Niuafoou, or Niuafoʻouan, is the language spoken on

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

's northernmost island, Niuafoou. Niuafoʻouan has traditionally been classified as closest to Uvean and

Tokelauan Tokelauan () is a Polynesian language spoken in Tokelau and historically by the small population of Swains Island (or Olohega) in American Samoa. It is closely related to Tuvaluan language, Tuvaluan and is related to Samoan language, Samoan and ...

, in an East Uvean–Niuafoʻou branch. However, recent research suggests that it is closest to its neighbour, Tongan, as one of the Tongic languages. In September 2022 language campaigners called for it to be taught in primary schools on Niuafo’ou.

Phonology

The phonology of Niuafoʻou is similar to that of Tongan, with twelve consonants and five vowel phonemes. Vowels are more centralized when unstressed. and are de-voiced under some conditions. Sometimes the phoneme is realized as a apico-

alveolar flap The voiced alveolar tap or flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based pri ...

(). is only realized as at the beginning of words. In the middle of words, it is either or .

Syllable structure

Niuafoʻou has a very simple syllable structure, (C)V. However, it is apparently transitioning towards allowing consonant clusters, due to the influence of foreign languages and the de-voicing of vowels.

References

Languages of Tonga Tongic languages Endangered Austronesian languages {{Tonga-stub