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ITaukei

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
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Fijian (Na Vosa Vakaviti) is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken by some 350,000–450,000 ethnic Fijians as a native language. The 2013 Constitution established Fijian as an official language of Fiji, along with English and Fiji Hindi, and there is discussion about establishing it as the "national language", though English and Fiji Hindi 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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