata | tangata | tagata | tagata | person |
| /s/ | *sina | hina | sina | hina | grey (of hair) |
| /ti/ | *tiale | siale | tiale | tiale | Gardenia |
| /k/ | *waka | vaka | vaa | vaka | canoe |
| /f/ | *fafine | fafine | fafine | fafine | woman |
| /ʔ/ | *matuqa | motua | matua | matua | parent |
| /r/ | *rua | ua | lua | lua | two |
| /l/ | *tolu | tolu | tolu | tolu | three |