Social:Niuatoputapu language

From HandWiki
Short description: Polynesian language spoken in Tonga
Niuatoputapu
Native toTonga
Extinct19th century
Austronesian
  • Malayo-Polynesian
    • Oceanic
      • Polynesian
        • Samoan–Tokelauan ?
          • Niuatoputapu
Language codes
ISO 639-3nkp
nkp
Glottologniua1241[1]

Niuatoputapu was the indigenous language of Niuatoputapu, Tonga. It was more closely related to Samoan than to Tongan. Sometime in the 18th or 19th century, it became extinct and its use was replaced by Tongan. Practically all knowledge of the Niuatoputapu language comes from a word list compiled by Jacob Le Maire in 1616.[2]

Sample phrases

English Niuatoputapu
fish ika
corals kasoa
the li
one tasi
two lua
three tolu
five lima
yam ufi

References

  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "Niuatoputapu". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/niua1241. 
  2. "Niuatoputapu - Languages facts sheet by Niklas Jonsson", Niklas Jonsson, 16 December 1998