Fijian language
| Fijian | |
|---|---|
| Na Vosa Vakaviti | |
| Native to | Fiji |
|
Native speakers
|
339,210 (1996 census) 320,000 second-language users (1991) |
| Latin-based | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
 Fiji
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | fj |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | fiji1243 |
Fijian (Na Vosa Vakaviti) is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken by some 350,000 ethnic Fijians as a native 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.
The consonant phonemes of Fijian are as shown in the following table:
The consonant written ⟨nr⟩ has been described as a prenasalized trill [nr] or trilled fricative [ndr]. However, it is only rarely pronounced with a trilled release; the primary feature distinguishing it from ⟨nd⟩ is that it is postalveolar, [ɳɖ], rather than dental/alveolar.
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 difference in place of articulation between the voiced-voiceless fricative pairs: bilabial [β] vs. labiodental [f], and dental [ð] vs. alveolar [s].
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