Fijian language

Fijian
Na vosa vaka-Viti
Spoken in
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 450,000 native speakers, 200,000 second-language users
Language family Austronesian
  • Malayo-Polynesian
    • Oceanic
      • Central-Eastern Oceanic
        • Central Pacific
          • 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
Linguasphere
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 450,000 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.

Contents

Phonology

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

  Labial Coronal Palatal Velar
Nasal m n   ŋ
Plosive voiceless (p) t   k
prenasalized mb nd   ŋɡ
Fricative voiceless (f) s   (x)
voiced β ð  
Trill plain   r    
prenasalized   nr    
Approximant   l j w

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

Note the asymmetry between the fricative pairs: bilabial [β] vs. labiodental [f], and dental [ð] vs. alveolar [s].

The vowel phonemes are:

Monophthongs
Front Central Back
short long short long short long
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open a aː
Diphthongs
Closing
to /i/		 Closing
to /u/
First component is /e/ ei̯ eu̯
First component is /o/ oi̯ ou̯
First component is /a/ ai̯ au̯

In addition, there is the rising diphthong i̯u.

Syllables can consist of a consonant followed by a vowel (CV) or a single vowel (V).[1] Word stress is based on moras; a short vowel counts as one mora, diphthongs and long vowels count as two moras. Primary word stress then goes to the penultimate mora of the phonological word. That is, if the last syllable of a word is short, then the penultimate syllable will be stressed. If the last syllable consists of either a long vowel or a diphthong, the last syllable receives primary stress. That is, stress is on the penultimate mora. Stress is not lexical and can shift when suffixes are attached to the root. Examples:

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] (di = [ndʒi])
  • f = [f]
  • g = [ŋ]
  • j = [tʃ] ~ [ndʒ]
  • k = [k]
  • l = [l]
  • m = [m]
  • n = [n]
  • p = [p]
  • q = [ŋɡ]
  • r = [r]
  • s = [s]
  • t = [t] (ti = [tʃi])
  • v = [β]
  • w = [ɰ]
  • y = [j] or silent

In addition, the digraph dr stands for postalveolar [n̠d̠], or a prenasalized trill [n̠d̠r̠] in careful pronunciation, or more commonly for some people and in some dialects.

The vowel letters a e i o u have roughly their IPA values, [a ɛ~e i ɔ~o u]. 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; Dixon, in the work cited below, doubles all long vowels in his spelling system. Diphthongs are ai au ei eu oi ou and iu, pronounced [ɛi̯ ɔu̯ ei̯ eu̯ oi̯ ou̯ i̯u].

Syntax

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

The national language debate

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.

Notes

  1. ↑ Dixon 1988:15.
  2. ↑ Dixon 1988:17

Sources

See also

External links