Tongan is an Austronesian language spoken in Tonga. It has 100,000 speakers and is a national language of Tonga. It is a VSO (Verb-Subject-Object) language. The Austronesian languages are a family of languages widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia. ... In Polynesian mythology, Tonga refers to several different ideas. ... In Polynesian mythology, Tonga refers to several different ideas. ... Verb Subject Object—commonly used in its abbreviated form VSO—is a term in linguistic typology. ...

Tongan is one of the many tongues in the Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages, along with Hawaiian, Maori, Samoan and Tahitian, for example. Together with Niuean, it forms the Tongic subgroup of Polynesian. The Polynesian languages are a group of related languages spoken in the region known as Polynesia. ... Hawaiian is the ancestral language of the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands, the Hawaiians, a Polynesian people. ... Māori (or Maori) is a language spoken by the native peoples of New Zealand. ... The Sāmoan or Samoan language is the traditional language of Samoa and American Samoa and is an official language in both territories. ... Tahitian, a Tahitic language, is the official language of French Polynesia and is spoken throughout Oceania. ... The Niuean language or Niue language (Niuean: ko e vagahau Niuē) is a Polynesian language, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian languages. ... Tongic is a subgroup of the Polynesian languages. ...

The English word "taboo" is a loan word from Tongan. For the Taboo party game, see Taboo (game). ... A loanword (or a borrowing) is a word taken in by one language from another. ...

External link

• Ethnologue on Tongan (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=TOV)

This image is the site logo used on the English Wikipedia, the Wiki. ... Wikipedia is a Web-based, free-content encyclopedia, which is written collaboratively by volunteers. ...

Tongan Alphabet:

a as in father
e as in met
f as in foot
h as in horse
i as in machine
k as in king
l as in lead
m as in man
n as in nest
ng as in singer (not as in finger)
o as in note
p as in stop
s as in see
t as in time
u as in tune
v as in vine
fakau'a ( ' ), the glottal stop, is pronounced like the "break" or "catch" in uh-oh.

Syllabification

• Each syllable has exactly one vowel. The number of syllables in a word is exactly equal to the number of vowels it has.
  
• Each syllable may have no more than one consonant.
  
• Consonant combinations are not permitted. Ng is not a consonant combination, since it represents a single sound.
• Each syllable must end in a vowel.
• The fakau'a is a consonant. It must be followed (and, except at the beginning of a word, preceded) by a vowel.
• Stress normally falls on the next to last syllable of a word with two or more syllables. However, it may be shifted to the last syllable or to another syllable under certain conditions. The most common of these is that any long vowel is stressed, however, short vowels may also be stressed, either in the penultimate syllable or when required by the rules of the definitive accent. When stress is shifted from the penultimate syllable, an accent mark should be shown over the stressed vowel, unless it is already long. Frequently, however, this rule is ignored.

Literature

Tongan is primarily a spoken, rather than written, language. Only the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and a few other books are written in Tongan. There are not enough people who can read Tongan to justify publishing books in the language. Most reading literature available in Tonga is in English.

There are a few weekly and monthly magazines in Tongan, but there are no daily newspapers.

Internet

Planet Tonga is perhaps the best source for information about Tonga in the Tongan language.